Just over a month after suffering an unspecified "life-threatening" medical emergency while preaching, Dallas Bishop TD Jakes returned to the pulpit at The Potter's House on Sunday.
Jakes, 67, walked out on stage Sunday to a standing ovation and thanked the congregation for their prayers and his doctors and nurses for their medical care.
"I cannot tell you how glad I am to be in the house of the Lord tonight," Jakes said. "I missed you. I thank you … y'all not going to get that ugly cry out of me tonight. Maybe. Maybe, I don't know."
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On Nov. 24, Jakes was delivering a "powerful hour-long message" at the church's main campus in Southern Dallas when he experienced a medical emergency. In a video of the sermon, Jakes can be heard praying: "Oh Lord, my strength, my redeemer, let him go in peace." Immediately after, Jakes became quiet, lowered the microphone, and began to shake. People, appearing to be church elders and staff, rushed the stage to support him before the video cut off.
Four days later, Jakes posted a lengthy written statement where he said he did not have a stroke but that the event could have been fatal had it not been for God's intervention. He added that he was going to take some time to recuperate. A week after the incident, on Dec. 1, Jakes addressed his congregation in a video message to share an update on his health and said he'd had an emergency surgery.
On Sunday, Jakes made his first return to the stage where he says he nearly died.
"I had a fair amount of anxiety about walking out on this stage, standing in the same spot that I almost died in," Jakes told his church. "And frankly, I think I did, but God, in his infinite wisdom and great grace, brought me back to the same spot. I was in the emergency room and said, 'Lord, what are you doing? If you'd have waited five minutes, it would have happened, and nobody would have seen it, but you did it on an open stage where everybody could see.' And he said, 'I made a sign out of you. That no matter what hits you, if God before you, no weapon formed against you shall be able to prosper.'"
Jakes said his recovery should serve as a message.
"I don't know what you're going through tonight, but let this be a signal to you that you're on your way to a comeback. And if I'm talking directly to you and if all the odds have been against you and if they couldn't hardly get a pulse on you and if you couldn't hardly recognize anybody and everybody said you weren't going to make it. I'm standing here as a testimony," Jakes said. "I don't come as Bishop Jakes; I come as Bishop Lazarus to let you know that with God, all things are possible."
According to the Bible, Lazarus was raised from the dead by Jesus four days after he was entombed.
Jakes continued to address the church and thanked God for allowing his family to have a Christmas celebration instead of a funeral. He then talked about the day in November when he collapsed.
"What you saw happen to me on the stage, I didn't experience that like that. I wasn't there like that. While I was hunched over in the chair, he had me cradled in his presence," Jakes said.
Jakes said he still struggles to remember parts of the day and only saw what happened on stage in replays aired on television.
"They said I had a stroke. They said I died. They said I wouldn't be back," Jakes said, adding, "I say …" before opening his arms and looking at the crowd.
Jakes thanked God for his church family for their continued prayers through his surgery.
"I went through several hours of surgery; they almost lost me twice, but every time my numbers dropped, your prayers prevailed, and I'm standing here today in the glory of God," Jakes said.
The pastor also thanked his doctors and the medical staff who provided his care and the church's security who worked to get him to the hospital as quickly as possible. Jakes said if he'd arrived five minutes later, doctors worry he might not have recovered.
Jakes founded The Potter's House in 1996. The non-denominational Pentecostal megachurch has more than 30,000 members and has expanded to several campuses in North Texas.
