BISHOP T.D. Jakes will be the headline speaker at 'The Way Forward Conference' scheduled for the National Stadium December 9-10 beginning each evening at 6. The organisers on Friday announced that there will be no charge for seats in the bleachers section. However, the $2,000 charge for the grandstand remains. Bishop Jakes is being brought to Jamaica by Pastors In Action, a group led by Pastor Al Miller, Bishop Herro Blair and Bishop C. Everton Thomas.

Bishop T.D. Jakes is one of America's most influential and successful spiritual leaders. As pastor of the Dallas-based multiracial, non-denominational mega-church, The Potter's House, Bishop Jakes presides over a congregation of more than 30,000 members. His popular confe-rences, symposiums and family-oriented Christian festivals attract thousands, breaking new attendance records each year. Bishop Jakes is also a bestselling author, entrepreneur, educator and philanthropist.

Irreversible consequence

Among his many literary works is Before You Do: Making Great Decisions That You Won't Regret. In this book, Bishop Jakes offers a critical blueprint for anyone facing important relationship decisions, particularly those which could have life-changing consequences, such as dating and marriage, having children, as well as considering divorce.

"Decisions are like dominoes, each one toppling one irreversible consequence into another. Fortunes have been gained and lost, marriages mended and torn, children born or buried, all because of one person's decision, which may have seemed of little importance at the time," writes Bishop Jacks.

Bishop Jacks begins Before You Do with a very personal anecdote about his daughter's decision to marry and how he educates both her and the young man about how this important decision would impact them for the rest of their lives.

Married to his wife, Serrate, for more than 25 years, the Jakeses are often viewed as the model of matrimony. Bishop Jakes relates that there is no such thing as a perfect marriage or relationship, not even his own. The key, however, is doing "due diligence" before taking actions that could have profound repercussions on not just you, but your loved ones, too. Bishop Jakes emphasises that although much of the book focuses on decision-making about relationships, the due diligence process and many of the tools, rules and tips he offers in Before You Do are critical in making important decisions about one's personal and professional life.

"I can trace every success or failure in my life back to something I did or didn't decide effectively. Whether in the course of develo-ping relationships, doing business, selecting investments, or accepting invitations, I've found a direct correlation between my location on life's highway and my decisions to turn, exit, stop or start," writes Bishop Jakes. "Now, to be sure, I am not a self-flagellating individual who uses this premise to blame and belittle myself for past decisions and their consequences. No, I am saying that my decisions set the course of my life."

Good decision-making

Bishop Jakes asserts that the most basic approach to good decision-making entails the five Rs: