Bishop T.D. Jakes

Internationally-acclaimed preacher Bishop T.D. Jakes, 51, will be the main speaker tonight at 'The Way Forward' conference which has been organised by Pastors In Action. This is a group of local clergy led by well-known Pentecostal/ Charismatic Renewal leaders Pastor Merrick 'Al' Miller, Bishop Herro Blair and Bishop C. Everton Thomas.

The conference begins at 6 p.m at the National Stadium. Tomorrow, Bishop Jakes will address specially invited pastors and their spouses at a meeting scheduled for the National Indoor Sports Centre.

While vacationing in Montego Bay last weekend, Bishop Jakes shared his perspectives with The Gleaner on a number of issues.

Below is the third instalment of that interview. Part two was carried on Tuesday (A6) and part one was in Monday's paper (B6).

The United States has just elected someone to succeed George W. Bush as president. What significance do you attach to President-elect Barack Obama?

First of all, it is hard as a person of colour to overlook the fact that we can now point to an example and say to our children, 'It is possible for a person of colour to rise to the highest office of one of the strongest nations of the world'.

That, as a parent, gives me value which helps to motivate my children to go through school.

But I think its an injustice to minimise Barack Obama to just being the first black president. I don't think he got to being president because he is black.

Shirley Chisholm, Alan Keyes, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton all have been predecessors in that pursuit.

Centrist philosophy

Obama is bright. He is relevant. He is a centrist philosophically. Our country has been polarised by politics to the haemorrhaging of our society. We have become so busy being Republicans and Democrats that we ceased being Americans.

I think his clarion call to the centre - as opposed to building his political career by ostracising and alienating and fear - has a lot to do with him being in the position that he is in right now.

My hope is that his very diverse background, being biracial and raised in different parts of the world, will help him with international affairs as we begin to recognise as Americans that we cannot be one-dimensional.

We have to be concerned about other nations around the world. We have to be concerned about trade.

One of the things that I have done in several countries is to promote trade. I have facilitated meetings between American businesses and African businesses to promote trade.

I think that we have to do more than spiritual liberation. We have to preach economic liberation because there is an association between economic disparity with people, poverty, crime and violence, drug addiction, and alcoholism.

All are the derivatives of people who are trapped in an impoverished system. It is not enough to tell people how to get to heaven if we don't tell them how to survive on earth.

Do you attach any significance to the incoming president and the black Church?

I am hoping he will continue to invite the black church around the table in Washington. I must say that there were white presidents who did that, too. Presidents such as Lyndon Johnson, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who began to recognise the significance of the black church.

But obviously, I think Obama has an affinity to the black church and an understanding of the black church. I think there will be a greater relevance.

What is more important than his opinion about the black church is that America, because it has a black president, is now more interested in understanding black people in an unprecedented way.

Historically, it was not for a black person in America to get a GED (General Education Develop-ment - a test, which certifies the taker has attained American or Canadian high school-level academic skill) without under-standing white folk.

But a white man could get a PhD and not understand blacks - because he did not really have to.

But having a black president requires that you have some understanding of the black culture - nationally and globally.

You are a good friend of Bishop Noel Jones, a son of Jamaica. Describe your relationship with Bishop Jones as a friend and as ministerial colleagues.

We are so busy now that we don't get to interact as often as I would like. I think the last time I was in Jamaica was for the funeral arising from the death of one of his relatives. I came as a friend of his.

We both have mutual respect for each other's ministry and giftings.

I don't get to talk to him a lot because his church is growing, and he is busy and on the road, and I am busy and what not.

We don't get to interact as much as possible. I think that he is a magnificent preacher and just an incredible person.

(To be continued)

Send feedback to mark.dawes@gleanerjm.com.

With a cloth in hand that he uses to mop his sweating brow, Bishop T.D. Jakes preaches at his Dallas, Texas church, The Potter's House - File