The Power of the Pass
This weekend I came across many snippets of the Women Thou Art Loose Finale conference moments via social media. It was amazing to see the conference that has changed so many lives over many decades come to an end this year.
Over the years the WTAL conference has been both watched and attended by many all over the world. Revelatory and life changing sermons have been carried back to local churches all over the world, including mine.
Bishop T.D. Jakes is what I like to call the master orator of his generation, his words impacting my generation and beyond. I imagine him as the father and grandfather who has a huge library willing to pour his knowledge, insight and wisdom to all those who gather in his presence. Bishop T.D. Jakes is often the blueprint for many to be the trailblazer venturing into uncharted waters showing pastors and leaders alike the possibilities of what life can become if you walk by faith. I remember a sermon he preached years ago about understanding people’s capacity to give. This message created a pivotal shift in my own relationship with my father and beyond.
As I began to navigate my own life as an adult, from my career, ministry, and simply finding my own way. I was struggled to embrace my authenticity while simultaneously letting go of the “church expectations” I had carried within for so many years.
I remember seeing Sarah Jakes Roberts all those years ago as she shared her personal story. It was then I realized it takes a level of vulnerability, humility, grace and bold authenticity to share and show up continuously for yourself while inspiring others. My connection to her message and story was strengthen as I lived on the same intersection as her of being the daughter to father and pastor.
While our paths never crossing I felt connected and invested with every sermon, every post and book written, each new podcast posting. It was refreshing to see someone like Sarah on a platform who saw me, heard me and spoke to those broken places I desperately wanted healed. With every sermon, she spoke to the little girl, the teenaged girl, the college student, the young woman, the ever evolving woman in me. The words spoken were a constant confirmation that God had a promise for me.
Sitting at my desk this weekend scrolling through highlights of the WTAL conference I was deeply moved clip after clip. The one clip the world has been talking about was that of Bishop T.D. Jakes passing the torch to his daughter Sarah Jakes Roberts. The legacy of Bishop Jakes & Lady Serita is just so heartwarming. To believe the God given vision, to work at it for decades, to see the fruit of all your years of laboring. Then to pass the torch is a promise of knowing you have completed your God given assignment is what is only mentioned in both conversations and sermons. To see Sarah Jakes Roberts preach and step into this new moment was as Bishop Jakes mentioned is truly a full circle moment.
The passing of the torch or how I would like to call it, The Power of the Pass is so richly layered for me from being a pastors kid, a daughter to a father whom I love to a woman who is truly evolving in my lane of life truly captivated me. As I watch this moment it is once again the reminder of why Bishop Jakes is the blueprint for pastors, leaders, fathers and men overall.
Many leaders and or pastors traditionally in the black church have often been unwilling to step aside allowing the next generation to lead. In the words of the late Myles Monroe, so many leaders die with the torch in their hand.
The wisdom, obedience, and direction from God displayed by Bishop Jakes in this moment hits me to my core. There is this unspoken very much seen hesitation of some leaders in passing the torch. Maybe it's the sense of not knowing the next move. It could be the idea of coming face to face with a new reality that looks much different than your norm as a pastor or leader. It could be the prideful ego of a leader not willing to walk off the stage as Bishop Jakes & Lady Serita did during the passing of the torch. Reasons are too many to number as to why we have not seen the Power of the Pass more often over the years. As we watch this new level of humility, courage, love and obedience shown we see a new possibility of what releasing the torch can do in the lives of so many.
Listening to the words spoken from Bishop Jakes to Sarah not only as his daughter but as a woman who has accepted the call to share the gospel of Jesus Christ in her own most authentic way, makes my heart swell. It seems his his words shared hit Sarah's heart along with the men and women in the room as well as those of us who watched from all over the world.
What a reminder to know God’s plan is one that works for the good of those who love him, even on the stages we could never imagine being on the whisper of his promise echos in our hearts.
The love Bishop Jakes extends to his daughter truly broke years of resentment I have held in my heart for a long time. His words become a sweet reminder that just as his love for his daughter extends beyond what she ever thought. So that is the love of God for his children. Life and people have a way of leaving scars and wounds so deep in our lives it takes years for them to be uprooted. As a pastor’s kid, we are often the casualties of war, sacrificing time, our parents, the comforts of what can’t merely begin to understood by those who don't walk the similar path.
Bishop Jakes’ speaks simply, “You Are Enough” those words feel as the freshest water to a very parched soul. In a world when being enough seems like it isn’t enough, in a world where we are constantly fighting to feel like we are enough. I would like to imagine maybe the world stood still as Sarah Jakes Roberts hears these words from God’s heart to her father’s lips carried right to her heart filling her up where she is never lacking. Here is the earthly example of what it must look like for God to share these reminders with us, that He will always have our back, he will continue to cover us through all situations, no matter the battle, the heartbreak, no issue too big or too small for him to show up for his children.
Finally Bishop Jakes empowers Sarah to never let the flame of the torch go out in her life with four simple words, Don’t Drop The Mic! Followed by both Bishop Jakes & Lady Serita Jakes walking off the stage, what a moment, truly!
Sarah Jakes Roberts in true Sarah Jakes Roberts fashion reminds us all what it means to cry, accept the challenge, get up wipe your eyes and get to the work ahead. This moment hit me so deeply as I face moments in my own life feeling that I am inadequate, not properly equipped, flat out not being the right choice. It is in this moment that I gain strength, wisdom and the sheer tenacity to come face to face with the challenge and forge ahead.
This is what the Power of the Pass can do in the lives of the ones after you!