As last stated....my major disappointment came in April of ’97.....
In April of 1997, a letter from Morehouse College, stating that I had NOT been accepted! I felt as if all of my dreams had been shattered. By then, I just knew that I would be accepted, especially after being accepted into Baylor College. This was not the case. It took me years after to publicly admit that I had not been accepted. But, yes, I was NOT accepted into Morehouse! Then I seemed to receive clear direction. The idea of Dallas Baptist kept popping up. However, I had no desire to attend such an unpopular, ‘boring’ school; and saw no way how this would fit into God’s ultimate plan for my life and ministry; and how this would even connect to my intended plan of attending Princeton. Plus…I HATED Dallas! But along the way, doors began to open at Dallas Baptist. It was clear to me, if no one else – that is where God wanted me!
Just after graduating high school, and being accepted into Dallas Baptist University, our city (Corpus Christi) hosted a City-Wide revival. Interestingly, the preachers who were on to share that week just so happened to hail from Dallas. One of the evangelists was Frederick D. Haynes, III. When I finally heard him preach, I thought he was good, but different. After a while, his preaching began to grow on me. While I didn’t connect with his exposition at first, I was blown away by his linguistic ability, his use of words (which sort of reminded me of A. Louis Patterson) and his seeming ability to touch the heart of the hip hop culture. One of the things that fascinated me, when it came to the preaching of Frederick Haynes, is that he seemed to get a very enthusiastic response and dialogue from the crowd without ever utilizing the ‘hoop’. In fact, it seemed to me, the response was even stronger! It was then, that I began to develop atleast a momentary confidence and comfort in my ability to ‘tell the story’ and use my mind to speak to and capture the hearts and minds of the hearer. During that season of my life, this is when Haynes became very instrumental in my use of illustration and introductions in my sermon delivery. For me, Haynes’s preaching never failed to provide me with anecdotes, word pictures and heart-wrenching questions that would help me to build my own sermons and content. Unfortunately, it somewhat became a crutch along the way. I began to study less and listen to tapes for insight and enlightenment. I discovered at the moments when my study would outweigh the listening aspect, my preaching would be more empowering; and when I listened and copied more, studying less…it had the opposite effect.
As I prepared to go off the school in the fall of ’97, I was very excited about attending some of the churches of the preachers I had grown to admire. Unfortunately….my parents didn’t allow me to take my car that fall. Incidentally, the only church within walking distance of our aloof campus was The Potter’s House of Dallas, where Bishop T.D. Jakes served as the founding pastor. At that time, Jakes was somewhat of a stigma, seen as highly charismatic and highly misunderstood. For many, he was very new; and had yet to gain the crossover title of ‘The next Billy Graham’, friends with presidents, renowned publisher, Dr. Phil consultant, Oprah friend, etc. To say the least, I had to sneak over to his church. This was during a time when Saturday services were quite new. I left my dorm room at about 5:30pm, and walked over to The Potter’s House. Whatever I had seen regarding a ‘church crowd’ paled in comparison to what I saw that night. Of course, this would be the beginning of what I would encounter in Dallas, but this was ‘epic’. Imagine coming from Corpus Christi, where things were a little ‘simpler’, entering into a church with thousands of people there, on a Saturday night, with screens, music that could rival a Michael Jackson or Madonna concert, and ball players within you eyeview. I guess you can say that it was ‘culture shock’. Interestingly, this was my first experience seeing an epilogue leading up to the worship, and an actual countdown to the opening of the worship experience. What seems so commonplace now was quite astonishing to me then. During this first-class worship experience, Jakes comes out! I don’t know how I remember what the people wear; but I actually know he had on a mauve suit with a curved lapel jacket. I noticed that, as he stood in the pulpit, he seemed to be in a modus operandi of CEO; checking out the staff, musicians, crowd, etc. Then he stepped to the podium and welcomed everyone to worship. After his welcome, he actually came down and shook hands. Somehow, he and I shook hands. Tough I would come to know his children in the coming years, that was really the only encounter I’ve had with him personally. One thing is clear….he preached! Though different from most of the preaching I’d grown accustomed to; I vividly remember being a little shocked that he preached a solid message. Don't ask me why I was shocked...I guess during that time many only knew of Jakes as a Pentecostal preacher who hollered and screamed. Somehow, I played into the hype. But there was and is not doubt in my mind that, even in listening to the sermon today (I somehow managed to purchase the sermon), the quality and content of his sermon was solid and strong. He preached, ‘Christ in Crisis’, from an obscure passage in Colossians, dealing with the all-sufficiency of Christ, along with the familiar story of Christ in the boat with his disciples. I remember walking back, as all of those nice cars left the building…uplifted by the message; while also saying to myself, ‘I can’t do that!’?.....
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