Bishop T.D. Jakes offers support to son accused of indecent exposure
03:12 PM CST on Saturday, February 14, 2009
By SAM HODGES / The Dallas Morning News samhodges@dallasnews.com
Bishop T.D. Jakes of Dallas says he is offering "help, support and restorative grace" to his son, Jermaine, who faces an indecent exposure charge.
"It is in moments like these that I am so grateful that we do not preach that we are the solution, but we look to Christ for resolution," Jakes, pastor of Dallas’ megachurch The Potter’s House, said in a written statement provided to The Dallas Morning News late Friday night.
"So then, as a very human family with real issues, like many other people, we will draw from the same well of grace to which we have led others to drink and be refreshed," the statement said.
According to police, Jermaine Jakes, 29, exposed himself before an undercover Dallas police vice detective on the night of Jan. 3 at Kiest Park, near West Kiest Boulevard and South Hampton Road.
He was detained at the scene and released, as is often done in such cases. He turned himself in to the Dallas County Jail on Thursday and was released after posting $1,000 bail.
The charge is a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine.
Jermaine Jakes is one of five children of T.D. Jakes and his wife, Serita.
The pastor is an international figure, based on his many TV appearances and best-selling books. Last month, he was in the news for the release of a movie he produced, Not Easily Broken, and for speaking at a prayer service attended by President Barack Obama on the morning of his inauguration.
Jermaine Jakes’ arrest made the news this week and prompted much Internet comment.
But his father’s ministry will not be seriously undercut by his son’s troubles, predicted Shayne Lee, a Tulane University sociology professor who wrote a book analyzing the appeal of the Dallas pastor.
Because T.D. Jakes has consistently preached compassion, Lee said, most in the public will show compassion over the trouble in the Jakes family.
"He doesn’t have a judgmental message," Lee said. "If he had been a Bible-thumping, finger-pointing kind of preacher, he’d be in trouble now."