NEWS STORY: Jakes’ Mega Fest Brings 100,000 to Atlanta

c. 2004 Religion News Service ATLANTA _ With 100,000 registrants and tens of thousands of walk-ins expected, power preacher Bishop T.D. Jakes’ Mega Fest has taken over four giant downtown venues in Atlanta this week (June 23-26) for four days of fervent Christian worship mixed with an all-star entertainment lineup. Jakes regularly draws thousands of […]

c. 2004 Religion News Service

ATLANTA _ With 100,000 registrants and tens of thousands of walk-ins expected, power preacher Bishop T.D. Jakes’ Mega Fest has taken over four giant downtown venues in Atlanta this week (June 23-26) for four days of fervent Christian worship mixed with an all-star entertainment lineup.

Jakes regularly draws thousands of worshippers to his conferences and his church, the Potter’s House, in Dallas, drawn by his charismatic preaching and his candid tackling of painful and taboo subjects. But the Atlanta event is perhaps Jakes’ largest and most ambitious conference to date.


Mega Fest is the new umbrella gathering for previously separate events _ “ManPower” and “Woman, Thou Art Loosed,” his famous conferences for men and women _ and a new addition, “The Youth 3D Experience.” Jakes already has plans to host another Mega Fest next year, also in Atlanta.

Mega Fest, which winds up Saturday (June 26) with a mass gathering in the Georgia Dome, is novel in several ways: It is predominantly African-American; it featured an all-star lineup that blurs boundaries between Christian and secular worlds; and it has been underwritten by major corporate sponsors, such as Delta Airlines and Coca-Cola, that have maintained a visible presence.

Ultimately, Jakes said, Mega Fest is nothing new in Christian history.

“To put on this event is extremely aggressive but not inappropriate, if you think about it,” he said in an interview. “Think about Jesus, who had 5,000 men, not to mention women and children, out in the wilderness, with no microphones and no billboards and no radio announcements.”

The conference was kicked off with a young people’s rally. Members of the UniverSoul Circus, a troupe representing the African diaspora, danced and paraded on stilts. Gospel artist Stephen Hurd exhorted the crowd of mostly teens, “Give Jesus praise until you make something shake in the atmosphere!”

But the grassy expanse atop a massive parking garage that hosted the rally was already reverberating under thousands of dancing feet.

“I think the teens need to get a sense of true religion and Christianity,” said Janice Williams, who brought her daughter, Tamara, from Bowie, Md. “It’s a great environment to see the diversity and fellowship _ not one denomination, but multiple denominations, coming together in a nonviolent, Christian, positive way, especially in today’s times.”

The packed schedule has included appearances by famous preachers and entertainers alike, including Bishop Noel Jones of City of Refuge Church in Gardena, Calif.; Pastor Paula White of Tampa’s Without Walls International Church; poet Maya Angelou; basketball star Magic Johnson; comedians Steve Harvey and Sinbad; and singers Patti LaBelle, India.Arie and Kirk Franklin.


Though the massive event had corporate sponsorship and paid reserved seating, offerings have been taken at evening events to address a shortfall in the $15 million budget. General admission has been free for most events.

At Wednesday night’s “Woman, Thou Art Loosed,” Jakes urged tens of thousands of women to seize the opportunity to “start all over again,” insisting that God has a plan, no matter how dismal life may appear.

As for sins in their past, he shouted repeatedly, “It doesn’t matter.” As for the pain and suffering they carried with them: “You’ve got to get over it, so you can get on with being the woman of God you were created to be. … There is a happy and fulfilled woman inside you screaming to get out.”

Near the end of his sermon, the crowd’s response reached a fever pitch. One woman began running laps around a section of seats in the Georgia Dome; others sprinted for the stage, trailed by ushers trying to rein them back in.

Later, Jakes invited women to approach the stage for prayer. The aisles of the stadium floor quickly filled up with thousands streaming from the stands.

“I got so caught up,” said Rebecca Burgess of Freeport, N.Y., Thursday. “I can identify with some of the things he was saying. I got so emotional.”


Burgess said she planned to hear as many of the women speakers as possible. “I’m so thirsty for the word and knowledge, you know, and I think that’s what brought me here,” she said.

Men were equally hungry for Jakes’ message.

“It’s like going to the gas tank,” said Frankie Roberts, an Atlanta native. “Eventually it runs out, so you come here, get revived, just turn around, and go back and be a witness to God.”

On Thursday night, a hoarse Jakes pushed tens of thousands of men, including baseball star Darryl Strawberry and NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, to “drop your masks.”

“What really matters is who you are when nobody’s looking,” he said, and described a state of secret misery _ a “solitary confinement” _ particular to men suffering under the pressure to succeed, perform and “measure up.”

Voicing this struggle, he asked: “If I fall apart, who’s gonna put me back together again?” And if a woman pledges to help: “Will you still respect me in the morning?”

Jakes said men must seek “covenanted relationships” with other men who challenge them and help them grow. Seated theatrically on a throne onstage at the Georgia Dome, Jakes urged them to discover the “king inside you.”


Through satellite uplinks with 400 prisons nationwide, along with churches and prisons in Kenya, South Africa, and Australia, conference-goers caught glimpses of simultaneous Christian gatherings around the world.

KRE/PH END BYRNE

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!