TD Jakes - Ministry Takes On Many Forms
I am so excited! I have some friends here tonight, along with members of our team. We have a wonderful mixture of many expressions of Christ on Earth. When you start talking about real estate, I believe that God cares about you having a home, a place to stay, and shelter. We were discussing this earlier. How many of you enjoyed the pre-show? Did you enjoy it? We don’t usually do a pre-show on Wednesday nights, but we knew Jew was coming, and we wanted to make him feel special, so we arranged the pre-show, and it was wonderful! We’re going to go a little deeper now.
I am blessed tonight to have Reverend Curry J. Bridgewater with us. He is a minister, educator, and business leader. He serves as the principal at Crow, one of the top ten largest accounting networks in the world, where he leads Crow Beacon, a select suite of services for high-growth businesses. We have a preacher leading a high-growth business corporation! I said, «Your gift will make room for you and set you before great men.» Do you hear what I’m saying? The goal of the practice is to strengthen underserved businesses with accounting management and technology.
Curry has also served as chairman and CEO of Northdale Capital, as well as a program officer at the DeVos Family Foundation, where he worked on programs for congregations in West Michigan. He launched the Urban Church Leadership Center located at Cornerstone University, where he served as an adjunct professor and board member of Our Daily Bread Ministries. Curry founded the Inspire Equity Foundation, and the list goes on and on. He has accomplished so many great things! Can you give him a warm welcome from right here at The Potter’s House?
Next, we want to invite Tiffany Brinkley to the stage. You don’t often see her on stage, but she makes things happen in this place! She is the director of United Mega Care and a native of Dallas, Texas. Tiffany is married and has two wonderful children. She is a graduate of the illustrious Clark Atlanta University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science with a pre-law concentration.
For the past seven years, we have been privileged to have Tiffany work for The Potter’s House in Fort Worth as director of community outreach, and she has transitioned to United Mega Care as their new director. Let me tell you, United Mega Care goes everywhere! They do disaster relief in foreign countries, and she will tell you more about it. Tiffany has headed that up, and I must say, if you want to see your money grow, give it to a woman! She can take a dime and stretch it into a hundred dollars; I don’t know how she does it!
Tiffany’s 20 years of experience have afforded her opportunities to work for various non-profits, corporate America, government, and faith-based organizations. She enjoys being a basketball mom, mentoring youth, and volunteering with Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. You’re going to get me in trouble— all the Deltas might have an attitude about that right now, so please say amen for Tiffany!
You may be seated. We’re glad to have you here. He is the national co-chair for the GSA Acquisitions Policy Committee, and author Cassius F. Butts has worked alongside domestic and international heads of state, presidents, and CEOs for the past 30 years. He founded Capital Fortitude Business Advisors consulting firm and currently serves as the Chief Strategy Officer and Managing Partner with Global Leader Group, based in Salt Lake City, with offices in Atlanta, Georgia. Cassius was appointed as the national co-chair of the General Services Administration Policy Acquisition Committee and served on the Biden-Harris Agency Transition Team. Governor Brian Kemp appointed Cassius to serve on the Georgia Economic Development Board, and he is the Chairman of the Fort McPherson Local Redevelopment Agency.
Would you welcome my friend and brother, Cassius F. Butts? A very familiar face is about to come to the stage: Dr. Natasha Gresham, the Director of the Center for Counseling and Behavioral Health at The Potter’s House of Dallas. Working closely with me for over 25 years, she is a renowned inspirational speaker, advisor, and executive life coach, touching lives through television, social media, conferences, and individual consultations. Driven by passion, transparency, and authenticity, Natasha has successfully worked with celebrities, athletes, politicians, faith-based organizations, and prestigious universities. Her outstanding credentials include multiple recognitions, such as being named the Presidential Volunteer of the Year in 2019 and being honored at the United Nations.
Natasha is committed to sharing her knowledge about inner healing, hope, and new beginnings. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, reading, and embracing new adventures. Would you make her feel welcome, even though she’s at home? Just for the benefit of putting this in context, I want you to write this down: Ministry takes on many forms. Historically, we have alienated many people in church because they couldn’t sing, preach, or perform the recognizable gifts. We have not noticed the fact that in the Bible, when it lists gifts, it also talks about the gift of administration. There are gifts of helps, gifts of giving—there are many things that God cares about that we don’t talk about in church.
To contextualize our conversation for tonight, I want you to turn to Luke chapter 4, verses 13 through 21. There you will find Jesus pointing out in His first address in the synagogue, after He was tempted in the wilderness, the things that matter most to Him. Now, normally when we’re in The Potter’s House and we read a text, we stand for the reading of the Word, so let’s act normally, even though this is an unusually large Bible class for Wednesday night. We’re going to act normal. And you online, you don’t have to stand unless you want to, because I can’t see you anyway. We are reading from the Amplified version of the Bible, so you will see inserts added into the text to give clarity and possible openings of ideas throughout the text.
«When the devil had ended every temptation, the complete cycle of every temptation, he temporarily left Him,» meaning Jesus, «and he stood afar off from Him until another more opportune and favorable time.» Lord have mercy, isn’t that how it is? The devil will never say goodbye; he just says, «So long, I’ll be back later.» Then Jesus went back, full and under the power of the Holy Spirit, into Galilee, and the fame of Him spread through the whole region around about. Without Him even trying, the word about His effectiveness spread throughout Galilee. I believe that for you, without you even trying.
The word is going to get out. I believe in marketing because the Bible says that men do not light a candle and hide it under a bushel but put it out for all men to see. You’re not going to have to stress about it because the people who are blessed because of you and blessed because of your creativity are going to be your marketing agents, spreading abroad what you do, who you are, and what you bring to the table. I want you to think about this question: Who do we get when we get you? Who do we get when we get you, whether that’s personally, professionally, or spiritually? When you come to the table, just sat down at the table, and He Himself conducted, of course, a course of teaching in their synagogues, being recognized, honored, and praised by all.
Now we have not seen Jesus in the temple in Scripture since He was 12 years old. This is after He has been baptized by John, been tempted in the wilderness, and He shows up in the synagogue, and this is the story that is narrated to us as Luke brings to us what happened in the room. Would you like to have been in the room with Jesus? How many people would like to be in the room with Jesus? Guess what? You are! He came to Nazareth, that Nazareth where He had been brought up, and Lord knows there ain’t no place harder to go to than where you grew up because the prophet is without honor in his own country. You know I knew you when; I know your mama, so don’t come in here acting like you’re so much.
Jesus started where He had been brought up and entered into the synagogue, and as was His custom on the Sabbath day, so this isn’t a one-off. It was His custom to engage them on the Sabbath day. Only this time, He stood up to read, and the scroll of the book was handed to Him. At that time, books were not bound; they were scrolls, and He had to unroll the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened or unrolled the book and found the place where it was written. So what He is quoting from is Isaiah 61:1 and 2: «The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me, the Anointed One, the Messiah, to preach the good news, the Gospel.»
This is what Jesus cares about — the Gospel to the poor. If you don’t care about economic equity, you don’t care about what Jesus cares about. One of the top things on His list was equity. He has sent me to announce release to the captives. He doesn’t want you to be bound by things, by drugs, by people, or by the need for affirmation and validation. He said He has sent me to announce the release of the captives. Somebody shout «release»! And the recovery of sight to the blind — He wants you to have a vision. Oh my God, how many women in here have a vision? How many brothers in here have a vision? Make some noise! To send forth as delivered — He said, «I want to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed.»
So God cares about people who are pressed down, who are downtrodden, who are bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity. To proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord, I’m claiming this as the acceptable year of the Lord for your release. So if you’re watching online, say, «This is the acceptable year for me to be free in every area of my life, to get my vision back, to get my emotions intact, and to see my finances rise up with me.» Oh, you ought to be shouting me down right now! The day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound; that is Isaiah 61:1 and 2. Then He rolled up the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue were gazing attentively at Him. They were staring at Him. It’s all right for people to stare at you when you’ve got it; you just have it! And He began to speak to them, «Today,» somebody said «today,» «this scripture has been fulfilled while you are present and hearing.»
Whoo! Father, bless our conversation tonight. We thank You for the gifts that are on stage and the price they paid to be who they are. As we engage in this conversation, let us see ourselves, hear ourselves, and understand ourselves in new dimensions and idioms of thought as we embrace the opportunities that have afforded us to be in the room where it happens. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray, amen, amen, and amen. You may be seated. Chill out; pick your shoes off. I forgot Pastor Michael Phillips! Jesus! Come on, Pastor. I’m sorry! Come on, give it up! I don’t know how I forgot my own! Come on! He is the Chief Operating Officer for T.D. Jakes Enterprises. They didn’t give me any card; they didn’t give me any card. Yeah, they know I only read what they tell me to read.
Give it up for Pastor Michael Phillips! Come on! You know who he is. If you’ve ever watched us, you’ve seen him minister; you’ve seen him preach. But you don’t know how he leads, how he directs our enterprise initiatives, and oversees our films, our books, all of our ultimate real estate endeavors, and particularly a focus on entrepreneurs. Any entrepreneurs in the house? Do you know how your business is about to be blessed? Oh, y’all don’t know! Let me talk to these people. Do you know how your business is about to be blessed? Do you have any idea how your business is about to be blessed? How in the world can you be blessed in your business and not be blessed?
So I want you to take some notes, whether they’re on your phone or in your laptop, because you have the privilege; the wealth of knowledge on this stage is incomparable to anything you have ever seen before. I want you to take advantage of this opportunity as we begin to have a discussion that I think is very important. I’m going to start with Reverend Corey Bridgewater. Since we’re talking about business, what do you see as the most common impediments that stop us from being successful in business, and why do you, as a clergyman, even care to be bothered with what you are fighting for today? The biggest impediment, Bishop, is fear; I see over and over again people are afraid to trust their own insight and instincts.
But I also see them afraid to do the work that it takes to understand what it requires to get the capital flowing for their business, so they do the things that are easy and enjoyable but are afraid to do the things that are hard. I see that a lot. Why do I do this? You know why I do what I do? It’s because I see serving businesses as loving people. We look at visiting the sick, we look at feeding the hungry, but what does it mean to actually help someone build the resources so they never become hungry? That’s why I do whatever I do. It’s so funny because when I was meditating today, I was over in the Book of James, and there he was talking fervently and ferociously about validating our faith by our works. You started talking about doing the work, and I would suggest to you that sometimes we love the craft, but we don’t even know what the work is that is necessary to be successful.
We have an idea, and there are people in here with great vision and great ideas who are ready to do the work, but they don’t really understand what the work is—the research that’s involved, the opportunities and prerequisites that are necessary to do what they need to do to be ultimately successful. So they drive past business and go to hustle, and they keep hustling faster and faster, making cupcakes or doing tax returns or whatever it is that they do. They’re doing, doing but not being or thinking.
So especially with inflation now, the hamster is having to run faster than ever before just to make half as much. When you say do the work, let’s get down to the recipe of what we need to be doing to bring our businesses and our vision up to scale. We have to operate on multiple levels, Bishop. The first piece is that just because you sell something doesn’t mean you actually have a business, and the purpose of business is not to sell; the purpose of business is to build wealth. When you don’t understand the principles of wealth, you don’t design your business to be profitable.
So what ends up happening, in part, is that we’re so loving—I had a restaurant, so I loved selling fried chicken, and we made good fried chicken, right? Honey dust and all, right? But we didn’t know how to make money, right? If you don’t make money off your business, you’re just having fun. Part of it is doing the hard work to understand finances, understand cash flow, and understand how capital works. That’s the first thing: take an accounting class that says to understand how your cash flows, right? Understand how you’re connected to a broader system.
Many of the reasons that we didn’t get PPP loans and we didn’t receive other things we talked about is because we weren’t ready to have financial records that we could present to the federal government. If you need to grow a business, I know we talk about not getting loans, but no one builds a company without some sort of debt and some sort of equity investment. You can’t get that if you—think about it this way: Your house has electricity and water that come to it, right? But the electrical company and the water company will not give you electricity or water if your house is not up to code. Yet we have businesses that are not up to code when it comes to capital; therefore, no bank, no underwriter, will give you a loan, and no investor will give you an investment unless you get your house in order.
And so that’s the financial hygiene—getting your books in order; that’s getting the hard part to work properly for someone to actually give you resources. That’s what I mean by the hard work; so that is hard work, and I would say that’s only part of it. Sometimes we don’t market our business; sometimes we don’t manage our business; sometimes we don’t understand that you are no better than the people you put around you. Instead of having a business, you left your job to work for yourself and now you just have a job, calling it a business, but it’s really a job. You’re so busy doing it that you’re not running it.
If you can’t step away from it for two months and have it remain sustainable, it’s not a business, it’s a job. All you did was trade one for another. About 94% of particularly African-American businesses have less than two employees. I know those figures because I came in during this time. Chocolate was the flavor; you know I didn’t pick it—it’s nice, I like it—but 94% of African-American businesses have less than two employees. If you’re playing ball and you don’t have anybody to pass to, you’re exhausted. The reason we don’t have anyone to pass to is that our books are not together, and we say we can’t afford to, but you can’t afford not to. If you don’t scale your business, then your business is running you, and you’re not running it.
When the Bible talks about setting the captive free, that’s not just «Hallelujah, glory to God, thank you Jesus,» because you can say all of that and still be exhausted, worn out, and at your wit’s end, going home smelling like chicken every day, not seeing a return on your income, and still not being able to send your kids to the college of your choice without more debt. God wants to set at liberty those who are economically bound. You’ve talked a little about the problem; tell me a little about the solution.
What do you propose as solutions for startups? Because I’m not an accountant—I have one, I have three, but they each have twenty under them. If they all left, I would be lost. Glory to God, don’t leave me, okay? I need them. You have to understand that what he is saying is you need the language of banking to prosper in the pursuit of wealth. You can’t talk «chicken» in a bank meeting or speak in tongues. So help us out because we’ve done a lot of think tanks about the problems. What are the solutions? First, you can’t solve this on your own. We’re dealing with a historic context here, right? We don’t know enough about finance as a community because we’ve been denied access to it.
So part of the conversation is to learn yourself but also understand that there is a whole invisible system that brings capital to your neighborhood and to your communities. You need to work together to demand better services. It’s sort of like having a house but the pipes don’t work. They get it to your house. The only way you can do that is to come together and have conversations with the lenders and investors in your community to demand better services. Part of that is a collective decision that we’re all going to get our finances together. Also, stop trying to do it yourself; hire someone who actually knows what they’re doing. Write this down: conversations are important. If you’re running around with people who are gossiping, you’re in the wrong crowd.
I have had the privilege of being in the room with very successful people, and none of them gossip. Only broke people are interested in other people’s business. Blessed people are so busy trying to run their business that they don’t have time to mix their thought process with other people’s business. That is the hobby of the disenfranchised. So, you want to be in conversations where you find yourself Googling. Oh, I’m getting ready to take you out of your comfort zone. I want to put you in rooms where you have to learn new languages. Conversations also include starting to read things other than novels.
I love novels, but «He came to her through the wind, and he drove until his car ran out of gas, and still he walked with nothing but her on his mind» won’t pay any bills at all. None at all. Start reading magazines, newsletters—anything that begins slowly but becomes part of your language, which makes you understand what you want. If I understand my brother correctly, he’s trying to tell you that everything isn’t cut and dried; there’s more than one way to access capital for your business. There are multiple ways to access capital. There are CDFIs, minority-owned institutions that create capital wealth, and multiple ways to increase passive and aggressive streams of income.
You don’t have to keep running on a hamster wheel. There are multiple ways to acquire property, own real estate, and have your renters pay the mortgage, thus creating your income. There are multiple ways for you to break out of this, but you’ve got to start talking. You can’t keep crying. You need to start having conversations, and if you’re not around people who converse like that, you’re not around the right people. Another thing—and I’ll come to you in a minute because it’s a natural transition—is to have conversations in front of your family.
One difference between rich dads and poor dads is that they talk about money and things that poor people don’t talk about. Poor people don’t have money and don’t understand that if you don’t talk about it, you’ll never have any. They demonize it, and church people are good at demonizing. There are two things that church people want but never talk about; they are really interested in: one is sex, and the other is money. Yes, they don’t want to talk about either, but they’re secretly interested in both.
When we don’t discuss it, you know what happens? When we invite you to prayer, you want prayer so you can get a house; you’re believing God for a car. You don’t have to believe God for a car if you have a 700 credit score; you just go down and get it. Believe God for something God-like, like a kidney. Believe God for a liver; believe God to part the Red Sea. Don’t just believe God for a car. Drug dealers have cars; atheists have cars; agnostics have cars. We have made miracles out of things that just require discipline, and it’s because we are never in the room where conversations are had about things that matter to us. We don’t grow up in homes where money is discussed. Investments are not discussed, nor is whole life insurance.
That’s why a huge percentage of people who die in our churches don’t even have life insurance. That’s why we’re raising offerings, because preachers have more shoes than policies. That’s why all your friends are calling you to pitch in to help pay for things that we should have been thoughtful about. We had bling, but we didn’t have increase, and God wants you to have increase. Can we settle on that?
God wants you to have increase. While we’re talking about business before we get into other topics, this is a good opportunity for you to talk about good soil. Thank you, Bishop. Good soil! Some good soil folks out there! That’s what I’m talking about. Good soil is the place where entrepreneurs come to evolve. It’s where small business owners come to grow their businesses, to impact, and scale. We’ve essentially placed your business right in the center of an ecosystem that provides much of the support that Carvery was talking about.
If you can picture your business being the center of a page, at the top, you have a financial partner, and to the side, you have a capacity building partner. Someone will help you understand what cash flow means, what your assets and liabilities are, how to create a forecast for your burn rate and churn rate for your customers. All those terminologies and new language that the Bishop is addressing—we put you right in the middle of that and then connect you with those capacity building partners who will guide you through the process of growing your business.
Of course, there’s also a peer-to-peer network where you can learn and grow with other entrepreneurs who are on their entrepreneurial journey, allowing you to glean from each other—creating better efficiencies, new ways of doing business, new networking opportunities, and so forth. Last but certainly not least, you’re going to need legal support and accounting support.
We put all of this within your ecosystem and place you right in the center of it so that you can have connectivity for growth in your business. Let me put it in context for you: there is nothing wrong with your idea, but there might be something wrong with the environment that you are working in. If you wanted to grow oranges and you had the best Florida orange seed but you went and planted it in Antarctica, guess what? It’s not going to grow. If you wanted a vineyard but were going to put it in Houston, the humidity alone would prevent that from happening. Great idea, wrong environment.
Here’s the good news: there’s still life in the seed. You just have to move it to the right environment. That’s what good soil is. Once you get your idea, your business, in the right environment, you’ll connect those ideas with influential organizations and partners that we have curated to intentionally help you grow your business. When ideas hang around influences, income is always the end result. That’s some really good stuff! You’ve got to be excited about this. It’s crucial to understand that most of the business people I encounter in many communities don’t really get a good ROI; they don’t have a positive return on investment because we pay so much for manufacturing and distribution. We don’t conduct business like businesses are supposed to; we are getting our supplies from people who are getting their supplies from people.
The more intermediaries you have between you and retail, the more diluted your profits become. If I pass a cookie down the road, and everyone takes a bite, by the time it gets to Carvery, he’s standing there with a club. Everyone involved from creation to distribution to the wholesaler to the person who makes it available at retail gets paid. Why not go straight to the source, cut out the middlemen, reduce overhead, and increase profitability? The reason you can’t see where you are is that if you don’t have good accounting, you’re blind. The numbers tell you—not your sweat—whether it’s really working or not. Am I helping anybody? Are you understanding me?
You can work really hard, and yet go absolutely nowhere, wondering why you’re not seeing results. I’m gifted, I’m anointed, I’ve fasted, I’ve prayed, I work long hours, I put in the sweat—I still don’t see much return. The reason you aren’t seeing a return is that others are stealing your cookie.
Write this down: stop letting other people eat up your cookie. It’s not deep, but you’ll understand what it means. Ask yourself how many people handle your materials before you receive them, and figure out how to cut them out. One trip to wherever you need to go for manufacturing might save you much more money in the long run than letting someone else take the trip, then allowing someone else to open up a building, and afterward you coming down to a fashion show in Vegas to buy dresses made in Vietnam. You think you’re buying wholesale, but you’re paying 60% more than necessary.
Now you can’t see a return on your profit because no one’s talking to you about this. We’re just shouting, moving on with our lives, and going to heaven the same as before. The Bible says that the children of this world are wiser in their ways than the children of light. Many people are doing what good soil is doing—we’re having events. Good soil has a big event in Dallas in June for you to come and experience all the different ways you can get financing and find out what you need to do to get ahead. What’s unique about good soil is that we’re not just hosting an event; if you download the good soil app, you’ll have someone to guide you, answer your questions, and walk you through the process. We’re also getting ready to start doing «Seat at the Table,» where you can sit at a round table like this, submit questions, and receive answers.
And by the way… oh yeah, somebody got excited over that! I know because you have some questions. By the way, if you’re watching and you’re online and you have questions, in a few minutes, I’m going to open it up for questions, and we’re going to answer as many as we can.
So, if you type them in—even if you’re sitting in the room and you want to go on YouTube and type in a question—we’ll pick out and answer as many as we can. My brother, Cassius, I’m going to go to you next; this seems like the natural progression. Not everyone here is an entrepreneur, but everyone here needs a house. Everyone here needs a community. No matter how anointed they are, and how they pray and how they preach, they need to be able to go home at some point when the revival is over, and have a safe place to stay. What can we do about it? There are a couple of things, Bishop, and thank you for that question.
The reality is that we all have the opportunity to shape our lives; it is really at our fingertips. I was fortunate to serve in government at the time when I was at HUD in the Bush Administration. We had this thing called Housing Counseling Centers. Has anyone ever heard of them? If you haven’t, I recommend you go to a Housing Counseling Center. If you go to hud.gov and click on the icon that says Housing Counseling, there you can speak to a counselor who will talk to you about leasing an apartment—that’s fine—or if you’re looking to actually acquire a home, you can go through the certification process. You can take that certification and use it to qualify for buying your first home. That enables you to be a first-time homebuyer, and every state has funds available for you to do this.
Bishop, the other best thing is that even on the business side—when I served in the Obama Administration, I let people know about starting a business. And one thing about starting a business is that you have to have passion. What is your passion? Your passion is your purpose, and your purpose is your plan. Whatever you’re passionate about is your purpose in life; you should build a plan around that. So if anybody gets that, raise your hand quickly. Okay, the best purpose, plan, passion—purpose, plan, passion—purpose, plan, passion.
Come on, you can take that—go to sba.gov, click on Small Business Development Centers (SBDC). It will put you within a 25-mile radius so you can actually speak with a counselor about starting and growing your business. This is the best part, Bishop: there’s no cost. Wow! Or, as I like to say, U.S. taxpayers have already paid for this. Alright? You’ve already paid for it. You sound like what you talk about on Sundays, Bishop—it’s been paid for! So go to sba.gov, click on SBDC, and then take that same knowledge to come with Mike to Good Soil, so we can talk about you all becoming first-time homebuyers and starting your own businesses. Actually, that’s the time we rejoice, and we come together and say, «This is how we learn together.»
Bishop, when we start taking advantage of opportunities like this, we can increase our ability to retire. We don’t have to work until we drop on the floor and die; we can have multiple streams of income coming in from different directions. Yes! You’re not at the mercy of your job as you get older, and it is very, very important that you start working on this now because your 401(k) might be looking like a 201(k)! Come on, talk to me, somebody! But just because your 401(k) isn’t looking good doesn’t mean you can’t grow to the next level. If you start strategizing—listen, if you were dropping your handkerchief out the window waiting on Prince Charming to come on a horse and pick it up, I have news for you: go down the steps, pick up your own handkerchief, and come on, talk to me, somebody!
Make a plan so you can tell the difference between Prince Charming and Freddy the Frog. You’re not getting tied up with someone because you have to, but because you want to. Am I talking good to somebody? Let’s go deeper. By the way, he didn’t ask me to mention this, but Cassius has just written a book called «Being the Exception to the Rule.» I’m sure you can find it on Amazon or somewhere. It’s great information: you cannot lead if you do not read. Stop scrolling through Instagram for three and a half hours and read something that will help you get a plan for your purpose and passion. I notice you’ve worked with every type of leader across the aisle. Why do you do that? It doesn’t matter if they’re Democrat or Republican; you work with everybody to further what you’re trying to get done.
Explain that to me. I think it was just something really ordained in my family, Bishop. I realized at a young age that if you follow your passion, you’ll never become lost. That’s just the bottom line. You can have million-dollar ideas but five-dollar effort, alright? You have to put in a million dollars' worth of effort. And I said to say, Bishop, we talked about this some time ago. In my book «Being the Exception to the Rule,» I discuss 14 principles about following your passion, checking your ego before it checks you, knowing when to plant seeds, and recognizing harvest time. These are basic principles that we know, but we’re not actually putting in the work to do them. If we can do that consistently, you’ll find yourself a lot further than you can even imagine.
So at the end of the day, Bishop, I think for me it’s really about following my passion. I’m fortunate to teach leadership and development at Morehouse College, and I learn from these students. I get to be hip and cool again, right? I learn from these young men at Morehouse; they have great ideas, and they come up with these innovative thoughts. They’re far more advanced than we were when we were in school. We went to trade school; we had to pour time into them to mentor them and show them what leaders look like. Being present consistently—that’s how we can continue to change the world.
Bishop, thank you for that. Give God a praise! Tiffany, there has been so much drama in the world right now. There is no safe place to live; either they’re on fire, they’re experiencing earthquakes, they’re flooded, they’re underwater, or they’ve got murderers running through the woods stealing from people’s garages. This has been a stressful time. You have been leading us through disaster relief. Before you can get one disaster resolved, another one comes. They’re calling from everywhere. When you say, «Use me, Lord,» it doesn’t have to be from the pulpit. There’s nothing wrong with the pulpit—I’m in the pulpit right now—but it doesn’t have to be in the pulpit. Give us a quick rundown of what you do, why you do it, and how it works. Absolutely, thank you, Bishop.
First of all, I’d like to say that everyone in here is a change agent, and I love what you said because ministry starts outside these four walls. Until you realize that ministry is outside these four walls, you won’t recognize the changes you can make in your community. With United Mega Care, we are helping people all over the world. Right now, we are in Africa, we’re in India, we’re in the Philippines, we’re in the Caribbean, we’re in Mexico, and we have an imprint in Haiti. We have partnerships all over the world, and we continue to build these strong alliances. When we say we’re boots on the ground, we mean it; however, partnership is key in the work that we’re doing.
So when we create and build these partnerships, when we can’t go to an area, we ensure that we have a partnership there to take the seed you’re sowing in this ministry and do the work for us. Everybody already knows that we’re doing amazing things in Africa. They love Bishop in Africa. But also, charity starts at home, and that’s really important. I hear it all the time: people say they know we’re all over the world, but what are we doing right here? What are we doing in our local community? It’s about empowering our people here to create awareness. We’re trying to educate and empower you to know the resources available in your community. There are people right now in this sanctuary who are suffering in silence because they don’t know what resources are available to help them out of their troubles.
So I always try to encourage people to know who’s in your community, know who’s working for you, and know what resources are readily available to change your family’s situation. You have to be transparent and open up, asking for the help you need. That’s what we do with United Mega Care. We create opportunities for families that are in need. We work in impoverished, low-income communities, but we want to bring awareness to those communities. We’re trying to make sure that you are change agents so you can go out and do the work that we can’t always do. Say Amen, somebody!
So, in my Baptist voice, I’m starting to see a message appear: it says passion, it says purpose, it says plan, and it says partnership. Oh, y’all don’t hear what I’m saying! If I have passion, purpose, and a plan, then I need to develop some partnerships, knowing that I cannot do this by myself. I need to develop some partnerships. Are y’all hearing what I’m saying? I want to bring Natasha in, but let me take a quick question from Melissa. Melissa wants to know what the first step is once God has given you an idea for a business. I say research; the first step is to fill your head with all the knowledge you can about it. Will it work in this area? What is your competition in the area? How far are you from anyone else in the area?
Research, research, research! What do you say? You don’t have to agree with me; what do you think the first step ought to be? I think you ought to go work for someone else who does what you want to do. That’s a good answer too—that’s a really good answer. Working for someone else who’s doing what you want to do is like going to a university and getting paid. That’s a good one! I think it’s also a great idea not to go into business by yourself. Someone mentioned earlier about having a partner to keep you accountable. Get a partner to keep you accountable, making sure that you both are checking in with each other. That’s the way you can move ahead. What do you say? I’m just going to add that when you research the business, look at the cap of that business: how big is it? How wide can you go? You want to realize that perhaps it might not be as big of an industry as you thought. Maybe consider changing your mind.
Okay, Dr. Natasha. When I came along, every time someone came into the church and acted funny, we thought it was a demon. If you were smoking cigarettes, you had a smoking demon. If you were drinking liquor, I’d see that alcoholic demon come out of you right now in the name of Jesus! I see you, fornicating demon! My question to you, as a praying therapist and psychologist, is: Are we spiritualizing mental health?
This is National Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month. Millennials are dying; they’re committing suicide at rates unlike any other generation in our country’s history. Men in their 40s and 50s are more likely to commit suicide during this period than at any other time. You should care about this because I’m talking about your brother, your husband, your uncle—people who are silently imploding. We’re not resolving everything by making oily crosses on their foreheads and laying hands on them. Help us differentiate between a spiritual problem and a mental health problem.
Thank you, Bishop! No pressure! First, let’s define what mental health is, because in the faith-based community, we really don’t understand what mental health is. Everyone in here has mental health; you all do not have a mental illness, but you do have mental health. So, let me break it down further: mental health is how you live, how you love, and how you laugh. That is mental health. How you live, how you love, and how you show up in the world—this is mental health. Many of us, especially in Black and Brown communities, are unaware of this church has been our foundation, so we come into church with our trauma and often cannot distinguish between our trauma and our pain, the sensation and the exuberance we feel in the Spirit.
Many times, as you mentioned, we don’t discuss sex and money. Look, my counselors are right there; they discuss sex and money in these therapy sessions because what we don’t talk about causes pain and frustration. We are a silent church when it comes to real issues. Everything discussed thus far tonight relates to mental health—from where you live and how you access finances to how you start a business. It all begins with mental health. If you are not healthy, you can’t grow anything. Mental health is the foundation, so everything we are discussing starts with your mental health and how you perceive your situation, because your perception may not reflect the truth. We live in an ideal, while many of you live in reality; there’s a gap. Counseling helps you bridge the ideal and the real.
Look at that; bring it on here, bring it on in. Yes, I think you have to get up. Church has become a place where we placate and are phony. Can we be honest here? Everyone can relate to what is being discussed, but you are only as healthy as your secrets. If you have secrets, you are not healthy. The church should not ostracize you because you’re unhealthy. After all, this is a hospital, so you should be able to come in here with your trauma. However, you have to come decent and in order. We have a full-service counseling center that currently serves 33 states and 13 countries—wow! And there’s a waiting list. So when we’re talking about mental health and spirituality, don’t use your spirituality to mask your mental health issues. We are not discussing your position in Christ; we are discussing your condition in Christ. I can tell your condition is altered or broken by how you respond in these services.
Right, right, right? When you draw more attention to yourself than to God, something is broken. When you compete with the person who has been anointed to deliver the word for that hour and you interrupt, something is broken. So, don’t be ashamed of your brokenness. Can I let you in on a little secret? We are all broken. God made us from the dust of the earth, so you’re always going to be dusty. Don’t be intimidated or ashamed by your dustiness; get help and put some oil on it. I’m all for prayer and getting a little cross and coming up to this altar, but when you leave this altar—come on, come on! —you have to do the work.
Yes, it’s not just about your prayer life. God hears you, and He is answering you, but He may answer you in the form of a therapist. Where are my counselors? Stand up, stand up! It might look like that. So I’m encouraging you to seek counseling, because if all your relationships are broken and it’s always someone else’s fault, the common denominator is you. That last line deserves a Grammy! If all your relationships are broken, and it’s always someone else’s fault, the common denominator is you. That’s a revelation. It’s not ignorance; sometimes it’s hard to see it’s you because when brokenness is your norm, you don’t think there’s anything wrong. If you grew up in a dysfunctional family, dysfunction is your normal. If you meet someone functional, you may fight against them to recreate your normal. Are you hearing what I’m saying?
And for some, poverty is their normal; for others, failure is their normal. There are people who will walk out of this session, desperately needing it, but they aren’t attracted to it because they are using Christ to medicate their dysfunction. Right now, this spirituality is enough for them, and they’ll say we’re being carnal while we’re simply being practical. Jesus was practical; He went to sleep when people annoyed Him. He stepped away from the crowd; He took time for self-care. He recognized practical problems; He fed people with two fish and five loaves of bread. He said, «If your brother is naked, give him a coat, not a scripture.»
Jesus was practical—Come on, talk to me, somebody! Jesus was so practical that His first miracle was not a crisis; He turned water into wine so the party could continue. If some of you had been at the marriage of Cana, you would have told Jesus He was carnal for turning water into wine, saying, «What are you doing? This isn’t a real problem. If they ran out of wine, tell them to go home!» But Jesus' mother said, «Whatsoever He commands you to do, do that.» We are commanding you to do things that will turn the dismal waters of your ordinary existence into the blissful wine of possibilities. Jesus didn’t say He came so you might have church; He said He came so you might have life and have it more abundantly.
So when she said, «Live, work, and play,» Jesus didn’t come so you could just beat the tambourine. He came so you could have belly laughs, real happiness, peace of mind, and dwell in safety. He came to lead you beside still waters and restore your soul. Are you listening to me? Make some noise if I’m talking to you tonight! As we come to a close, I want you to give it up for my panel tonight. I cannot tell you how much I thank you for your contributions, support, and the impact you’re having. You have no idea who you’re rescuing tonight! Someone is finding out they have a ministry; they don’t need to sing to help people in crisis. Somebody is starting to think about their finances differently and realizing it’s okay to consider facts alongside faith.
All those who write «faith checks"—I’m just writing this by faith! Glory to God! You better get an accountant, get a calculator, or something! People are starting to understand: I don’t want to live in a neighborhood where my children might get shot. Whatever I have to do, I’ll do it; it’s my worst nightmare. I love Ben Crump, but it’s my worst nightmare to end up on TV with him. I don’t want to be there because someone has killed one of my children. That’s a club I don’t want to join. Some of you are already in that club. We need to make changes and dwell in safety. To do that, we need resources. Are you hearing what I’m saying?
Now, bow your heads and close your eyes. I won’t hold you much longer, but I want you to breathe in for a moment, breathe out, and ask yourself, «Why does God have me here? Why did He bring me into this room tonight?» What is down inside you that God wants to shake, stir, or expose tonight? Is it a dream, a business idea, a ministry, an outreach, or a partnership you need to develop? Do you work in a place and aren’t taking advantage of your passion? Have you downloaded the Good Soil app but don’t know how to use it while spending hours scrolling with needs? Can I go deeper? Are you happy?
No, I didn’t ask if you get happy; I didn’t ask if you worship; I didn’t ask if you can sing. Are you happy? Have you ever been in a safe space to admit you’re not happy? Do you believe it’s possible to be happy, to be the head and not the tail, above and not beneath, that you could truly be more than a conqueror? If so, don’t just come to these conferences, stay at these hotels, and eat at these restaurants without getting better. Whether you want to evolve in your business, improve your mental health, or just want to find peace of mind—maybe you’ve avoided admitting, «My prayer life is amazing, but my credit is terrible,» and you’ve done nothing about it, praying for God to fix it. Perhaps God brought you here to say He’ll fix it when you take action.
I want to talk to more than just women; men, Lord have mercy, nobody is exempt from needing what we’re discussing tonight. I want to close by praying for people who realize they need to get better, whether it’s in business, finances, or self-image. My sister said, «You are as sick as your secrets.» That should have made everyone uncomfortable because, truth be told, there’s not a person in here without secrets. What’s common among us is what we’re going to do about it. Maybe you’re watching online. Why couldn’t you click away? Others did because it wasn’t spiritual enough for them, but you stayed because something compelled you. There’s a gift being stirred in you right now; it might be a business or a ministry. Or maybe you’re online and finally admitting, «I’m busy as all get out, but I’m miserable.» Sometimes, I use busyness to mask my misery, exhausting myself with more busywork instead of pursuing what’s better. My evolution starts tonight.
Some of the best miracles in the Bible required action. Lazarus had to come forth; he was in the wrong place. The woman with the issue of blood had to crawl; had she not made that effort, she would never have been healed. The Syrophoenician woman had to find Jesus and plead for mercy. Blind Bartimaeus had to shout. The little boy had to offer two fish and five loaves of bread. Every time you see a miracle, people had to do something—not just God.
Tonight, God is asking: What are you willing to do to get to better? With heads bowed and eyes closed, if the Holy Spirit is nudging you about an area in your life where you need improvement—be it credit, crisis, trauma, or a way you’ve been faking it—get up, step out of your comfort zone, come down to this altar, and let’s pray for a life-changing experience in the coming days. You’ve come too far, invested too much, and your hotel room costs too much. You don’t have time to be cute; you want real change.
You could have had church on TV; you could have plugged in online and watched on your laptop. You didn’t come to have church; you came to have change. Come on, talk to me, somebody! You didn’t come for a show; you came for a transformation. If you assess your life, you can change it—whether looking at numbers and getting your finances on track, as you can’t fix what you don’t know. You’re busy, but you don’t even know where you stand. An accountant can show you your current situation. I review my numbers every day, receive weekly and quarterly reports from all my businesses. Sometimes I like the reports; sometimes, I don’t. Occasionally, I have to pray over those reports. But I see them because things won’t get better if I don’t confront them.
I’m tired, y’all! I’m 66 years old. I love you, but I don’t need to just have church for church’s sake. Can I confess something? I love beaches, oceans, and picking sand out of my beard. I want real change, not just church. Since you cared enough to come this far and invested so much, I want you to experience genuine transformation! I want you to start thinking about a plan to make a move—whether you’re a first-time homeowner able to beat the available interest rates or considering buying a duplex or quadplex, allowing others to pay rent while you collect the money. Or perhaps you need to franchise what’s working or team up with someone who knows how to market your great music. Whether you need to develop a better life for your kids or just get better in your own mind, let’s get to work!
To be able to sleep tonight, because you can’t do any of this stuff if you can’t sleep, I want to pray for people who are going to take action online. I want you to take action. You’re an entrepreneur; I want you to download the app and start going through it. I want you to start. Don’t just download the app and take other people’s advice; get the curriculum. It’s already laid out for you. Get the curriculum. I’m not trying to take you back to college; this is a simple curriculum, easy. What he didn’t tell you is that we gave out a quarter of a million dollars last year to small businesses.
Well, it’s going to be more. He said it’s going to be more this year if you take the curriculum. We’ll invest in you, but I’m not investing in people who don’t invest in themselves. I’m not going to invest in your dysfunction; you’ve got to do the work. I believe God brought you here for change. You’re watching online; God brought you here for change, and we’re not going to leave this place until we begin the evolution of becoming what God has called us to be. We’re going to talk about it in the restaurant, we’re going to talk about it in the car, and we’re going to talk about it in the store. We’re going to talk about it to the butcher and the baker and the candlestick maker and the maid and everybody else.
When I get back home, I’m going to change everything. I’m moving things around, reducing my overhead, lowering my costs, and changing my bling. I’m tired of looking rich; I’m going to walk into the blessing of the Lord. I’m going to teach my daughter how to handle her finances so she never goes through what I went through. I’m going to teach my son how to handle his business. I’m going to start investing in their education because I get a tax exemption for investing in their education. I don’t care that he’s six months old; if the government doesn’t care, I don’t either. I’m going to take advantage of all the available opportunities that are available to me.
If I just read—gosh, I didn’t know that—I can give Uncle Sam back money I don’t have to give him. I can start investing in my grandkids, who are two years old and not paying taxes, claim it as a deduction, and walk away with capital. So, no matter what the Supreme Court says, I can send my kids wherever I want to send them. Am I talking good to you? My mother never talked to us like Google; she talked to us like grown people. She talked to us about real stuff. I had a passbook savings account from Canal Valley Bank when I was seven years old. That’s what I got for Christmas. Everybody else got a bike; I got a passbook savings account. I couldn’t ride it, couldn’t show it off, but it paid off.
This is disruptive thinking. This is what I’m talking about when I mention disruptive thinking. I don’t want to just make you shout; I want to give you something to shout about. I love you too; thank you for loving me. I love you right back, girl, I do, I do! Yeah, see, this is what ministry is all about. Ministry takes on many forms, and whether you know it or not, these folks ministered to you tonight. Thank you for your ministry. Now, when you’re under arrest, the first thing they have you do is hold up your hands.
The Holy Spirit has arrested us tonight; there’s something that needs to change. I’m under arrest; I’m changing my position, I’m changing my posture, I’m changing my partnership, I’m recognizing my passion. I’m going to put together a plan. I’ve got a phone; the app is free. I can get into good soil; all I’ve got to do is download the app. If I’m blessed, I can take the curriculum; I can invest in myself. I’m through asking people to invest in me when I haven’t invested in myself. You mean that little investment in taking those courses is going to make me smarter and eligible to receive grants? Wow! My credit is jacked, but not until I get it straight. Now, let’s pray.
Father, I don’t know because I cannot see hearts. I see faces; I see suits and dresses and pants and stuff, but I don’t see hearts. I don’t know who came here fighting off suicide. I don’t know who is fighting off depression. I don’t know who is self-medicating with affairs or drugs or work or even church. I don’t know. I don’t know who the entrepreneur is in this room that You have ordained to own chains of hotels, to build hospitals, to own firms and companies, to have employees, and to be the head and not the tail. I don’t know who in this room has gone through a troubled childhood so that they could have a great adulthood, but she’s in here; he’s in here; she’s watching online. I know that nothing’s going to happen if I don’t change, so I’m coming out with my hands up. I’m coming out with my hands up; You’ve got my attention. You’re talking my language. I’m not used to coming to a church that talks like this, but You’ve got my attention. There are some things I need to work on, and they’re working on areas that I don’t normally confront. Today, I confront it.