ATLANTA, Sept. 15, 2026

John Hope Bryant, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE, issued the following statement:

“Fifty years ago, T.D. Jakes preached his first sermon to a room you could count. Fifty years later, the count is in the millions.

What I have always admired about Bishop Jakes is that he never treated the soul and the wallet as separate assignments. He preached dignity on Sunday and then built the books, the broadcasts, the films and the community work that gave people somewhere to put it. He did it starting from a storefront in West Virginia, in years lean enough that he coasted downhill to save gas.

I am blessed to count T.D. Jakes the man as a dear friend. The longer I have come to know him, the more certain I am of something I will say loudly: he is one of America’s greatest national treasures. He built something enormous and then spent it on people who could never pay him back.