4 Christians named to Time magazine's ‘100 Next’ list for 2023

By Nicole VanDyke, CP Reporter Monday, October 16, 2023

Sarah Jakes Roberts

Jakes Roberts, the daughter of famous pastor T.D. Jakes, was honored for being the pastor of ONE, a Potter's House church in Los Angeles, alongside her pastor husband, Touré Roberts. She is recognized for her success as a faith-centered businesswoman, writer, speaker and media personality.

Roberts and her husband are also the assistant pastors of Potter's House in Dallas, Texas, spearheaded by her pastor father.

Jakes Roberts, 35, is known by many for her uplifting sermons.

In one 2022 sermon, she told an audience, "You've got to believe there is more."

"The issue that most of us have is that we're in these circumstances, we're in our lives, we're in our communities, we're in our relationships, and we have given up on the belief that there is something more connected to the moment we are standing in," Roberts preached in the sermon titled "Getting More Out of Life."

"You've got to believe that there's more. Some of us do believe that there's more; we just think that 'the more' is assigned to other people. That for us, we could just sit down and live in this trapped space because being trapped is better than failing at more," she continued.

"I hear God saying that if you are ever going to discover 'the more' that God placed in you, then you're going to have to believe that there is more. You're going to have to begin to pull levers that you would have never pulled, have relationships that you would have never had ... you're going to have conversations and communication that you would have never had before because you believe that there is more."

In a tribute published by Time, filmmaker Tyler Perry shared some positive sentiments about Jakes Roberts and the impact she's had on women through her pastoral leadership and ministerial work hosting conferences.

"Her lived experience using the grace of prayer to find a way through personal pain and tragedy resonates deeply with so many," Perry wrote.

"It's what has allowed her to connect with millions of other women through her incredible ministry and Woman Evolve conference. As Proverbs 22:6 says, 'Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it.' This is all in Sarah's DNA."