Woman Thou Art Loosed History
When Bishop T.D. Jakes founded his first church in Montgomery, WV, he never realized that his gift of ministering to hurting souls would become the catalyst for imparting his powerful message of hope, restoration and redemption to women around the world through Woman, Thou Art Loosed!
It all began in 1979, when Bishop Jakes founded The Temple of Faith, his first church, in Montgomery, WV. The budding preacher had only 10 members. Little did he know that his sparse membership would soon fill beyond capacity crowds. As word spread about the powerful preaching and teaching of Bishop Jakes, Temple of Faith began to quickly evolve, and in 1984 he relocated the church to Smithers, West Virginia, a few miles from Montgomery. Due to more rapid growth, in 1992, Bishop Jakes relocated the church to a small storefront in South Charleston, West Virginia. The storefront was large and included two offices downstairs, one office upstairs and a small storage room in the back. Bishop Jakes’ ministry continued to expand on a national scale and it was in this storefront church that he taught the inspiring Woman, Thou Art Loosed Sunday school class that lasted for six weeks, drawing women from other churches in the area. Bishop Jakes quickly outgrew this building as his ministry began to garner national appeal. He took his message on the road, traveling around the U.S. preaching and teaching the phenomenal Woman, Thou Art Loosed lesson.
In May 1994, he self-published the book, Woman, Thou Art Loosed: Healing the Wounds of the Past as his ministry continued to explode to unparalleled proportions. That same year, Bishop Jakes moved from the small South Charleston storefront to purchase a bank building in Cross Lanes, West Virginia, redesigning it into a church edifice. While housed in this church, Bishop’s ministry began attracting capacity crowds throughout the U.S., in which people were literally turned away. While speaking at Straight Gate Church in Detroit, 7,000 women attended the meeting there, and another 13,000 women showed up to a meeting in Atlanta.
Since the inception of Woman, Thou Art Loosed, the message has not only transformed into a best-selling book, but a widely-acclaimed stage play, a GRAMMY®-nominated CD and a national conference that has drawn more than a half-million women from around the world. In October 2004, Woman, Thou Art Loosed, the movie, developed in collaboration with Reuben Cannon Productions, became a box office top-10 hit winning a 2005 NAACP Image Award.
From the stirring message that began as a Sunday school lesson nearly two decades ago, Bishop T.D. Jakes is now recognized throughout the world. Today, Woman Thou Art Loosed is still Bishop Jakes’ most popular message, attracting audiences globally. In October 2010, Bishop Jakes will hold the much-anticipated Woman Thou Art Loosed conference at The Potter’s House in Dallas, Texas, where his 30,000-member ministry has been located since 1996.
