Jakes’ new residence proved to be fruitful for the up-and-coming minister: About two years after moving to Montgomery, the 24-year-old Jakes married Serita Ann Jamison in 1981. The following year, Jakes was able to quick his back-breaking job and devote all his energies and burgeoning talents to the ministry full time. And in the first decade of its founding, Emmanuel Temple’s numbers swelled to over 1,000 members, a very significant number for a small town.
The numbers only tell part of the story. Much of the congregation followed Jakes despite moving his ministry several times in West Virginia (and this before the eventual move to Dallas) in the 1980s.
Jakes’ success in the pulpit was gaining national attention and he was consecrated a bishop in 1987 by the “Greater Emmanuel Churches,” according to his official bio.
