A man who claims he worked as a youth pastor for T.D. Jakes in the 1990s has accused the megachurch leader of trying to kiss him. The accusation was lodged a week after Jakes formally denied separate allegations he sexually assaulted former pastor Duane Youngblood when he was a teenager and his older brother, Pastor Richard Edwin Youngblood.
The new claim from 57-year-old Timothy Anderson of Manatee County, Florida, is part of a legal response filed on Feb. 21 by Duane Youngblood’s attorney, Tyrone A. Blackburn, in support of a motion seeking to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by Jakes, the founder of the 80,000-member Potter’s House in Dallas, Texas, against his accusers.
Dustin Pusch, a lawyer for Jakes, has already dismissed Anderson’s claim, telling the Dallas Morning News that Anderson is an unreliable ally of the Youngbloods who are trying to destroy Jakes’ reputation.
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“Mr. Jakes filed a lawsuit against disgraced former minister and convicted child predator Duane Youngblood and other conspirators in response to Mr. Youngblood’s calculated disinformation campaign aimed at destroying Mr. Jakes’s reputation, extracting millions from Mr. Jakes, and launching a new career for himself,” Pusch said in an emailed statement to the Dallas Morning News on Tuesday.
“In a desperate attempt to avoid accountability for his knowingly false accusations and to distract from his reprehensible conduct, Mr. Youngblood has enlisted felons, family members, and other completely unreliable allies to lob yet more false accusations at Mr. Jakes.”
In a sworn affidavit, Anderson recalled that while staying at a hotel during a conference hosted by Jakes in 1996, he shared a room with Duane Youngblood, whom he knew through the Higher Ground Always Abounding Organization, where he had served as youth evangelist for about three to four years.
He claims that he had just been asked by Jakes to relocate to Dallas to serve as his youth pastor and shared that request with Duane Youngblood. During the conference, he claims Duane Youngblood warned him to be careful about unwanted advances from Jakes after sharing what he and his brother had allegedly experienced.
In the affidavit, Anderson discussed his own history of finding faith after his dysfunctional life as a foster child forced him into the streets and the ills it had to offer, like drugs and other crimes.
“The church became my home, and the people there became my family. I found strength in the support of my pastor, Bishop Sherman Watkins, who had stood by me from the beginning, and in the wisdom of other leaders who helped guide me along the way,” he said.
His testimony would soon lead him into leadership and he became a licensed and ordained elder at Higher Ground Always Abounding Assemblies. He said in ministry, he began to experience surprising sexual advances from ministry leaders as he worked as a young evangelist.
He said the opportunity to work for Jakes had felt like the opportunity of a lifetime, so when the megachurch leader offered him $24,000 to serve as his youth pastor in Dallas, which was a third of what he was making as an evangelist, he believed the sacrifice would be worth it.
The filing alleges Jakes promised that in addition to the $24,000 salary, he would be able to supplement his income by taking on assignments outside of his youth pastor duties. Soon after he began working with Jakes, Anderson claims he began having uncomfortable encounters with the megachurch leader.
“I arrived in Dallas, eager to work alongside Bishop Jakes and excited about the future. However, my first encounter with him in his new mansion, when I was tasked with assembling furniture, set the tone for a new kind of discomfort. While I had hoped to discuss ministry with him, to learn from him as a mentor, something unexpected happened. At one point, he went into his bathroom and, when he returned, passed by me naked,” Anderson alleges in the affidavit.
“I was stunned. I turned away, trying to downplay the situation in my mind. This was Bishop Jakes, after all — this opportunity was a dream come true, or at least, that’s what I kept telling myself. I didn’t want to make things awkward. I didn’t want to be seen as homophobic or judgmental. I told myself that I couldn’t let a single uncomfortable moment ruin this chance to learn from one of the greatest preachers of my generation.”
Over time, according to Anderson, more uncomfortable situations would happen until Jakes tried to kiss him.
Anderson recalled being offered an opportunity to preach in Japan but Jakes allegedly told him he couldn’t go because it would interfere with his duties at the Potter’s House. He said when he reminded Jakes of the agreement they had — that he would be able to supplement his income with other preaching assignments — Jakes made it clear that he needed to choose between working as his youth pastor or going back to being an evangelist.
Anderson said he was so overwhelmed by the choice Jakes gave him “I began to cry.”
“I knew from my past experiences — experiences that had caused so much pain — that this wasn’t just a decision about ministry or a job. It was about power, control, and manipulation. The more I thought about it, the more I broke down emotionally,” he recalled.
“I paced his office, trying to make sense of everything, trying to breathe through the overwhelming sadness. As I walked back and forth, trying to process what was happening, Bishop Jakes stood up, grabbed a box of tissues, and walked toward me. His words were cold, calculated: ‘It sounds like you have a decision to make.’ And then, in a move that left me paralyzed with confusion, he grabbed me and tried to kiss me,” Anderson alleged. “My mind was racing. Emotionally distraught, I pushed him away and tried to regain some control over my emotions.”
Anderson said he continued to cry, hoping Jakes would show him compassion, but it never came.
“The tissues were placed in front of me like a symbol of my brokenness, and I told him how much I loved him, how difficult this decision was for me. I was trying to hold onto whatever shred of dignity I had left. But his response was chilling. He reminded me again that it was his ministry, his leadership, and that if he gave me what I wanted — my chance to go to Japan — then I wouldn’t understand the principles of authority,” Anderson said.
Two weeks later, Anderson explained, “I made the difficult decision to return to evangelism.”
In a filing earlier this month, Jakes declared under penalty of perjury that the claims made against him by the Youngblood brothers and multiple John Does are malicious lies.
In another motion to dismiss Jakes’ lawsuit, Richard Youngblood claims that similar to his younger brother’s experience, Jakes tried to sexually assault him years ago, while he shared a hotel room with the bishop during a ministry trip. Jakes allegedly climbed into his bed and pressed his body against him with an erection.
In a sworn affidavit last Friday, Richard Youngblood reiterated his claim while denying claims by Jakes’ camp that he is seeking revenge against Jakes for not supporting his younger brother while he was being prosecuted for sex crimes. Richard Youngblood also insisted that he never tried seeking a job from Jakes or the Potter’s House.
“The plaintiff attempts to discredit my testimony by alleging that my claims are motivated by bitterness or personal gain. This is untrue. My sworn statement details events that occurred in the late 1980s, which I have carried privately for decades. The core issue here is not my personal history but rather the specific actions of Bishop T.D. Jakes that I personally experienced, Richard Youngblood stated.
“I never wavered in my account of the incident in the EconoLodge in Westover, WV. The fact that I shared what happened with a church elder immediately after the incident (Silas Wheeler) shows that I was not fabricating this decades later for personal gain. If my intentions were deceitful, why would I have confided in others at that time?” he asked.
“Additionally, I confided in Minister Derrick Faison, who lived in the duplex with me. When I asked if Bishop Jakes had ever tried anything with him, he responded, ‘I’ve never been woke up with nothing like that.’ This statement further proves that I was seeking understanding about what had happened to me,” he said.
Richard Youngblood further stated that he also told his then-wife what he claims Jakes did to him. Afterward, Jakes is accused of telling Youngblood’s wife that he was a liar, which he attributes to the breakdown of his marriage.
“Like many others, I once believed that I was following a man of God who had integrity — a spiritual leader who could guide me in ministry. I was willing to uproot my life, move my family, and dedicate my time and effort to serving in his ministry,” Richard Youngblood said. “What I discovered was not the man I thought I was following. Instead, I came to realize that Bishop Jakes was at best bisexual and at worst a closeted homosexual — something that deeply conflicted with the image he projected to his followers and the church at large.”
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