Juanita Bynum is likely a household name among Christians after the release of her powerful series, No More Sheets. The Chicago native has ministered to millions in conferences and pulpits across the globe. “I’m addicted to helping people&hell
Juanita Bynum is likely a household name among Christians after the release of her powerful series, No More Sheets.
The Chicago native has ministered to millions in conferences and pulpits across the globe.
“I’m addicted to helping people… Wake me up at 3 o’clock in the morning, and I will talk to people,” the popular televangelist said.
While Bynum was in town for the 79th Annual Bud Billiken Day Parade on Aug. 9, she talked briefly about how she has managed to overcome the recent death of her father, as well as her very public divorce to Bishop Thomas Weeks during the past year.
“Well, it was really a journey, and I think that when I look back over all of it, I don’t think it was one thing or one isolated thing that caused me to be able to rise above it,” Bynum said.
“Number one, I believe the person that catches you at the conception of your trial will determine how you will come out of it. When something first happens to you, you have…a lot of people are in your ears. You have to refocus,” Bynum said. “I heard a person say that when a person has been in an accident and they are in a coma, the last thing to go in a person’s lifespan is their hearing. The first thing I did…I began to get everybody out of my ear. That was not a part of my destiny. That became difficult because it was not just me going through a divorce. But I had to divorce an old mindset, I had to divorce some friends…it was very difficult, but I knew in order to survive, I had to put the kind of people in my life that knew this was not my end but a part of my destiny. I made changes myself. I changed my screen set to a meeting in Africa when I spoke to more than 750,000 people. I had to be reminded of who I was and who I was called to be in society and (what) my purpose was.”
Bynum spoke of her dad as being her coach and a help to her during some dark times. “My father flew down to Waycross, Ga., and walked into my bedroom and said, ‘I want you to sit up in that bed.’ He said ‘what is your name? …I want you to stop crying, and I want you to repeat after me and say my name is Juanita Bynum.’ I said my name is Juanita Bynum, and he came closer and said, ‘don’t you ever forget that’ …he said, ‘this is a situation that is going to enhance who you are’ …he said, ‘you have to get up out of that bed and continue to be Juanita Bynum.’”
She believes those words from her father gave her a renewed energy and vigor.
“I never stopped preaching. The number one thing…I had to stay focused, and I had to understand that I was in a window. Sometimes things come into your life to offset you from your destiny. Spiritually, there is a time and season for all things.
Things happen in seasons, and if you miss that season, you have missed a golden opportunity to ever exist and be the person you were called to be in the fullest,” Bynum explained.
“I had to make a decision and say I only have enough strength to go in my purpose and destiny. In the midst of it all…my dad was my anchor and my best friend. I miss him tremendously. It was devastating to me…I don’t think there is a day that I don’t cry. I was divorced on a Friday, and the next day my dad dropped dead in the kitchen. But he was able to leave ‘cause he saw me in a good spiritual and emotional place and he knew I would be ok,” the prophetess said with a smile.
Bynum has definitely taken her father’s advice and moved to another echelon. The gospel diva recently signed on as a cast member with the hit ABC original series Lincoln Heights and as a counselor for divorce court. There are even talks about negotiations for a movie–No More Sheets, a new makeup line, a bath and body line, as well as a new CD project on her label, Flow Records. The album is expected to hit stores in 2009. Her last solo project was only about 2,000 units from platinum status.
“Remember you are blessed by the Best!”
Effie Rolfe is a radio personality and the religion entertainment columnist for the Chicago Defender. E-mail her at effie@theinspirationalcafe.com.
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