Bishop T.D. Jakes, in the middle of a very white homogeneous neighborhood, called for acknowledging the shifting diversity in America. As the pastor of the Potter’s House, with over 30,000 people in attendance, he has influence that exceeds that of nearly all pastors in the United States.

Jakes addressed the audience with poise in a secular setting, which is quite different from the pulpit he normally preaches from. I could not help but feel that the message he was expounding was truly at home in McFarlin Auditorium, despite the tight rope he had to walk to explain his point.

The demographic in the United States is constantly changing and never stagnates. It is easy, however, to ignore this fact. What people find themselves doing is pulling more and more into a bubble to remain with people that are like them. Society cannot and will not remain functional if it is so divided.

He spoke on the institutions that used to pull people of different backgrounds, races, and ethnicities together. Factories, mines, the industrial age itself, pulled people together, but those days are long since gone. In the middle of the Information Age it is easy to sit behind a computer screen and remain faceless.

Jakes wants something drastically different for the United States: a more cohesively diverse nation. He wants us to extricate ourselves from the bastions of homogeny we are comfortable with and completely challenge comfort zones.

By placing ourselves in communities that are entirely different from what we are used to, we can learn about the “others” in society. Jakes mentioned a few visits he made to Latino churches, that he understood next to none of the culture, but loved every minute of it.

He encouraged everyone in the audience to take similar initiatives.

There are larger forces at work in the nation than our own little communities of which we are a part. Jakes pleaded that the very diverse and oftentimes conflicting opinions of communities would become “compliments not competition.”

Jakes bridged the gap between racial and socio-economic communities proficiently on Tuesday night. “We are not so different. We want the same thing,” Jakes said with conviction.

To truly embrace that sort of discovery, however, we have to be willing to get uncomfortable for a time. Meeting and bonding with people drastically different from you is never easy and takes work. Surely, Bishop Jakes does not assume that people get along in some utopian commune. No, I am fairly certain he understands exactly what it is that it takes to bring people together.

“Exposure is critical,” he said. Children need to witness other communities different from their homes. A wealthy community, though able to insulate itself from the rest of society, needs to see what occurs in the lives of those less fortunate.

The same holds true for the lower socio-economic status. They need to be informed about the ability to move up and down through society. One way to accomplish this is through the positive involvement of college students in the community.

Some of the most important impacts we, as students at SMU, can make in the lives of young people in the community is to take our knowledge of what it takes to be a successful student and pass it on to those that are struggling.

Instead of embracing apathy, we should take a proactive role in changing the mindset of society.

Bishop T.D. Jakes left the audience empowered Tuesday night with these words that I have taken to heart, “life is a fleeting vapor and we’ll soon be gone.” In that vein, take advantage of the opportunity to change the community around you for the better.

Michael Dearman is first year philosophy and history major. He can be reached for comments or questions at [email protected].