Juanita Bynum: Bigger Than She Thought She Was
Posted Jul 8th 2008 1:11PM By Karu F. Daniels, BlackVoices.com
Juanita Bynum better get some security.
Quickly.All hell nearly broke loose when the popular televangelist walked through New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on Sunday afternoon – as throngs of "Essence Music Festival" seminar attendees clamored toward her for a brief acknowledgment, a touch, a smile, or even a glance.
After the year Bynum has had in the public eye, it didn't come as a surprise that she kept it moving – rather swiftly, surrounded by a barrage of New Orleans' finest and convention security guards that conjured up imagery of a sunglasses-clad/sequin-gloved Michael Jackson and hundreds of policemen during his heyday.
The self-proclaimed prophetess, who was accosted by her estranged husband Bishop Thomas Weeks, III in an Atlanta area hotel parking lot last summer, has been through hell and back over the past eleven months – even becoming a new face of domestic abuse.
And believe it or not, she doesn't shy away from the shame and embarrassment of the unfortunate incident, which subsequently catapulted her into the national mainstream media spotlight.
She actually seems to relish in it.
"Now I know y'all ain't come here on the short bus so come on," she mused to an audience of what seemed to be packed with thousands of her supporters during her fiery sermon.
"I am standing here today to let you know that your breakthrough ain't coming but it's here," she yelled as hundreds of audience members hollered back in participatory fashion.
"Let me tell you something; God don't hurry up and do nothing. This very date was on the schedule. The date that you was born was on the schedule. The date that God said Hurricane Katrina was gonna come but he also knew that he was gonna fix the city so you can keep your apartment. Who am I talking to? So guess what; the devil tried to kill me in that parking lot because he knew when I got on this platform and I opened up my mouth: Your breakthrough was here. It ain't coming, it's already here."
Bynum, who has released a string of best-selling books and recording projects, had the crowd – of mostly black women – on their feet and clinging to her every word of the hour-long presentation, which was at times provocative, uplifting, inspiring and surprisingly humorous.
During a portion of the speech, she shared a recent interaction that occurred while out in public:
"I was in the mall the other day and I ran into some people and they walked up to me and they said, 'Are you alright?' and I said, 'No, is you alright for asking me am I alright?'
"She said, 'I'm praying for you,' and I said, 'I'm praying for you too.' "
"She said, 'You've been through a lot,' and I said 'And so have you.'
"Then she said, 'Well, I just know that yours has just been really public,' and I said, 'Baby, let me tell you something: You're only attacked from the range of who you are, and if that declares who I am, then guess what? I'm bigger than I thought I was.'"
More rapturous applause.
"If you're going through a hard time right now, it's because somebody is afraid of your destiny," she continued yelling at a decibel that shook the rafters of the super-sized convention center.
"Somebody is recognizing on your job, in your family that you are bigger than you thought you were."
"It feels good to be back," Bynum told BlackVoices.com during an intimate chat following a Wal-Mart book signing shortly after a CNN appearance later that afternoon.
The gold-selling Flow Records recording artist has become a staple of the "Essence Music Festival" over the years. She's been sermonizing for the masses for the past five years or so, she said.
"Well I just think that it's time for us to refocus on the fact that there's always going to be issues and there's always going to be obstacles and because of our human status, trouble will never stop coming," she said about her message she shared with the audience earlier.
"If we stop because something happens to us, we'll never get to destiny.""I think it's time for us to do like you see kids do when they go to school; you have to put all your stuff in the backpack and take it with you," she added.
"At the time that everything happened in my life my ministry was flying and I had to fly with my trial in the air because you really don't have time to come down and land," she continued. "You come to a place where you make the decision: either I'm going to be led by my emotions or I'm going to be led by my destiny and I made a decision to be led by my destiny."
Watching Bynum on stage is like seeing lioness roar. But up, close and personal, the immaculately coiffed Chicago native is surprisingly demure.
"Things are still very emotional for me, and I'm still hurting and there are days that I feel pain and there are days that I feel down, the whole nine yards," she revealed. "[I'm] very human, you know what I'm saying? I think that people forget that. I preach, I pray and I prophesize but I'm a human being you know. I bleed, I have flesh and sometimes I feel the pain but I come to the point that I know that I can not stop this because there's too much that God has given me and I think that it would be an insult to not only the kingdom of God but it would be an insult to God for the gifts he put in me."Amidst the media frenzy that ensued with her separation and subsequent divorce from Weeks, Bynum graced the cover of the January 2008 edition of 'Essence' magazine – to the shock of many.
"It was probably one of the biggest accomplishments of my life," she said. "I think when my face hit the front cover of 'Essence,' it freed me. It crossed me over. It introduced me to my real destiny and to get my real purpose."
"God has commissioned me to go into all the world and not just the four corners of the church, or just the four walls of the church," Bynum furthered. "When they asked me to be on the front cover, I felt like the kingdom was moving. And I was very exciting about that."Bynum's very own kingdom – or Queendom, perhaps – is moving too.
She has a role in the upcoming film adaptation of 'Mama I Wanna Sing,' and will appear in upcoming episodes of the ABC Family drama series 'Lincoln Heights.'
Her brand will also extend to a line of bath products and her very own cosmetic line, that she said will be mineral-based with no drying mechanisms.
"It's my inspiration and it's what God gave me," she said, adding, "and in the midst of my trial, instead of me feeling and being crushed, I became brave and that's where I am." ==============================================
I think she is suffering from after the divorce depression.... Most women go through it and feel that they have to prove that they are still desirable, loved and wanted. some would start dating right away or do something to make themselves look better and feel better, like shopping and/or get a new look. Ministers get addicted to working in the ministry and constantly doing something to keep from being depress and emotionally unstable...... Well... I think
) there", and to all who truly love that sister, in Christ, I say, MUCH PRAYER, Y'all.