“St. Louis has been good to me,” Oprah Winfrey said.
She exhaled a sigh full of down-home soul after saying goodbyes for the second presentation of her Oprah Lifeclass: The Tour at the Peabody Opera House on Monday night.
Her journey here had ended, and the cameras had been turned off. But the footprints of the intention that brought her here in the first place will remain on the hearts of thousands forever.
It was a rainbow audience of mostly women who came to what one audience member jokingly referred to as the Peabody Oprah House. They were living the bucket-list dream of being a member of Oprah’s audience – something they thought impossible after Oprah bowed out of the Oprah Winfrey Show last year to launch the Oprah Winfrey Network.
The tickets were priceless – earned only through an online lottery and a few giveaways – and guests didn’t take that lightly. Strangers danced and high-fived in the pre-show period because they were in one of only three cities in the nation to partake of the Lifeclass Live experience. Some shared stories of traveling from places like Toronto, Los Angeles and Mississippi to connect with Oprah on the most personal level possible for them.
By the time the building was cleared for both the afternoon and evening experiences, Oprah herself was an afterthought to the seed she had planted to explore living a more fulfilled and intentional life.
“It’s the journey of my life to be here,” Winfrey said.
“All of my life I have known that the calling for me is to use my life in such a way that other people could see and feel and know that God was working through me. And so I know part of my purpose in life is to help you find yours.”
The first of the two shows taped in St. Louis tackled the topic of purpose, featuring Bishop T.D. Jakes discussing the power in finding your path.
“Who is T.D. Jakes?” a woman from Minnesota leaned over and asked politely – as clueless as she was excited.
The Potter’s House Senior Pastor was much more subdued than when he is preaching from the pulpit, but his flavor was still there and his words resonated with everyone.
“If you can’t figure out your purpose,” Jakes said, “think about your passion, for your passion leads you to your purpose.”
By the session’s end, the woman from Minnesota was writing on the back pages of her calendar like it was a church program and waving her hands to the cadence of his voice in the same rhythm as a faithful Baptist.
“So many people are following provisions instead of purpose,” Jakes said. “If you follow your passion – and your purpose – the provisions will chase you.”
She wrote that one down, word for word.
St. Louis-style hallelujahs and amens ensued, inciting those unfamiliar with the practice to join in.
“All of my life I have known that this moment would arrive,” Winfrey said.
“I used the Oprah show to get here, but I want to be able to present programs that say to people no matter where you are in your life, you can do better and be better – and you can start right now. Everybody who watches us can open up their heart space and live the life they were born to live – that’s what I’m here for.”
Oprah Lifeclass: The Tour – Live with purpose will air on Monday, April 9 at 7 p.m. CST on the OWN Network. Check local listings for details.
Moving beyond the pain
For the live show later that evening, the unpredictable yet ever-inspiring Iyanla Vanzant offered life lessons on stopping the pain, which will help clear the path towards purpose.
“Until you heal the wounds of your past, you will continue to bleed,” Vanzant told the crowd. “Pain simply means ‘Pay Attention Inward Now.’ How you treat yourself is how you treat God – you are the representation of God in your life.”
Both shows had the feel of the most inspiring of Oprah Winfrey Show segments with “aha!” moments at every turn, especially when she addressed the female population’s generational curse of putting themselves last on their list.
“In your life, you have to be as good to you as you want to be to God in order to be of service to others,” Vanzant said.
“When you give to others to a point where you sacrifice from yourself, you make the other person a thief – because they are stealing from you what you need and they don’t even know it.”
But the most compelling Lifeclass live moment featured a man named Steve – whose life is a day-to-day fight to maintain the sobriety he’s managed to hold onto for more than 10 years.
“Can you believe, or are you willing to consider that right where you are God is?” Vanzant said. “But where is God when you go back to telling your story about how good you are not? You’re addicted to your story. That’s your new drug.”
He didn’t seem to connect with what she was saying. But Vanzant helped him to write a new story by enlisting the audience (and inviting Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s co-star Tim Montgomery and another young man on stage) to “stand for Steve.”
The experience moved the entire audience – including Winfrey – to tears as Vanzant and Montgomery stood as the embodiment of his family.
“Standing for Steve” became a worldwide trending topic on Twitter as fans watching the show chimed in on social networking.
“Where would you be without that story?” Vanzant asked. “You feed on that story because it distracts you from your greatness – it’s that greatness that scares you.”
Sold on Sweetie Pie’s
“I ate like a fool,” Winfrey said.
She was talking about the surprise stop she made the day before at the home of her OWN network hit show, Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s.
“That chicken is as good as it looks – and the banana pudding is even better than it looks. I’ve been many places in the world and I’ve got a mama who can cook and I never had any pear cobbler.”
She is beyond excited about the show’s return to the OWN network with all new episodes starting this Saturday night, but her excitement goes beyond the banana pudding that her best friend Gayle King made the trip from New York just to taste.
“It’s one of our most successful shows, and it has resonated really strongly with African-American women,” Winfrey said.
Winfrey talked about Robbie Montgomery, owner of Sweetie Pie’s, and her family as prototypically American.
“I felt like the audience would see themselves in her and their own children in her children and grandchildren,” Winfrey said.
“Everybody has a Charles in their family, and we reflect that in a way that is authentic but also hopeful and inspiring. I am sometimes really embarrassed in some of the ways that we are portrayed on television. I am always looking for images – and have been since I was a young reporter – to find images that portray African Americans in a way that we know we are and we should be seen.”
Winfrey also praised the cast for keeping reality TV real.
“They have an authenticity that is lacking in reality television,” Winfrey said. “I felt like no matter where the camera was with them, they would still remain true to themselves and that’s exactly what they’ve done.”
Winfrey says she plans to return to Sweetie Pie’s to see the Upper Crust location up and running and hopes that people take advantage of the gem that is found within the show’s entertaining authenticity.
“People want to feel good about their lives,” Winfrey said.
“Aspiration and inspiration can be intertwined in such a way that if you work hard and you are willing to put in the hours with discipline and commitment, good things can happen and I think that Sweetie Pie’s reflects that. You see an African-American family – attractive and well-spoken, as we are – good images portrayed in such a way that says, ‘Oh, that’s my family.’ Being able to present a show such as this is one of the reasons I started this network.”
“Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” will air Saturday night (March 31) at 8 p.m. CST on the OWN Network. Check local listings for channels.
