They’re invited to meetings at the White House. They exchange calls, texts and emails with administration staffers. And they occasionally pray with the president.
Here’s a list of some of the key evangelical leaders — mostly men but also one woman — who were on President Donald Trump’s campaign evangelical executive advisory board and/or have served in an advisory role since his inauguration.
Gary Bauer • president, American Values; former president of Family Research Council; former chief domestic policy adviser in the Reagan administration.
Mark Burns • co-founder and CEO of The NOW Television Network in Easley, S.C.
Tim Clinton • president, American Association of Christian Counselors.
James Dobson • author, psychologist and host, “Family Talk.”
Jordan Easley • pastor of Englewood Baptist Church in Jackson, Tenn.; heads Southern Baptists’ Young Leaders Advisory Council.
Jerry Falwell Jr. • president, Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.
Ronnie Floyd • author and senior pastor, Cross Church in northwest Arkansas; former Southern Baptist Convention president.
Jack Graham • author and pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas; former Southern Baptist Convention president.
Rodney Howard-Browne • co-founder of The River at Tampa Bay Church and Revival Ministries International in Florida.
Harry Jackson • senior pastor, Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Md.; co-founder of The Reconciled Church: Healing the Racial Divide.
Robert Jeffress • senior pastor, First Baptist Church of Dallas; hosted Fourth of July event at Kennedy Center featuring Trump as a speaker.
Richard Land • president, Southern Evangelical Seminary in Matthews, N.C.; former president, Southern Baptist Convention Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
Greg Laurie • author and senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif.
Eric Metaxas • author and host, “The Eric Metaxas Show”; speaker, 2012 National Prayer Breakfast.
Johnnie Moore • author, religious freedom advocate and public relations executive; serves as unofficial spokesman for group of evangelicals advising Trump administration.
Frank Page • president and CEO, Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee; former Southern Baptist Convention president; former member of President Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
Tony Perkins • president, Family Research Council.
Ralph Reed • founder, Faith and Freedom Coalition; former executive director, Christian Coalition.
Tony Suarez • executive vice president, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.
Paula White • senior pastor, New Destiny Christian Center in Apopka, Fla.; first clergywoman to give an invocation at an inauguration.
These are powerful evangelical leaders who influence millions of people. Notably missing from this list is Kenneth Copeland who served on the president’s advisory board prior to his inauguration. Having direct access to the White House is not unique. Catholic Bishops have long had ready access to various presidents, and some evangelical leaders have also had significant access. But the difference today is that Mr. Trump has offered them political power and has promised to change the Johnson amendment (IRS code that prevents endorsements of political campaigns), widely condemned as limiting their freedom of speech. If the Johnson amendment is repealed or revised, where would this cozy relationship potentially lead?
“While men are sleeping, Satan is actively arranging matters so that the Lord’s people may not have mercy or justice. The Sunday movement is now making its way in darkness. The leaders are concealing the true issue, and many who unite in the movement do not themselves see whither the undercurrent is tending. Its professions are mild and apparently Christian, but when it shall speak it will reveal the spirit of the dragon.” Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5, page 452.
Comments
Lew Lenheim
Tuesday October 17th, 2017 at 08:32 PMAnd not a single Seventh-day Adventist clergy to pray with him? Very sad.
admin
Tuesday October 17th, 2017 at 10:21 PMHey Lew, I’m not sure that is the best crowd to associate with. However, maybe there is a way for one to engage at a different level.
Mike Bisson
Wednesday October 18th, 2017 at 06:05 AMThe real problem here is the 501-C-3 IRS code that allows charitable contributions to be tax deductible. Why do churches go along with this? This allows the IRS/Federal government to hold a sword over our head. Isn’t this code a clear violation of church and state?
MJ
Friday October 20th, 2017 at 08:11 PMThank you for “the list”! Because now we can see who the” main or big players” the Bible & Spirit of Prophecy is talking about when it says in Desire of Ages page 733 p.1
… the priest and rulers were still inflaming the minds of the people. (implication to choose Barabbas instead of Christ). These same leaders will be advocates and proponents of Sunday Legislation.
In the same paragraph, “He (Barabbas) claimed authority to establish a different order of things, to set the world right….and had excited sedition against the Roman government.” Who does this sound like Hint: M A G A
But in the end (part of the 5th plague) “All unite in heaping their bitterest condemnation upon the ministers. … The very hands that once crowned them with laurels, will be raised for their destruction. …”.—The Great Controversy, 655, 656 see also Rev. 16:12