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.
Source References
All the president’s clergymen: Trump’s key religious players