Simon Cox Blog: Here’s Who Will Pray at Trump’s Inauguration

Wednesday 28 December 2016

Here’s Who Will Pray at Trump’s Inauguration

Franklin Graham, Sam Rodriguez, and Paula White among the clergy lineup.

Evangelical leaders Franklin Graham and Samuel Rodriguez will take the stage alongside Donald Trump at his presidential inauguration next month.

The pair are among a half dozen clergy who will participate in the Trump administration’s kickoff in Washington, according to a lineup first obtained by The Washington Post.

Trump’s spiritual advisor Paula White, the Florida televangelist credited with his rumored recent Christian conversion, will also speak, as will a Detroit prosperity preacher, Wayne T. Jackson.

Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham and president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, recently defended God’s role in securing Trump’s victory in November, and appeared alongside the president-elect during Trump’s “thank you” tour this month. Graham did not endorse Trump, but held prayer rallies in all 50 states leading up to the election.

He previously prayed at George W. Bush’s inauguration in 2001. Billy Graham prayed at inaugurations for Richard Nixon (in 1969), George H. W. Bush (in 1989), and Bill Clinton (in 1993 and 1997), The Charlotte Observerreported.

Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC) and a Christianity Today board member, displayed some wariness over Trump’s proposals during the campaign. But he has partnered with the Trump transition team to address immigration policy, particularly the status of children of undocumented immigrants. His colleague, NHCLC vice president Tony Suarez, served as a faith advisor for Trump’s campaign.

Rodriguez is slated to offer a reading and invocation, as is White. Graham is slated to offer a reading and benediction, as is Jackson.

Inauguration lineups tend to ...