More than a dozen Christian leaders prayed over President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House this week. The event, which was led by White House Faith Office Senior Advisor Paula White-Cain, featured a number of evangelical leaders, including Rev. Samuel Rodriguez of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Pastor Travis Johnson of the multi-campus Pathway Church based in Alabama, David Barton of WallBuilders, former presidential candidate and longtime social conservative activist Gary Bauer and William Wolfe, the executive director of the Center for Baptist Leadership.
Rodriguez, a White House spiritual Office faith advisor who attended Trump’s first inauguration in 2017, offered a prayer for Trump.
“With gratitude and humility, we pray for President Trump. You assigned him, you appointed him, you anointed him for such a time as this. We ask You to cover him with the blood of Jesus, empowering him to advance an agenda of righteousness and justice, truth and love,” Rodriguez said in prayer, which he shared with The Christian Post.
“Protect him from all evil as he undergirds our nation with the firewall of our Judeo-Christian value system. Fulfill Your purpose in his life,” Rodriguez, the lead pastor of the New Season megachurch in California, added.
“And as a result, we pray by faith that through his leadership, the following will take place in America — the fulfillment of Isaiah 58:8: Salvation will come like the dawn. Wounds will quickly heal. Godliness will lead us forward as the glory of God will protect us from behind. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Rodriguez described working with White-Cain and Special Assistant to the President Jenny Korn as “an honor” in order “to support the incredible and important work they are doing through the White House Faith Office.”
“I am grateful to them for the opportunity to be a voice for Christians and the Latino community in this most important of times,” Rodriguez said.
Just two weeks after taking office, Trump announced the creation of a White House Faith Office during a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast last month. He also appointed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to help eradicate “anti-Chrisian” bias in the federal government.
In an executive order signed Feb. 7, Trump explained what this faith office would entail.
“The Office shall have lead responsibility in the executive branch to empower faith-based entities, community organizations, and houses of worship to serve families and communities,” the executive order stated. “The Office shall be housed in the Domestic Policy Council and headed by a Senior Advisor to the White House Faith Office, and supported by other positions as the President considers appropriate.”
Trump has previously held events with Evangelical leaders during his first term from 2017 to 2021, including Rodriguez, Franklin Graham, James Dobson, and others. In 2018, over 100 Evangelical leaders were invited to what was dubbed a “state dinner” at the White House.
Photo Credit: ©X/MargoMartin47
Originally published March 21, 2025.
