What Do You Do When Your Pastor Supports #DonaldTrump?

On Saturday, March 5, 2016, at a Donald Trump Rally in Orlando, Pastor Paula White continued her longtime support of Donald Trump by giving him a ringing endorsement testifying to his Christian graces.  In a YouTube video that is going viral, White speaks about the first time she met Trump and learned that he was raised in a Christian household with a strong woman of faith and a strong praying woman. White believes that God will “raise up a man for such a time as this.” She shared stories of Trump’s compassion graciousness and strong moral character. In one, she tells the story of how she and Trump were at one of his golf courses and how Trump went up to a “precious” Latino man and thanked him for “taking care of my course.” In another, she tells the story of her friend who secured a large donation from Trump for her work with helping “prostitutes rehab their life back into society.” White quotes Trump after hearing about her ministry, “now that’s real ministry when you take care of those who are hurting.” After a round of applause, she then leads the audience in a call and response with one side of the crowd shouting “Donald” and the other side shouting “Trump.”

After this, White then said that she, as well as other church leaders, when meeting with Trump would all ask the same question, “Do you have a relationship with the Lord Jesus? Are you saved? The answer, according to White was always “emphatically yes!” After telling the story of how she got Trump a Bible for his 60^th birthday and a letter that contained a “prophetic word” from Billy Graham, she then tells the audience what “deeply concerns” evangelicals—religious freedom. White and others like her believe that Christianity in under attack and that this “wholesale persecution” is coming to the United States. However, there is one man who will protect religious liberty and that man is Donald Trump.

While White is not alone in her support of Trump and by far not the only pastor to come out and support his candidacy, she is unique in that she is a white woman who has a large African American following. Indeed, White is the pastor of New Destiny Christian Center in Apopka, Florida founded by Zachary and Riva Tims. The megachurch has a large African American membership and many African Americans attend her workshops, seminars and revivals. Moreover, arguably what brought her to “fame” was her adaptation of an African American preaching style. When one sees and hears her preaching; the rhythm, cadence, and whoop helped substantially by the organist, one immediately recognizes characteristics of the black preaching tradition. In an interview with Larry King several years ago, King noticed the black preaching aesthetic in her style and wondered why she appealed to so many African Americans. White answered that she had been always been comfortable around blacks as she had been around whites.

However, I guess my concern is not with Pastor White. She has made her decision and she has supported and endorsed Donald Trump to be the man “for such a time as this.” My concern is the response of her African American congregants and supporters. With all the racial rhetoric spewing from Trump’s mouth, with his hedging and hesitation in separating himself from David Duke, with black people being physically assaulted at his rallies and with no word of comfort or support for those abused, I wonder what African American supporters of White are thinking about her association with Trump? Indeed, what do you do when your pastor supports Donald Trump?

Note: Pastor Darrell Scott has also endorsed Donald Trump. He serves at New Spirit Revival Center in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Donate to the Work of R3