Washington, DC | Former Arkansas governor, presidential candidate, talk show host, and Baptist pastor Mike Huckabee was confirmed as U. S. Ambassador to Israel in April. He is one of several pastors named to high posts in the Trump Administration.
Former pastor and staff member of Prestonwood Baptist Church in the Dallas Metroplex, Scott Turner, is the head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He served as an entrepreneurial development director in the first Trump Administration. He is also a former NFL player.
The Veterans Administration is under the leadership of Doug Collins (see right). Collins is a Baptist pastor and lawyer who represented Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Former North Carolina congressman Mark Walker was appointed as head of the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom. “As a former minister, along with serving in Congressional leadership, I’m open-eyed to the bad actors and regions committing …atrocities against people of faith,” Walker posted. “Religious expression is the foundation of human rights and, whether it’s a college campus in New York or Sub-Saharan Africa, I’ll be relentless in fighting for those targeted who dare to live out their faith.”
Ambassador Huckabee and his wife, Janet, started his new job with a visit to the Garden tomb on Easter.
After his Senate confirmation, Huckabee was congratulated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called him “our dear friend.”
“This is a great day for the Israeli-American alliance,” Netanyahu posted “I look forward to working with you to make the unbreakable bond between our two nations even stronger.”
In his confirmation hearings, Huckabee was criticized for his previous statements about Palestinian-held territories. “The title deed was given by God to Abraham and to his heirs,” he said, as recently as March. While he denies that Israeli presence in Palestinian areas is “occupation,” Huckabee said in his official capacity, “it will be my duty to carry out the president’s policies, not mine.”
Huckabee presented his credentials to the President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, on April 20.
‘Faith office’ established
The influence of pastors has been welcomed by the Trump Administration with the establishment in February of the White House Faith Office (WHFO). Its purpose is to encourage faith-based initiatives involving churches and non-profit faith groups, and to discourage anti-Christian bias in the U.S.
Rather than the usual ecumenical group, WHFO is led by prominent Christians who have appeared frequently in Trump events. Among Southern Baptists, First Baptist Dallas Pastor Robert Jeffress has been photographed at two White House prayer gatherings in the Oval Office. “Honored to lead a prayer today for our great President!” he posted
after a March 20 meeting.
William Wolfe, Founder for Center Baptist Leadership, is engaged with the WHFO. The prayer team is led by Paula White-Cain, former pastor of a charismatic church in Florida.
President Trump issued a statement at Easter pledging “to defend the Christian faith in our schools, military, workplaces, hospitals, and halls of government” and seeking “an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our Beloved nation.”