You worked closely with President Obama’s administration on immigration and a few other issues, and just mentioned that you spoke with President Trump before he was sworn in and in communication with his administration. Do you see yourself down the road possibly working closely with President Trump as closely as you did with the previous administration? Or do you feel that there would be differences?
My affinity for President Obama is very well publicized. I just don’t like President Obama, I love President Obama. I respect him. I disagree with him on a number of issues but I have great love and respect for the man. I thanked him for his leadership. When I finished my inaugural prayer, I turned around and he stood up and I was able to thank him again for his leadership and for his presidency. So I have great affinity for him. But, likewise, I was with President George W. Bush and we conversed there a bit where he acknowledged me and, of course, I acknowledged him. But I was an adviser to George W. Bush likewise. So I was an adviser to Bush, I was an adviser to Obama.
If President Trump invites me to be a formal adviser, I would be inclined. I’m nonpartisan. I’m independent. I’m a Lamb’s agenda guy. I have my values that drive me, but I’m a Lamb’s agenda guy. So I’m not a Republican or a Democrat. But if the good Lord permits me to have access at the highest court of power, of political power in order to speak truth to power and advance the common good, then I will manage that with integrity and humility. So yes, if he invites me, I would be more than inclined to serve the President of the United States. And I don’t have to agree with him on every occasion, just like I did not agree with President Obama on every occasion. But I hope that my presence and my input will help bring public policy that will bring people together rather than tear them apart.
For your inaugural prayer, you read a version of the Beatitudes found in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5). Why did you choose that text?
It’s going to seem overly spiritual, but it is a matter of fact… The Holy Spirit compelled me, convicted me to read that passage of Scripture, simply stated.
And why do you think that is?
I know that because I have a relationship with Jesus and I have a relationship with the Holy Spirit, and I’m a former agnostic so if it’s not 100 percent God, I won’t do it. It was 100 percent God. I asked the Lord, “Give me what you want me to share, because there’s over a billion people watching on the television and social media platforms around the world and it’s not just to America, it’s to the world. In that time, what do you want me to share?” And the message that I heard from the Lord was, “Be light. First of all, address issues of people that are hurt and broken, like the poor, the marginalized, the suffering. So reach out to those that are hurting and bleeding. Then reach out to everyone, and just tell everyone that instead of focusing on the darkness, turn on the light.” So that was the message conveyed in that amount of time that I was allotted.
You often mention the “Lamb’s agenda.” How do you define that? What is the “Lamb’s agenda?”
The Lamb’s agenda is reconciling Billy Graham’s message with Dr. King’s march. It is a Christ-centered, Bible-based, spirit-empower prophetic movement committed to both righteousness and justice. Which means it’s committed to the centrality of Christ and preaching the gospel to people getting saved, delivered, and healed and filled with God’s spirit, vertically. Horizontally, we take care of the poor and the widow and the orphan. We fight for education equality, we fight for racial unity. We come against every message of bigotry and intolerance and discrimination. That’s the Lamb’s agenda. It’s when Billy Graham and Dr. King come together and we live out one selective message of righteousness and justice.
I imagine immigration might not be the only issue you’re focused on right now?
Immigration, the Supreme Court nomination, and educational equality. It will be life, religious liberty, immigration, education equality… These are some of the priorities taking place right now.
