{"id":26624,"date":"2025-03-05T13:56:20","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T18:56:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=26624"},"modified":"2025-03-05T13:56:20","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T18:56:20","slug":"president-trump-opens-first-cabinet-meeting-with-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/03\/president-trump-opens-first-cabinet-meeting-with-prayer","title":{"rendered":"President Trump Opens First Cabinet Meeting With Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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WFAA \/ YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

President Trump met with the members of his cabinet for the first time on February 26th<\/sup>, and the session was opened up with a prayer, led by Scott Turner, the new Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Turner is a former NFL player and previously served as an associate pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas. Turner opened his prayer thanking God for the \u201cawesome privilege\u201d and asking that he and his colleagues would lead with \u201crighteous clarity.\u201d \u201cFather the Bible says that blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,\u201d Turner stated as President Trump and members of the cabinet bowed their heads in prayer. \u201cFather today we honor You in Your rightful place and thank You for giving us this opportunity to restore faith in this country and be a blessing to the people of America, and we pray in our meeting that You would be glorified in our conversation. In Jesus name, Amen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to the meeting<\/a>, the President made several remarks about his agenda, including his concerns with the war in Ukraine. He particularly raised concerns about the disparate amount the US has paid to Ukraine versus European nations, noting the US was paying three times more than any other nation. \u201cThe previous administration put us in a very bad position, but we\u2019ve been able to make a deal where we\u2019re going to get our money back and we\u2019re going to get a lot of money in the future.\u00a0 And I think that\u2019s appropriate, because we have taxpayers that are \u2014 shouldn\u2019t be footing the bill, and they shouldn\u2019t be footing the bill at more than the Europeans are paying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apart from Turner, there are a number of self-professing Christians on Trump\u2019s second term Cabinet. Russell Vought is the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and has been an outspoken Christian, with his critics raising concerns that he is a Christian nationalist. His alma mater, Wheaton College, stirred controversy when it congratulated Vought on his new post, only to retract the congratulations after receiving criticism. Kristi Noem, Trump\u2019s Secretary of Homeland Security has also spoken often of her faith, stating on her campaign website, \u201cI want to be obedient to whatever God has called me to do.\u201d Doug Collins, the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs, holds a Master degree in divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and served as the Southern Baptist chaplain in the Air Force Reserve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Trump met with the members of his cabinet for the first time on February 26th, and the session was opened up with a prayer, led by Scott Turner, the new Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Turner is a former NFL player and previously served as an associate pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":26627,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPresident Trump Opens First Cabinet Meeting With Prayer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"President Trump\u2019s Cabinet meeting opened with a powerful prayer by HUD Secretary Scott Turner, as faith takes center stage.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/03\/president-trump-opens-first-cabinet-meeting-with-prayer\" \/>\n<meta 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