1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 Pastor Travis Johnson, it's great to have you back here on Charisma News. 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:09,800 You had a very unique opportunity a couple days ago, and right now you're actually you've 3 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:14,020 traveled to Washington, D.C. for a very special event. 4 00:00:14,020 --> 00:00:19,040 But this event that we're talking about was you got to meet with President Donald Trump 5 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:22,300 in a small private gathering. 6 00:00:22,300 --> 00:00:26,120 You got to pray for him on stage in front of faith leaders. 7 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:27,680 And I want to hear from you. 8 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:30,120 What was this experience like for you? 9 00:00:30,120 --> 00:00:38,400 Well, you know, it's obviously a privilege to be with any type of leader that leads at 10 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:41,360 a capacity as someone like Donald Trump. 11 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:45,240 You know, not only an American leader, but any kind of world leader. 12 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:47,040 It's very rare air. 13 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:51,600 And so that's a wonderful thing. 14 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:59,160 But then to be able to do that with an American former president and white, possibly, and 15 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:02,320 hopefully, I believe I believe this is what will happen. 16 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:05,840 I believe President Trump will serve his second term. 17 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:12,040 But to do something like that in the context of Christian faith, which is so important, 18 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:18,360 religious liberty, freedom, and to be able to have those discussions in a very unfiltered, 19 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:23,960 both formal and informal ways was so really wonderful. 20 00:01:23,960 --> 00:01:32,400 And I would be making a big mistake not to also acknowledge that the God of all creation 21 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:33,560 was in that room. 22 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:37,680 And he was honored more than anyone else in the room. 23 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:40,320 The presence of God was in the house. 24 00:01:40,320 --> 00:01:41,600 And that was wonderful. 25 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:42,600 Yeah. 26 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:47,760 You know, there was lots of people that were praying for President Trump or had different 27 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:49,560 speeches beforehand. 28 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:52,160 And you gave about a four minute speech there. 29 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:57,520 I want to hear what that was about and what was your heart behind that message. 30 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:02,800 But I also want to ask you a question with your with your interaction and understanding 31 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:06,200 of President Trump and what you've heard about his faith. 32 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:10,180 Do you believe that he is a Christian? 33 00:02:10,180 --> 00:02:17,360 So speaking to the first issue, as far as what I spoke about, you know, on my heart, 34 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:22,760 there are a number of things and, you know, from life to gender indoctrination of our 35 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:29,680 children, that being tied to federal funds, depriving resources of schools and organizations 36 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:37,920 from being below function without hitting a certain level of approval on these agendas. 37 00:02:37,920 --> 00:02:38,920 Very concerning. 38 00:02:38,920 --> 00:02:39,920 It's very concerning. 39 00:02:39,920 --> 00:02:42,040 Life is concerning. 40 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:47,460 At the bedrock of those concerns is freedom of speech. 41 00:02:47,460 --> 00:02:51,120 If we lose freedom of speech, we lose all of these issues. 42 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:56,960 I mean, if if you are not able to freely speak, how can you contend for the lives of the unborn? 43 00:02:56,960 --> 00:02:58,960 How can you contend for your children? 44 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:02,440 And so that was on my mind very much. 45 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:07,440 And it's also been something that I've been a part of, you know, experiencing personally. 46 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:12,600 There's no question that it has shaped how I approach my city and how I approach the 47 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:15,240 work of ministry that we do. 48 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:20,540 And you know, I feel like, John, that there there's been several decades now of us just 49 00:03:20,540 --> 00:03:24,040 really giving this very sort of palliative gospel. 50 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:28,720 You know, my my dad died of cancer after a year and a half cancer battle. 51 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:30,760 The doctor said, well, this can't be cured. 52 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:32,720 We will be giving you palliative treatment. 53 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:36,760 It's basically saying, we'll lay you down comfortably to die so you won't experience 54 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:37,760 pain. 55 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:39,880 It's very soft gospel. 56 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:46,400 And the result may have been that we got some crowds, wasn't necessarily a larger church, 57 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:50,160 but we failed to disciple an entire generation or two. 58 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:56,120 And so my my real prayer for the American church right now is that we will stand and 59 00:03:56,120 --> 00:04:00,720 speak on the big moral and biblical issues that intersect with politics. 60 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:02,340 That was my that was what I said. 61 00:04:02,340 --> 00:04:09,120 I said that David did not expect to get involved in politics when he brought food to the frontlines, 62 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:11,920 but he got involved in his national affairs. 63 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:18,280 And he showed that when we step forward, the giant will, in his case, will fall back. 64 00:04:18,280 --> 00:04:21,600 But when we'll step forward, the enemy will step back. 65 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:25,720 And we have to stand and we have to speak for free speech, freedom of religion. 66 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:30,280 We have to speak for life and against the gender indoctrination of the entire generation. 67 00:04:30,280 --> 00:04:32,360 And we've got to stand as Christian pastors. 68 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:36,280 And if we will together stand, then the enemy will fall back. 69 00:04:36,280 --> 00:04:37,760 That's what was on my heart. 70 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:42,320 And so it was a wonderful thing to share that I've traveled in every single battleground 71 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:46,080 state to communicate that message. 72 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:52,660 Now, when it comes to President Trump's faith, I know this is that he's very much interested 73 00:04:52,660 --> 00:04:57,760 in the freedoms of the American church and to people of all faith. 74 00:04:57,760 --> 00:04:58,760 It's very important. 75 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:03,600 It's very important for Christians and all faiths to stand together that we have that 76 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:04,600 freedom. 77 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:05,600 And so that's on his mind. 78 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:12,040 One of the things that he shared was that he was going to work against anti-Christian 79 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:14,040 bias in our country. 80 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:15,040 And it's there. 81 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:16,040 It is there. 82 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:17,600 You see it happening in school choice. 83 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:19,240 You see it happening in a number of issues. 84 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:23,480 Of course, Kelly Shackelford was there and he talked about some of the landmark. 85 00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:28,040 There were like four landmark legal decisions that went to came out of the Supreme Court. 86 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:32,080 That was one of them that you could not discriminate against Christian parents who wanted to put 87 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:38,600 their kids in Christian schools using vouchers from states and that sort of thing. 88 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:39,600 So there was that. 89 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:45,560 And he also mentioned that if he is elected, he would be opening a faith office in the 90 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:51,120 White House that reports directly to him and that we would very much be right down in the 91 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:52,120 middle of that. 92 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:55,800 You know, I could characterize those conversations a little bit more. 93 00:05:55,800 --> 00:06:02,920 That was both on the platform is also backstage when he was meeting with probably about 25 94 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:04,960 pastors or so. 95 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:10,000 So what would that faith office look like in your estimation? 96 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:12,840 What kind of things did he say behind those closed doors? 97 00:06:12,840 --> 00:06:21,100 Well, in the president Trump's first term, the National Faith Advisory Board, people 98 00:06:21,100 --> 00:06:22,640 like that, people of faith. 99 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:26,800 Obviously, Paula White has been right down in the middle of that is her relationship 100 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:32,980 with President Trump has, you know, been ongoing now for quite some time. 101 00:06:32,980 --> 00:06:39,720 And so that that first Trump administration brought through over 10,000 pastors to the 102 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:40,720 White House. 103 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:42,700 So, you know, it'd be a continuation of that. 104 00:06:42,700 --> 00:06:48,260 But it would be someone that reports directly to the president to hear the thoughts and 105 00:06:48,260 --> 00:06:52,120 the concerns, the initiatives of people of faith. 106 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:55,040 And there are many, many, many. 107 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:58,280 It's the largest voting group in America. 108 00:06:58,280 --> 00:06:59,480 It's the largest voting group. 109 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:05,120 And so many of us are in one way or the other under pressure from our government. 110 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:06,700 I think this is the thing. 111 00:07:06,700 --> 00:07:10,960 One overarching theme that was getting into these conversations is that many pastors don't 112 00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:12,480 want to get involved in politics. 113 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:17,480 However, whether or not we want to get into involved in politics, politics will get involved 114 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:23,920 in us and it will happen in the way of, you know, laws, policy, even zoning matters. 115 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:27,840 So all of that would be on the agenda in the White House. 116 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:28,840 Yes. 117 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:29,840 So is what was faith? 118 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:30,840 Yes. 119 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:31,840 Yes. 120 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:32,840 Did you want to talk about his faith? 121 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:33,840 Yeah. 122 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:36,360 So I know he talked about his Sunday school. 123 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:39,520 He talked about his mother's faith. 124 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:44,500 You see some glimpses here and there, but obviously not using the vernacular that we 125 00:07:44,500 --> 00:07:49,400 as believers would prefer, but tell me about your understanding of that. 126 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:50,400 Yeah. 127 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:54,560 I mean, some of that, some of that vernacular is there, you know, he's some of it is familiar 128 00:07:54,560 --> 00:08:01,720 to to my background and then some of it is not, you know, some of it is, you know, he's 129 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:04,000 also from New York. 130 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:05,320 I was born in North Carolina. 131 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:06,600 I grew up in Miami. 132 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:11,920 I have the distinct privilege of pastoring the most incredible church in Mobile, Alabama. 133 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:14,560 We have campuses across the Gulf Coast. 134 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:17,560 And you know, the language in all of those places is different. 135 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:22,640 You know, in Miami, rather than saying, are you Catholic or Protestant? 136 00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:26,920 People would people would say Latinos would say, are you Catholic or Christian? 137 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:29,240 But you know, so that language is different. 138 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:30,240 Well, he's a New Yorker. 139 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:31,240 He's a he's a contractor. 140 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:32,240 He's a builder. 141 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:33,760 He's a developer. 142 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:36,560 And so, you know, that that shapes that. 143 00:08:36,560 --> 00:08:41,020 And so that's very much there in his conversation. 144 00:08:41,020 --> 00:08:42,400 He talks about religion. 145 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:44,680 He talks about Christianity. 146 00:08:44,680 --> 00:08:53,960 He talks about faith and and he uses it in Trump, ask language, you know, and he also 147 00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:55,640 would describe struggles that he has. 148 00:08:55,640 --> 00:09:00,560 You know, of course, he talks about how Franklin Graham kind of gave him a hard time about 149 00:09:00,560 --> 00:09:01,560 his language. 150 00:09:01,560 --> 00:09:02,560 Yeah, it's good. 151 00:09:02,560 --> 00:09:05,200 It gets better every time he says it. 152 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:09,320 Actually, you know, this is like a little embellishments here and there and is a great 153 00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:10,320 storyteller. 154 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:15,520 You know, it's what makes him very effective in so many ways. 155 00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:22,280 But here's what I believe that he is very much conscious, conscious of faith, conscious 156 00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:23,280 of the Lord. 157 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:33,000 He openly declares that Jesus is king and Jesus is welcome in his rallies and in his 158 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:34,000 administration. 159 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:36,480 There's no question about that. 160 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:39,720 There's no question that the assassination attempt. 161 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:41,520 It was like a marked difference. 162 00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:44,720 You know, I was at the RNC at the convention in Milwaukee. 163 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:48,280 I was sitting about three rows behind President Trump. 164 00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:52,120 That was a different Donald Trump that I saw. 165 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:55,880 I mean, not not on a fundamental level. 166 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:58,360 I mean, he was still who he was. 167 00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:01,840 But his temperament, it was all different. 168 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:03,840 He's very calm. 169 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:04,840 He's affable. 170 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:12,280 He's, you know, personally, he's very easy to engage with, easy to talk to. 171 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:16,520 And that temperature, I'm not saying it's down. 172 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:20,640 I mean, I don't think there's any I think it's terrible thought that in the church, 173 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:24,800 there's some idea that Christian have to be Christian men have to be lesser men, less 174 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:25,800 masculine. 175 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:29,700 No, I mean, the strong he's a strong figure. 176 00:10:29,700 --> 00:10:32,720 But there is a real tenderness that President Trump. 177 00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:34,240 I'll tell you a story really quickly. 178 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:42,080 Yes, I was in I was in Bedminster the night that he was arrested in D.C. and we met with 179 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:45,280 him right after after that event. 180 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:48,260 And before he walked in, he had stopped just outside the doorway. 181 00:10:48,260 --> 00:10:49,640 There's no door. 182 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:54,080 And I'm sitting on the corner of the table, kind of where I was in the pictures backstage. 183 00:10:54,080 --> 00:11:00,460 Backstage I was sitting next to Eric Metaxas, Ralph Reed and then Mark and Grace Driscoll. 184 00:11:00,460 --> 00:11:01,800 We were all kind of right there in that corner. 185 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:04,440 And so I was at the corner like that right by the door. 186 00:11:04,440 --> 00:11:10,920 And President Trump walked up and he stood and had a conversation for like five minutes 187 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:15,520 with one of the servers there at Bedminster and was asking this very quietly how their 188 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:19,760 family was and how the woman's children were. 189 00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:22,080 If she was enjoying working, is everything going well? 190 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:25,280 He was very much interested in her person. 191 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:32,500 Because you just get to see a different picture than what's happening on on that stage. 192 00:11:32,500 --> 00:11:34,480 And it is very, very human. 193 00:11:34,480 --> 00:11:40,080 And it's it's amiable really draws you and he does a great job of that. 194 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:41,080 Yeah. 195 00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:44,680 Now, you sent me a picture and I'm putting it up on the screen here. 196 00:11:44,680 --> 00:11:48,920 But you're talking directly to the president there. 197 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:52,520 Can you tell us what you said and maybe what he said, if that's OK? 198 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:55,040 Well, I mean, there was some there was something there was. 199 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:57,800 There was a conversation that took place on that stage. 200 00:11:57,800 --> 00:11:59,320 I was a part of the conversation. 201 00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:00,320 It was with the president. 202 00:12:00,320 --> 00:12:02,640 It was about spirituality. 203 00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:04,440 It was about next steps. 204 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:05,440 It was awesome. 205 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:06,520 Yeah, it was. 206 00:12:06,520 --> 00:12:07,520 It was wonderful. 207 00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:08,520 There was some of that. 208 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:09,520 I don't see. 209 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:14,480 I feel like it would be right for me, for me necessarily to necessarily to disclose 210 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:15,480 it. 211 00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:17,760 But, you know, somebody else can do that. 212 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:18,760 Sure. 213 00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:22,120 But it was it was really wonderful. 214 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:23,420 It was wonderful. 215 00:12:23,420 --> 00:12:27,800 And I know that the men and women on that stage are praying for him. 216 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:31,000 And, you know, as far as that goes, you know, I'm praying for Kamala Harris. 217 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:38,680 You know, I had the privilege of praying for President Trump the night before his debate 218 00:12:38,680 --> 00:12:41,280 with President Joe Biden. 219 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:48,400 And you know, I prayed for President Biden that night as well with the you know, in that 220 00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:50,000 in that moment. 221 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:54,760 And you know, those invitations also, when we have meetings like this, there there were 222 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:59,200 invitations sent out to the other candidates as well. 223 00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:04,440 And, you know, that's not just something that National Faith Advisory Board would do. 224 00:13:04,440 --> 00:13:09,680 But that's something that all Christians should do where Paul instructs us to pray for our 225 00:13:09,680 --> 00:13:10,680 leaders. 226 00:13:10,680 --> 00:13:14,480 And that's that's not just a thing we should do. 227 00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:17,320 This is instruction from the scriptures. 228 00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:18,680 And it's a real privilege. 229 00:13:18,680 --> 00:13:25,200 I will say in America, our leaders are also us because our government, we don't have a 230 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:30,320 king and our constitution lays out that our leadership is we the people. 231 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:37,420 And so while I pray for President Trump and I pray for Joe Biden, President Biden, I also 232 00:13:37,420 --> 00:13:39,640 pray for the American people. 233 00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:47,280 And I especially pray for Christians who are our leaders, as well citizens who are leaders, 234 00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:50,200 that we would all do our jobs and we would go vote. 235 00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:55,960 It would be a terrible dereliction of duty if we didn't show up and vote. 236 00:13:55,960 --> 00:14:00,800 Some of the greatest the greatest decision that we'll make is who's going to lead our 237 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:03,740 country when it comes to politics and our government. 238 00:14:03,740 --> 00:14:07,780 So yeah, that was that was an enjoyable time. 239 00:14:07,780 --> 00:14:14,720 And I'm especially appreciative for the President Trump would consistently consistently take 240 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:22,720 so much time with the church, with evangelical pastors and to come and be in moments like 241 00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:27,120 that, both speaking and being spoken to and having conversation. 242 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:30,840 Pastor Travis, thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule. 243 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:36,200 I know you you literally just landed and you're now in Washington, D.C. to do something at 244 00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:37,620 the Museum of the Bible. 245 00:14:37,620 --> 00:14:38,620 And that's really cool. 246 00:14:38,620 --> 00:14:40,160 We can maybe talk about that at another time. 247 00:14:40,160 --> 00:14:45,360 But thank you so much for taking the time to share with us from this kind of is behind 248 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:51,600 the scenes inside look into President Donald Trump's faith from your perspective there 249 00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:55,040 and for giving us some pointers on how we can be praying as well. 250 00:14:55,040 --> 00:14:57,160 Thank you so much for joining us here today. 251 00:14:57,160 --> 00:14:58,160 Thank you, John. 252 00:14:58,160 --> 00:14:59,160 I appreciate it.