A new White House initiative encouraging people to pray for America claims to have the backing of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. But a spokesperson for the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee told Word&Way it’s not accurate to say the SBC has officially endorsed the administration’s project.
On Monday (Sept. 8), President Donald Trump announced the “America Prays” initiative during the second meeting of the White House Religious Liberty Commission he created. The government prayer effort, tied to the celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence next year, encourages Americans to devote “one hour per week to praying for our country and our people” and “join with at least 10 people” for those weekly prayers.
“We’re going to try and do a commemoration like nobody’s ever seen before,” Trump declared during the meeting at the Museum of the Bible. “We’ve invited America’s great faith communities to pray for our nation and for our people and for peace in the world. And it’s going to be an amazing, it’s going to be an amazing time.”
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner leads a prayer during a White House Religious Liberty Commission event with President Donald Trump at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 8, 2025. (Jack Jenkins/Religion News Service)
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, who was a Southern Baptist minister before becoming part of the Trump administration, joined Trump Monday to announce the “America Prays” effort. Turner, who also led the commission meeting in prayer, claimed that “America’s faith communities are responding with overwhelming enthusiasm” to the call to pray for the nation as part of the Semiquincentennial focus.
Although Turner claimed “more than 70 major faith organizations and churches have joined” the “America Prays” initiative, the White House site only lists three dozen “initial participating organizations.” However, several of those on the list are not organizations but individuals, like singer Danny Gokey, conservative pundits Eric Metaxas and Jack Posobiec, and Trump political consultant Alex Brueswitz.
Other endorsers include organizations led by prominent Christian supporters of Trump, like Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse, David Barton’s WallBuilders, Sean Feucht’s Let Us Worship, and Ralph Reed’s Faith and Freedom Coalition. Additionally, there are churches listed that are led by Trump-backing pastors, including the churches of Ché Ahn, Jentezen Franklin, Robert Jeffress, Kenneth Hagin, Jackson Laymeyer, Guillermo Maldonado, and Lorenzo Sewell. There’s also Salem Media Group, a conservative Christian radio company that airs numerous MAGA voices; Hallow, a Catholic prayer app that has counted J.D. Vance as among its investors; Catholics for Catholics, a MAGA group that includes Michael Flynn in its leadership; and FlashPoint, a Christian Nationalist prophecy show.
And then there’s the Southern Baptist Convention, which is actually included on the list twice. The SBC is the only religious denomination on the list, but the SBC has not officially endorsed the effort. Since the SBC only gathers for business during its annual meeting in June, backing a project like this that emerges during the rest of the year would normally go through the SBC’s Executive Committee, which acts on behalf of the SBC in between annual meetings. However, for the EC to sign on, that would still necessitate a vote among that body.
A spokesperson for the EC told Word&Way that someone from the White House contacted SBC President Clint Pressley, who offered his endorsement for the initiative. That would suggest that instead of a 12-million-member denomination backing the effort, it should instead just list Pressley along with the other individuals. Praising the launch of the effort, Pressley told Fox News that such prayers are “a public testimony that we depend on God for wisdom and strength.”
Despite the fanfare by Trump and Turner, the “America Prays” effort thus far has garnered minor support from Christian Nationalist groups, churches, and individuals. In fact, there’s been greater religious opposition to the Trump administration than what the government prayer initiative boasts. As religion reporter Jack Jenkins noted, 55 religious organizations have sued the Trump administration — including 15 denominations.
