White House Appoints Paula White to Oversee Faith Outreach

Trump’s longtime prayer partner has considered the move since President Trump took office.

President Donald Trump’s go-to spiritual adviser and longtime prayer partner, Paula White, has been named to an official White House position in the Office of Public Liaison, the New York Times reported Thursday and Religion News Service confirmed on Friday.

White, a Florida televangelist often associated with the prosperity gospel, joins the administration’s outreach efforts through the Faith and Opportunity Initiative, the Times wrote. Formed last year through an executive order, the initiative set out to deepen faith-based partnerships, particularly around poverty relief, and to protect religious liberty on the federal level.

White, who met Trump 17 years ago through her televised sermons, was among the 25 evangelical advisers who joined his campaign in 2016. She visits with the president regularly to pray and discuss faith and politics. This year, she appeared with the president during several official events, including his religious liberty address to the UN and a White House gathering of persecuted religious minorities from around the world. She also participated in a day of prayer on behalf of the president in June.

White has not made an announcement or confirmed the appointment on social media. She stepped down from her church in Orlando in May.

Before praying at Trump’s inauguration in 2017, she told CT there was a “possibility” she would assume an official White House role. After more than two years of prayer breakfasts, National Day of Prayer ceremonies, and Oval Office prayer meetings, the controversial but popular preacher has reportedly done just that.

The Faith and Opportunity Initiative was announced in May 2018, the first move to formalizing the Trump administration’s faith ...