This Pastor Criticized Trump When Pence Visited His Church

Published: June 5, 2019, 3:19 p.m.

b'Popular Southern Baptist pastor David Platt learned that President Donald Trump was on the way to his church in the middle of the service, as he prepared to take communion. When the president arrived, Platt put his arm around Trump and prayed: \\u201cWe pray that he would look to you; that he would trust in you; that he would lean on you; that he would govern and make decisions in ways that are good for justice, good for righteousness, good for equity, every good path. Lord, we pray that you would give him all the grace he needs to govern in ways that we just saw in 1 Timothy 2 that lead to peaceful and quiet lives, godly and dignified in every way.\\u201d Last year, Vice President Mike Pence visited Metropolitan Baptist Church several days after Trump reportedly referred to Haiti and African nations as \\u201cshithole countries.\\u201d At the service, Maurice Watson, the senior pastor of Metropolitan Baptist Church, pushed back on that characterization. "I stand today as your pastor to vehemently denounce and reject such characterizations of the nation\\u2019s (inaudible) and of our brothers and sisters in Haiti and I further say whoever made such a statement and whoever used such a visceral and disrespectful, dehumanizing adjective to characterize the nations of Africa,\\u201d Watson said. \\u201cDo you hear me, church? Whoever said it is wrong and they ought to be held accountable.\\u201d Watson\\u2019s actions came out of Paul\\u2019s exhortation in Ephesians 4 to speak the truth in love. \\u201cIt literally means truthing in love, and sometimes truthing in love means that one has to do as Pastor Platt did, and that is to pray for someone even if that person is someone with whom one disagrees,\\u201d said Watson. \\u201cBut also truthing in love is what I believe I did, to speak in a very measured, in a very respectful way, to say if someone made those remarks about these people groups, whoever that person may be, is wrong.\\u201d Watson joined digital media producer Morgan Lee and managing editor Andy Olsen discuss what it\\u2019s like to have the executive branch show up in your congregation, the challenges of pastoring in DC, and what happens after you push back against the Trump administration while the VP is in the house.\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices'