A lot of well-known figures from the evangelical community have the ear of President Donald Trump, and even his daughter, Ivanka, appears keen to listen to their counsel.
A group of evangelicals comprised of Franklin Graham, Pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship, Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas, Pastor Paula White of New Destiny Christian Center, Bishop Harry Jackson of Hope Christian Church, and Pastor Jack Graham of Prestonwood Baptist Church, met with Ivanka and several White House officials on Thursday afternoon last week after the National Prayer Breakfast.
Johnnie Moore, the former senior vice president of communications at Liberty University, told The Christian Post that Ivanka invited them to "discuss what was on their minds."
"She also, at our request, talked a bit about some of the administration's priorities of 2018 and some of the highlights in 2017. That was the point of the discussion," Moore added.
The meeting was supposed to last for just one hour, but the evangelical figures had such a stimulating conversation with Ivanka that it lasted almost two hours inside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. "In 2017, the administration really exceeded our expectations on what they were able to accomplish in a such a short period of time," Moore explained. "We thought that we would be working on these issues for another four years."
They talked about Trump's bipartisan initiatives, which involved criminal justice reform, paid family leave, and workforce development. Someone from the group even said that it was "a real joy" to finally work on things that they truly care about.
"It seems like, politically speaking, for so many years, we spent so much energy into just surviving because of the very real religious liberty concerns. But these are actually the areas that are our principal focus and the things that we are most passionate about," said Moore.
Some of the evangelical leaders posted about their meeting, and one of them was Laurie. On Twitter (@greglaurie), the pastor said he had a great time talking to Ivanka and added that their meeting was "very informative."
