President Donald Trump on Sunday made an unannounced visit to Vienna, Virginia’s McLean Bible Church, where Pastor David Platt, formerly of the Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama, movingly prayed for the president on stage.
According to the White House, Trump decided to make the under-the-radar trip “to visit with the pastor and pray for the victims and community of Virginia Beach” after the tragic shooting that left 12 people dead on Friday.
Sunday was also the “Special Day of Prayer for the President,” led by Franklin Graham, but Trump’s church visit seemed to be unrelated, per The Christian Post.
That publication posted a transcript of the former Birmingham pastor’s prayer for the president, and Bloomberg even captured the entire thing on video.
Platt’s prayer as follow:
“Oh God, we praise You as the one universal king over all,” Platt prayed with one hand holding an open Bible and the other hand on Trump’s back. “You are our leader and our lord and we worship You. There is one God and one savior and it’s You. Your name is Jesus and we exalt you, Jesus.
“And we know, we need Your mercy. We need Your grace, we need Your help, we need Your wisdom in our country. And so we stand right now, on behalf of our president, and we pray for Your grace, and Your mercy, and Your wisdom upon him.
“God, we pray that he would know how much You love him. So much that You sent Jesus to die for his sins, our sins, so we 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, and good for righteousness, and good for equity, every good path.
“Lord we pray, we pray that You would give him all the grace he needs to govern in ways we just saw in 1 Timothy, chapter 2, that will lead to peaceful and quiet lives, Godly and dignified in every way.
“God, we pray for your blessing, in that way, upon his family. We pray that you would give them strength, we pray that you give them clarity, wisdom.
“Wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Please, oh God, give him wisdom. And help him to lead our country, alongside other leaders.
“We pray today for leaders in Congress. We pray for leaders in courts. We pray for leaders at national and state levels.
“Please, oh God, help us to look to You. Help us to trust in Your word. Help us to seek Your wisdom and live in ways that reflect Your love and Your grace, Your righteousness and Your justice. We pray for Your blessings on our president toward that end. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”
WATCH: Trump prays at the McLean Bible Church with Pastor David Platt in the wake of the Virginia Beach mass shooting pic.twitter.com/cpqs7efVYg
— TicToc by Bloomberg (@tictoc) June 2, 2019
Before delivering the prayer, The Hill reported that Platt called on Americans of faith to pray for the president not “just on this Sunday” but “continually.”
Trump reportedly left the church humbly without giving a speech and was repeatedly mouthing the words “thank you” as he waved to the applauding audience as he exited the stage.
Platt departed the Church at Brook Hills in fall of 2014, shortly after being tapped to be president of the International Mission Board. He is also a New York Times bestselling author.
Seemingly proud to call Alabama his “Sweet Home,” Platt still lists Birmingham as his place of residence on Twitter.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
