Trump, Evangelicals, & the Seven Mountain Mandate

Some of the most influential people you’ve never heard of appear in the picture below. I admit I didn’t recognize any of their faces, but when names were identified I realized the significance of it.

photo by: The White House; photo includes Brian Houston (Hillsong); Brian & Jenn Johnson, Sean Feucht, Stephen James Hart, Allison & Antonio Martin, Kiley Goodpasture, Luke Hendrikson, and Dominic Shahbon (Bethel); Jeremy Edwardson (Ex-The Myriad, owns The Soundhouse studios in Redding); Paula White-Cain and Jonathan Cain (Journey); Chris Quilala (Jesus Culture); Tosha and Joseph Zwanziger (The Fathers House, CA); Kari Jobe; Cody Carnes; Eddie James; Micah Stampley; Britt Nicole; Jaye Thomas; Jasmine Tate; Myles & DeLana Rutherford (Worship With Wonders Church);

The fastest-growing faith sect in both the United States and the Global South (Asia, Africa, and South America) is called Independent Network Charismatic (INC) Christianity, as detailed in a recent book by Brad Christerson and Richard Flory — sociologists from Biola and USC, respectively. INC Christianity combines Pentecostalism with the Fundamentalist-Evangelicalism that currently pervades much of the American faith landscape and enjoys outsized global influence due to operational and financial innovations.

One of the major draws of INC churches in the United States is the music; they very often produce and/or perform contemporary Christian worship songs that heavily influence believers around the world. Many of these INC celebrities recently attended a White House gathering (pictured above). The Christian Post reports that,

“The musicians and ministry leaders participated in a worship service and visited the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room, where they prayed for the president and took part in a policy briefing on what the administration is doing to help the faith community and religious freedom.”