--- description: Correction appended Donald Trump has invited pastor Paula White, a televangelist who leads the 10,000-member New Destiny Christian Center in Orlando, to deliver the benediction... title: Republican Convention: Donald Trump Invites Woman Prayer image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0577601f6e686104/69889c6c428a9e1692cd3767/paula_white.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Donald Trump](/tag/donald-trump/) ## Donald Trump Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Donald Trump Selects A Woman to Lead Republican Convention Prayer by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Jan 24, 2024 12:38 PM CUTPublished: Jul 18, 2016 11:52 PM CUT  Paula White Paula WhitePaula White Ministries by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Jan 24, 2024 12:38 PM CUTPublished: Jul 18, 2016 11:52 PM CUT **_Correction appended_** Donald Trump has invited pastor Paula White, a televangelist who leads the 10,000-member New Destiny Christian Center in Orlando, to deliver the benediction at Monday’s opening night festivities. “I genuinely am humbled and honored,” White says. “It’s always been my passion and heart to break barriers for future generations.” White is a longtime friend of Trump. She also has been active behind the scenes to gather groups of evangelicals and pentecostal pastors to meet him privately since 2011, when he was considering a run for the White House. Last September, [White gathered a group of preachers to meet with Trump](http://time.com/donald-trump-prosperity-preachers/ "undefined") at Trump Tower, including prominent pentecostal televangelists Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, Trinity Broadcasting Network founder Jan Crouch, “Preachers of LA” reality star Clarence McClendon, and newcomers to the national scene like South Carolina [pastor Mark Burns](http://time.com/trump-pastor/ "undefined"). Lyndsay Keith, spokeswoman for the convention, told TIME that White was the first woman to pray at a Republican nominating convention. But Ruth Osborne, a commissioner of the Salvation Army, [delivered an invocation](http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4597547/commissioners-osborne "undefined") in 1992. White shared a copy of her prayer with TIME: --- > “” --- **_Correction_**_: The initial version of this story did not note Ruth Osborne, commissioner of the Salvation Army, who led an invocation for the RNC in 1992\._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4411896/republican-convention-donald-trump-first-woman/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4411896/republican-convention-donald-trump-first-woman/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Selects A Woman to Lead Republican Convention Prayer","datePublished":"2016-07-18T23:52:01.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-24T12:38:16.000Z","description":"Correction appended Donald Trump has invited pastor Paula White, a televangelist who leads the 10,000-member New Destiny Christian Center in Orlando, to deliver the benediction...","url":"https://time.com/4411896/republican-convention-donald-trump-first-woman/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Religion","faith","2016 Republican Convention"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0577601f6e686104/69889c6c428a9e1692cd3767/paula_white.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0577601f6e686104/69889c6c428a9e1692cd3767/paula_white.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Paula White","caption":"Paula White","creditText":"Paula White Ministries","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4411896/republican-convention-donald-trump-first-woman/","name":"Donald Trump Selects A Woman to Lead Republican Convention Prayer"}}]}] ```