--- title: DNC: Black Pastors Step Up for Hillary Clinton description: Notable African-American pastors say they are getting ready to spread the message for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. canonical: https://time.com/4428973/dnc-black-pastors-religion-faith/ author: Elizabeth Dias article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-28T18:04:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-06T09:44:31.535Z article:section: Politics og:title: Black Pastors Step Up for Clinton og:description: They're concerned that Donald Trump has a head start. og:url: https://time.com/4428973/dnc-black-pastors-religion-faith/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e58233e6bb17a21/6988a028428a9e4fd7cd3ad5/corletta-vaughn-dnc-pastors.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: SOAR 2016 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Black Pastors Step Up for Clinton twitter:description: They're concerned that Donald Trump has a head start. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e58233e6bb17a21/6988a028428a9e4fd7cd3ad5/corletta-vaughn-dnc-pastors.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Black Pastors Step Up for Hillary Clinton > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=e856e406-f666-474b-8072-aad7a643c103&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Trump's Top Pastor [Watch (HLS stream): Trump's Top Pastor](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/A9Hi3DBO.m3u8) (8:46)  _Published 2016-07-18. One of the most visible pastors supporting Donald Trump comes from the most unlikely of places: the small town of Easley, South Carolina. Trump’s candidacy has thrust televangelist Mark Burns into the national political spotlight for the first time._ by [Elizabeth Dias / Philadelphia](https://time.com/author/elizabeth-dias/) ## Elizabeth Dias / Philadelphia Jul 28, 2016 6:04 PM UTC by [Elizabeth Dias / Philadelphia](https://time.com/author/elizabeth-dias/) ## Elizabeth Dias / Philadelphia Jul 28, 2016 6:04 PM UTC The front row of a box suite in Wells Fargo Arena was lined with big names of African-American preaching Wednesday night, as pastors waited together to hear President Obama speak at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. As they cheered for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, sang along with “What the World Needs Now is Love” and waved their “Joe” and “Yes We Can” signs, their discussion turned serious. A handful of African-American preachers who support Donald Trump, including [Darrell Scott](http://time.com/donald-trump-prosperity-preachers/) and [Mark Burns](http://time.com/trump-pastor/), they say, have managed to dominate the political and spiritual narrative for African-Americans this presidential cycle—even though many of them repeatedly have spoken out for Clinton. And they want that to change. Bishop Greg Davis from Michigan is an evangelist whose shows are featured on the Word Network, the largest network for African-American religious media, which he says is in 90 million homes in 200 countries. He says the handful of black pastors supporting Trump are organized in a way pastors supporting Clinton are not yet. Davis says he has mentored Burns and used to even be on Scott’s radio show daily, but he does not understand how Scott and Burns do not challenge Trump to say that black lives matter. Democrats in Philadelphia, Davis says, have given “more hope in one night than all last week” in Cleveland. “They are really organized,” he says, but “they don’t see the racist venom that he spews out.” That is prompting him to act as the general election approaches: “It’s a late start, and I’m going to help with all I can.” Bishop Corletta Vaughn, of Holy Ghost Cathedral in Detroit and reality star on _Preachers of Detroit_—a pastor who answers her phone with a cheerful “Praise the Lord”—wants to help Clinton push faith leaders, and especially women of faith, to the forefront. Vaughn was one of about fifty black pastors to meet privately with Clinton in January, and she was also one of 28 black ministers who pledged support to Clinton soon after. That move came after “the fiasco,” as Vaughn puts it, when the [Trump campaign inaccurately claimed to win endorsements from 100 black pastors](http://time.com/4129757/donald-trump-black-pastor-meeting-endorsements/), including hers, which she never gave. When Clinton visited her church not long after, Vaughn was moved by her personal faith and her decision to visit the town of Flint. “I introduced her as Deborah, who brought Israel together after the men had failed,” Vaughn says, referencing an Israelite prophetess. And when Vaughn heard Clinton speak to her congregation about the Biblical parable of the prodigal son, she adds, “she did so good that I didn’t preach that day!” Rev. Traci Blackmon, who leads Christ the King United Church of Christ near Ferguson, Mo., and who serves on Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, also hopes there will be more of a platform for women of faith to speak out going forward. She was in Cleveland at the UCC’s denominational headquarters during the Republican national convention, and decided that the best witness was not to protest the RNC itself but “to just be the church.” She and other faith justice leaders opened the UCC space to be a center for mediation and hospitality, to give out cookies and host the Catholic “Nuns on the Bus” travelers. “What concerned me in the street was the misogynistic spirit that permeated,” Blackmon says of the mood in the streets of Cleveland. “When you say things like, Trump versus the Tramp? Those words go beyond this political candidate to what you think about women in general.” She continues: “We still struggle with women in the authority in the church, and now you are talking about women being at the head of the government? … Here is the bottom line: we’re coming.” Bishop Rudolph W. McKissick Jr., who leads Bethel Baptist Institutional Church, a 14,000-member church in Jacksonville, adds that he has preached as a guest for Scott’s church. Now his concern is that pastors like Scott and Burns are straying from the core of the gospel message. “They have sold out African-American people, they have sold their souls,” McKissick says. “Limelight can be a terrible aphrodisiac.” But McKissick also admits the other side has been playing a strong game. They have been getting all the press, he says, because they have been making all the noise. “I think the remnant of us who believe in community, who believe in diversity, who believe in the message of Secretary Clinton, have now got to reshape the narrative and help people understand what I believe is necessary for our county, and as a result, necessary for our world.” McKissick’s plan is to be very intentional about getting young people registered to vote, and to vote early. In the African-American tradition, he says, the church has always been “the centerpiece” of democracy. “As African-American pastors, we have to be unbought and unbossed,” he says. “For me, she may be imperfect; he is immoral.” How the Clinton campaign leverages this groundswell of support for the general election remains to be seen. Clinton’s team hired a new director of African-American faith outreach, Zina Pierre, just this month. But the starting lineup is warming up. Down that front row line are more: pastor Jamal Bryant of Baltimore, Rev. Leslie Callahan of Philadelphia, others. And when Clinton joined Obama in the arena Wednesday night, they were all on their feet. ## Transcript What's your relationship like with Mr Trump? Faster. [ LAUGH ] Good. Mr Trump said, you know you're speaking at the RNC right? We said, what are you serious? He said I want you to do what you always do. Just do what you do. And so here we go, speaking time, I see. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Good morning. Good morning, Daniel, how are you? Good morning. [ LAUGH ] Good morning, Miss Maggie. Absolutely, yes, people are shocked That I don't come from this major, major platform of a location of New York City, or California, but a small town right here in Easley, South Carolina. But that's the heartbeat of this country, and for me, it all goes back to Mr Trump. How much time? Two minutes, then we come back for one song. [ MUSIC ] [ APPLAUSE ] [ MUSIC ] So if you need a miracle in your life I want you to write that miracle down on your envelope. We fully believe in writing all over our envelopes. Once you have your offering ready I want you to raise it up as high as you can get it. Let's get on chairs and stuff they want is close to the Lord as possible Possible, and throw it in there. He is a billionaire from New York City, he could have taken anybody under his wing. There is no black person, there is no white person, there is no yellow person, there is no red person, there is only green people. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Greed is money. It is almost spiritual in a sense, it is bigger than just money right? I meant it is really about Donald Trump has showed over and over and over again how he's willing to give. People, the least likely people in opportunity to prove themselves. For someone like Donald Trump to say hey, your heart is right, your spirit is right. Come follow me. That speaks volumes. When God wants to bless you, he brings a person. He reveals a person. He blesses you with the person in your life. But when he wants to protect you. I teach this all the time, that I don't want a leader who just presents to me their resume because the resume has all your good stuff on there. I want a leader who will lead me who has a record. You know, they have a jail record. They have a record that says I've messed up, I've messed up, I've messed up. But I overcame, overcame, overcame. Is that what Mr. Trump has done? Without question. Without question he exudes the message of grace. That he was once blind, but now he sees. He was once pro- choice but now he is pro- life, after receiving the information. He's been married three times but he's proven to be a powerfully effective father. He's willing to admit his mistakes, but celebrate his children, and when I see him I see the message of grace. I remember when we were in Atlanta and there's a press release there and so many of us black pastors were with him, and I was right beside him. I said lord this may be the very last time I This close to Donald Trump, so whatever financial anointed on his life [ LAUGH ] let him fall upon my life, so I can teach other people. I don't know why me, he chose me. I don't know why out of all of the 50, 60- some odd leaders that were there, why am I the one that was being asked to come on television. Alright, let's go. Let's go. Let's go eat. Here are the keys. Thank you. We go out to eat every Sunday. I'm going to show you who my children are. Well first this is my mother, Joeda. This is my mother. The fabulous woman that burst the fabulous me, and then you have my youngest baby Samara, Samara- Interracial marriage as an interracial family is just so vital. This is my youngest and they are ten. The key to future of our country- Mark is 14. In our family, our children are getting an even greater education On how not to see color. And then where's Diamond? Diamond is next, she's 18. [ LAUGH ] With her fabulous pink hair and fabulous pink lipstick. And then our oldest is Jordan, and she will be 20 in a few days. I know I'm not old enough to have a 20 year old. Funeral but I do. I want to bring you to this stop here and I don't know if they still have the sign up front but we didn't want to really come here because they have the waiting rebel flag but then we saw the Trump sign And so maybe this would be good so we walked in and you can immediately tell that they had their eyes on us, that they were suspicious of us. We were together. And they didn't like that at all. We found something that we wanted and they basically said, that's not for sale. Yeah, that's not for sale When it was clearly for sale. And I didn't tell them I was a [ UNKNOWN ] for Trump, I didn't tell them I traveled on the campaign. I didn't say any of that, I simply said that's the reason right now why so many blacks and whites, cuz there are whites who won't support Mr. Trump because they think he's racist. The majority of the world thinks that the Trump supporter is this, I'm not a champion of Black people. That's why I don't compare myself to Dr. King. He was a champion of the African American communities. It frustrates me basically that the Black community, who, one of the minority groups that suffer the most, are consistently voting For the same people that positioned them to be there. Donald Trump really is the best solution for all minorities that is at the bottom of the tow pole. You know, they're disappointed with the president's comments of, you know, Black Lives Matter and Police Lives Matter. There wouldn't be a hash tag police lives matter if there wasn't a hash tag black lives matter. It seems like black lives only matter when a black life is killed by a white cop. Well, we are Heading to the airport. Heading to catch a flight to New York city. To appear tonight on Megyn Kelly to discuss what's taking place in this country in this place right now. Hopefully we won't be in a combative scenario, but knowing [ LAUGH ] They want to get us to communicate and argue. They want good TV. Go ahead, Pastor Mark Burns, in the back row. Pastor Mark Burns. People want to assassinate an officer. That is why they're out there. [ CROSSTALK ] Down the line, go ahead, Pastor Mark Burns, in the grey sir. Fear factor. It's just that they're scared. They're afraid because in today's society, cops are walking on eggshells because they don't want to show up on the next cell phone video and be automatically condemned before facts are even proven. [ CROSSTALK ] I truly feel appointed for such a time as this. I feel just like Ester did when Mordecai came to her and said you need to have the ear to the king. You have to help protect our people. So, she can position herself to be the voice piece of God, and be the influencing of the king's ear. What kinds of things are you speaking into the king's ear? Just be kind, be loving. [ MUSIC ] And your hope for November? [ LAUGH ] My hope for November, Donald Trump is, we're going to the White House. And I'm going to give the inaugural prayer, that's what I'm gonna do. I'm claiming it all, you know we're going all the way. 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