Bill Perkins on Religious Leaders Meeting with Trump-Authorship Confirmed!
Summary of eRumor:
Bill Perkins of Compass International wrote a commentary on Donald Trump’s meeting with more than 1,000 Christian leaders from across the United States.
The Truth:
Bill Perkins of Compass International wrote this commentary about Donald Trump meeting with 1,000 Christian leaders in June.
The story appeared at a website maintained by Compass International, a non-denominational evangelical non-profit group that focuses on outreach and mission work, under the headline, “Trump Meets with Evangelical Christian Leaders” and begins:
This was a fascinating day in New York City as over 1000 Christian leaders from all over the U.S. gathered to ask Donald Trump tough specific questions about his policy and intentions should he be elected POTUS.
The event organizers originally requested Dallas, Texas as a middle-of-the-nation location to hold a private, get some private time with Trump event, hoping to attract some 200-300 national Christian leaders. But the only opening on Trump’s schedule was in NYC for 20 minutes, 30 days out. So they took it.
A screening committee, scouring the Internet, sent out invitations to about 1000 Christian leaders. Because the high expense of flying into and staying in NYC, and the date less than 30 days away, they reserved a room for only 100 people at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square.
Each person who accepted the invitation then had to be vetted, and ultimately ok’ed by the Secret Service. Once cleared, you were notified by phone. I got two sets of phone questions about my work with Compass and when finally approved, had 10 days to make plans. (I’m sure I was at the end of the list!!)
But despite receiving the late notices, the response to attend was off-the-charts. Almost everyone who they invited accepted the invitation. And some who were left off the original list apparently lobbied for inclusion. Ultimately there were over 1000 who hastily changed their schedules to attend.
Perkins goes on to write that Christian heavyweights like James Dobson, Ralph Reed, David Jeremiah, Tony Perkins and Robert Jeffress attended and questioned Trump about a range of national issues:
Through it all, Trump answered each of our questions with solid answers, both acknowledging the problem cited and how he would take care of the problem. He seemed to be genuinely concerned about changing the direction of the nation.
Trump addressed many subjects including the Supreme Court, national defense, border problems, Christian persecution, his pro-life stance, support of Israel, dumping Obamacare, education control back to the states and energy. All with conservative positions and answers.
The event that Perkins appears to be describing was called “A Conversation with Donald Trump.” Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee moderated the event, and Ben Carson participated as well.
Perkins’ commentary can be viewed here. Dr. Billye Brim of Eagle Mountain International Church wrote a summary of the event that be viewed here.