At the National Prayer Breakfast...and In Conversation and in Solidarity with My Middle East Christian Friends

And a much needed discussion of the "Jesus We Haven't Heard Yet"

Massad Boulos, President Trump’s special advisor on Arab and Middle Eastern Affairs

I didn’t know what to expect when I went to the National Prayer Breakfast but I am so grateful that I went. Thank you to my friend and Substack reader who invited me. What a kindness! In fact I’m so blessed to have friends and readers who invite me, teach me and support me in all kinds of ways. Thank you. I really appreciate it.

Writing this Substack has changed my life in so many ways — my friends are really around the world — and I try to extend that spirit of hospitality to my friends when they are in the Imperial City. There aren’t a lot of good reasons to rent a two bedroom in the DMV other than to have people over and that’s what I try to do. If you’re reading this and not planning to kill or harm me, you’re welcome to come visit. I might even cook you dinner.

At the 2025 National Prayer Breakfast

Now by way of introduction to the prayer breakfast you’ll notice that I don’t talk a lot about my personal faith on this Substack. You might wonder why that is and some of you have asked me privately if I am a believer. Some of you have even prayed for me, which is something I am deeply touched by, especially as I have had a complicated life.

I’ve said I believe in God and would consider myself a Christian but like Abraham Lincoln whose birthday is tomorrow, I don’t belong to any organized church. I was raised Anglican, joined the Catholic Church, and from time to time, I attend Anglican or Catholic church.

My book on Calvin Coolidge probably gets the closest to my views on religion, especially its chapter on Charles Garman, Coolidge’s great teacher. No man was ever praised for what he received — only for what he gave. I read my Bible often and though I’m not entirely convinced Jesus was divine or even real I don’t think it really matters. He’s real so long as he lives in the hearts of his fellow man. Every time you teach his lessons he lives and reigns.

Nevertheless I was baptized as an Anglican on August 10, 1989, in Coronado where my grandparents served the U.S. Navy. Looking at those photos of me as an infant I’m struck by how taken care of I was and how each of us was so well cared for when we were young. I’m trying to tell my parents how much I love them before its too late.

My parents and me in 1989.

The day of my baptism was not so long ago. A Trump plane shuttle had a dramatic landing. The Poles were shaking off of Communism.

You can watch the news. It was a different time.

It always seems as if the past is a foreign country and in some way it is, and yet patterns emerge.

What’s remained true throughout my faith journey is that I remain a follower of Jesus.

And interestingly that’s precisely the language of the National Prayer Breakfast.

Yours truly with Imam Mohamad Bashar Arafat of Syria

*****

I tried not to go to the event without any expectations, as I try to approach most things these days. I had watched a Netflix documentary series about the Fellowship, called The Family based on a book by Jeff Sharlet. It didn’t make me feel good about the National Prayer Breakfast but then again, I’ve been lied about too. I use my God given mind to draw my own conclusions.

There’s something beautiful and powerful about Douglas Coe’s vision of inviting world leaders and peacemakers to talk about their families and what their hopes are for the world. This idea of getting people together around a meal or in prayer I find extremely stirring. I suspect it may be one of the few things which actually does change the world because it changes people’s hearts. Yes, I believe deeply in that line of Scripture about two or more are gathered in my name. It’s something I’ve tried to follow in my own way over the years.

A friend of mine says that the early days of the National Prayer Breakfast was as a CIA front. To be sure elements of the Prayer Breakfast have a sort of Christians In Action vibe of another era. These are the children and grandchildren of the Protestant missions who spread the Gospel out among the nations, armed with little more than American confidence and the Holy Bible. They speak the languages, often marry the local women or men, and are some of the greatest ambassadors for the sort of Americans I want to be among. When you are a white American and you grow up in Palestine you get a different perspective than what you watch on Fox News or hear from your megachurch pastor. Indeed my hosts and their family were involved in the creation of the breakfast. Its associate director — the late Doug Coe — made the gathering about Jesus and not himself. You have to go back to 1989 — the year I was baptized — to find Coe giving a powerful sermon.

President Trump spoke, of course, but his message wasn’t really on message so I won’t really recount it here. We pray for our leaders, of course, but we recognize that we have a heavenly leader.

It was a great honor to meet Massad Boulos, President Trump’s special advisor on Arab and Middle Eastern Affairs. His presence was much improved from Jared Kushner. I complimented him on his son Michael, whom I had met once or twice, and wished him well on his work thus far. I told him that we are hoping and praying for him to be a voice for peace. Boulos is also the father-in-law of Trump’s daughter, Tiffany.

It was a very intimate moment among the Christians, Muslims, and other followers of Jesus in the Middle East Suite at the Hilton that stood out for me.

I had heard from a friend whose father passed away during the occupation and from other friends who lost family that were murdered.

What could I possibly say to that but try to empathize?

My friend Jason Jones came with me to the Middle East. Once before he had told me that line from Rene Girard that when you defend the vulnerable you will yourself become vulnerable.

For me the most important speech was this one by Andrew DeCort at the Middle East dinner.

I hope you take the thirty minutes to listen to it. It’s quite provocative and it reminded me a lot of what it really means to follow Jesus.

And on that point, I want to tell you something about another follower of Jesus — Vladislav Levitskyi.

Levitskyi is engaged in humanitarian relief work in his native Ukraine. He is only 29 and has two children and he is fighting for the fate of his people and decency.

It was an honor to hear about his organization “Help all together” over lunch and to be handed this patch from his unit.

We pray for peace in Ukraine and in Gaza and we bear witness