Miami pastor speaks at D.C. rally merging prayer, politics and U.S. history

A Miami megachurch pastor joined prominent religious and political leaders Sunday in Washington, D.C. at a rally promoting a Christian framing of U.S. history and calling for a national spiritual revival.

Thousands flocked to the National Mall in D.C. to attend “Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving,” a religious event that was touted by the Trump administration as a way to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday “with Scripture, testimony, and prayer,” and honor “the faith that inspired America’s founders.” Many of the speakers pushed forth the narrative that the United States was founded explicitly as a Christian nation, a Christian Nationalist framing of American history that is disputed by many scholars.

Pastor Samuel Rodriguez of New Season Church opened the event declaring the goal of the day was to reflect on the nation’s history and to realign its future in God’s name.

“America is not done with God and God is not done with America,” said Rodriguez who is the president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.

Apostle Guillermo Maldonado, who heads King Jesus Ministry (El Rey Jesús) in Kendall — one of the largest Hispanic megachurches in South Florida with a large international following — spoke to the crowd about the power of miracles, the second coming of Jesus and the need for a new “spiritual awakening” in America.

“Father, we ask you today, and we proclaim that you have not finished with America. I declare that Jesus is the Lord and king upon America. America, you must be revived in awakening,” Maldonado said during a prayer.

Attendees heard speeches from political leaders, including President Donald Trump who sent a pre-recorded video where he read a chapter from the Old Testament book of II Chronicles. House speaker Mike Johnson, who in the past has said the country’s founders “wanted to protect the church from an encroaching state, not the other way around,” appeared in person and spoke about moments in our nation’s history where the role of God was evident.

Johnson has been a strong advocate for ending the Johnson Amendment, a long-standing tax policy that prohibits religious institutions from endorsing political candidates.

Miami pastor preaches about spiritual revival

Maldonado spoke fervently about “God’s supernatural power” to heal all ailments and sins, including personal as well as what he called the “nation’s sins.”

The pastor said the country’s two greatest needs right now are, “the need of a spiritual awakening and the need of a spiritual revival. There’s no revival without repentance.”

Maldonado is well-known in Miami for hosting intense services at his West Kendall church that often involve speaking in tongues and channeling the Holy Spirit.

Maldonado, who goes by “Apostle,” has long been a supporter of Trump, who visited King Jesus church in 2019 during a campaign event, and often promotes the mingling of the church in political spaces. Maldonado is aligned with a movement of Christianity some religious scholars call “Independent Charismatic Christians,” which blends Pentecostal practices with modern-day Evangelicalism, and its followers believe some leaders are apostles or prophets who have God-given gifts, like the power to heal the afflicted or channel the Holy Spirit.

The pastor’s mention of “revival” could refer to his desire for Christianity to be imposed in a global way, according to writings from religious scholar Matthew Taylor, who studies Christian Nationalism.

In his book on the subject, “The Violent Take it By Force,” Taylor describes these types of “revivals” as spiritually-led movements that charismatic Christians believe will “help to trigger a wholesale transformation of society.”

“I have never encountered any section of Christianity so singularly preoccupied with revival as Independent Charismatics,” Taylor writes. “They pray for revival, prophesy about revival, strategize for revival, study revival history, and hanker for a bracing new work of God.”

For many interfaith groups and religious freedom advocates, including national groups like Interfaith Alliance, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, the Rededicate 250 event misrepresented American history and the nation’s constitutional protections against imposing one type of religion for all.

Interfaith Alliance’s president and CEO, Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush told the Miami Herald that he viewed the event as more of a political rally than an event to celebrate the nation’s founding ideals, which he sees as ones that promote freedom for all religious expressions.

“Instead of offering a way to unite America under the broad understanding of democracy, which makes space for all of us, it was really about shrinking who belongs, which is really the Christian Nationalist Project,” said Raushenbush, who clarified that Christian Nationalism is not about being a Christian and loving one’s country, as some argue, but a political ideology that advocates for Christians to have “a privileged position in this country.”

Raushenbush said the event was a “missed opportunity” to tell the nation’s unique origin story and our founders’ true intentions of establishing a democracy that promotes religious pluralism.

“At our founding we had people of all different religious backgrounds, and we should be rededicating to the Constitution, rededicating to this idea of what our founders really meant, which was freedom,” said Raushenbush.

This story was produced with financial support from Trish and Dan Bell and donors in South Florida’s Jewish and Muslim communities, including Khalid and Diana Mirza and the Mohsin and Fauzia Jaffer Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.

This story was originally published May 19, 2026 at 4:30 AM.