DETROIT, MI – A Detroit pastor has been chosen to deliver a prayer during President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony.
Rev. Lorenzo Sewell, a Detroit native and leader of 180 Church in the city, will be one of four faith leaders to deliver a benediction prayer during Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 in Washington, D.C.
The inauguration date has a potent meaning, Sewell told MLive, as it coincides this year with Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
“For me, the benediction or the blessing coincides with the dream, with King’s dream, being fulfilled,” he said. “That someone like me would have an opportunity to pray at the 47th president’s inauguration surely fulfills King’s dream.”
Delivered in Washington, D.C. in 1963, King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech envisioned a future of racial equality and justice where people are judged by their character, not the color of their skin.
Sewell first met Trump in June, when the pastor hosted the former president at his church for a campaign stop and roundtable discussion.
Related: Trump visits Black church in Detroit, attends meeting of MAGA loyalists
It was during the event that Sewell impressed Trump so much that the then-presidential candidate promised the pastor he’d be at the inauguration.
“He said that in the context of the prayer that we prayed for him, because the prayer was not scripted,” Sewell said. “Because the prayer wasn’t scripted, it was impromptu, that was impressive to him because he said that he always asks pastors to pray for him but many of them feel taken off guard, many of them feel like they couldn’t pray off the cuff, so to speak. He shook my hand and promised me, just said that, ‘At the inauguration, you’ll be there.’”
The pastor said he never thought about the promise again until Trump won. And to his surprise, he said, the president-elect remembered, with Trump’s team reaching out to him a few weeks ago to offer him the role at the inauguration.
Sewell hosting Trump at his church catapulted him from, in his words, being a relatively known pastor in the region to an internationally known name with visitors coming to his church from all over.
Since the visit, Sewell has traveled across the U.S. and Michigan, giving the opening prayer at other appearances by Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance, attending a variety of Republican events and even giving a speech during the Republican National Convention in July.
Sewell grew up on the east side of Detroit. He said his dad is in prison for murder and that before he found Jesus and his calling as a pastor in 1999, he was a “street pharmacist,” a slang term for drug dealer.
While that journey hasn’t been perfect or easy, he said it’s proof of God’s existence that those beginnings have led him to a role at the inauguration.
“That one day I would be praying the benediction at the inauguration of some would say the greatest political comeback of history? Fairytales. Movies. Come on, you can’t make that up,” he said with a laugh.
Sewell previously told MLive he is a lifelong Republican and supported Trump in 2016 and 2020, despite many of his parishioners identifying as Democrats.
Related: Some Detroiters saw Trump remarks about city as insult; others saw hope for a renaissance
One of the biggest names in the inauguration ceremony program is country star Carrie Underwood, who will be performing “America the Beautiful,” according to Matthew Foldi of the Washington Reporter.
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