Editor’s note: On Friday, April 17, a spokesperson for the “Rededicate 250” event told BNG Driscoll will not speak at this event. On Saturday, another spokesperson told BNG Driscoll never was invited and is lying. See updates.
Shock jock preacher Mark Driscoll will be one of the preachers at President Donald Trump’s “Rededicate 250” event on the National Mall May 17, he said in an email to supporters.
Driscoll rose to fame as the hyper-masculine pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, then fell from grace due to alleged emotional and spiritual abuse of church members and staff and due to inflating his book sales using church funds. He is known for his bombastic, confrontational style of speaking that is rooted in male headship and Calvinism.
Jonathan Roumie as Lonnie Frisbee
Organizers of the day-long event have not yet announced a list of speakers or musicians, but some of them already are letting their supporters know they have been invited.
One Catholic bishop and one Catholic layperson have said they’ll be speaking. Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minn., will speak, according to EWTN News. Also invited to speak is Catholic layperson Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus Christ on the television series The Chosen.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, former archbishop of New York, is slated to give an address via video.
All three Catholic speakers have ties to conservative theology and politics. Barron serves on Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission and has been widely criticized for not challenging the president on moral issues. Dolan also serves on the Religious Liberty Commission and delivered an invocation at Trump’s January 2025 inauguration. Roumie recently has appeared at conservative venues, including Liberty University and the National March for Life, an anti-abortion event.
Jack Graham preaching at Prestonwood April 12 (screencap)
According to EWTN News, “Protestant speakers expected include Pastor Jack Graham, Samuel Rodriguez and Eric Metaxas. There will also be a video address by Franklin Graham. There will be musical performances by Chris Tomlin, Blessing Offor and the U.S. Navy Band.”
Graham, Rodriguez and Metaxas have been vocal Trump supporters. In a sermon at Prestonwood Baptist Church April 12, Graham encouraged his congregants to attend the event on the National Mall and said he would be there but did not explicitly say he was speaking.
Trump, Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly will speak at the event too. Vance is a Catholic convert, and Johnson is a Southern Baptist.
Sean Feucht introducing the “Roots of Revival” tour in a video.
Evangelical troubadour Sean Feucht also has announced he will participate in the event as part of his nationwide revival tour. He told supporters in a video his team will be “the revival crazy people” going from “revival hot spot to revival hot spot,” including the National Mall.
Hillsdale College, a conservative evangelical school whose leaders support Trump and the MAGA movement, announced the Hillsdale College Chamber Choir will sing on the National Mall May 17.
Chief Staff Officer Kyle Murnen said in a news release: “It’s a fitting and beautiful thing, because the college was founded in gratitude for the blessings of civil and religious liberty in America. This is a great moment to be grateful, to rededicate ourselves and remember the great blessings of liberty.”
The choir tentatively plans to sing “The Lord’s Prayer,” “America the Beautiful” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” the news release said.
Trump announced the “Rededicate 250” event in February during the National Prayer Breakfast.
In a presidential proclamation, Trump said the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence “represents the most seminal political event in all of human history.”
That places America’s founding as being more important than the founding of any other nation.
“Unlike other nations, America’s founding was rooted in the belief that every man, woman and child is ‘endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,’” he said.
EWTN also reported Justin Caporale, executive producer for major events and public appearances for the White House, said of the event: “Our mission is to gather the nation in prayer and worship, to have a moment reflecting on God’s providence in the birth and preservation of the United States, and this is really our opportunity to unite the country and rededicate our nation to God.”