Christianity Today, in a profile of President Trump’s Cabinet picks, including Gainesville’s Doug Collins, notes that from a religious standpoint, they represent a “curious mix of…backgrounds,” with Catholics outnumbering the others. The diversity reflects Trump’s voting base in 2024, which, while it still garnered strong support from white evangelicals, drew support from a wider coalition of voters.
The article notes that one of his choices currently serves as an evangelical pastor and that Collins (pictured) has in the past.
Southern Baptist Scott Turner, an associate pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, was tapped to be Trump’s secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Of Collins, the article notes that he has a master’s degree in divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and also has the role of pastor on his résumé. He served as the senior pastor for Chicopee Baptist Church in Gainesville for 11 years and is currently a member of Lakewood Baptist Church in Gainesville.
His confirmation hearing included questioning on how he would handle Biden-era policies that allowed the agency to provide abortions under certain circumstances, such as if the health of the mother is at risk or in cases of rape or incest. He said that the administration “will look at this rule and see if it complies with the law.”
Collins also served as a military chaplain, serving for two years as a U.S. Navy chaplain and later joining the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He was also deployed to Iraq for five months in 2008 and remains in the Air Force Reserve as a colonel.
His political career includes stints in the Georgia State House and in Congress, where he became vice chair of the House Republican Conference. During the Trump years, he was a stalwart defender of the president while on the House Judiciary Committee. He ran for the Senate in 2020 but lost.
You can read the full article here: Meet Trump’s Loyalists – Christianity Today