Rodney Howard-Browne is an evangelist who came to America

from South Africa in the mid '90s.

He heads Revival Ministries International,

and in 1996, founded The River, a Tampa Bay

church where he still pastors with his wife Adonica.

Earlier this week he gathered with other evangelical leaders

in the Oval Office to pray for President Donald Trump,

and he joins us now with more from Tampa.

Pastor Howard-Browne, thanks for being with us.

Thanks for having me.

Well, tell us about what was it

like to be in the Oval Office.

What was the atmosphere that there like?

Well, it was very surreal for me.

You know, we came to the country December of 1987, my wife,

three children, five, three, and seven months, for $300.

And then Revival broke out in '89,

and we've been fighting for America ever since.

So to suddenly be in the Oval Office with the president,

it was very humbling and very surreal.

REPORTER: Wow.

For such a time as this, no doubt.

Well, what did you all talk about with the president?

RODNEY HOWARD-BROWNE: Well, you know, first of all,

we were in meetings from 9:00 to 4:30.

So we'd been meeting with different members

of the administration.

After lunch, the vice president, Mike Pence, came in.

And he said, oh, I heard that you were here,

and he said the president has requested that you come down

to the Oval Office.

So we all followed down from the executive building

into the West Wing.

And the president immediately greeted us,

he wanted a photograph taken with us,

and pastor Paula White-Cain said,

Mr. President, we'd love to pray with you before you go,

and he said I would love that.

So he just basically talked about his speech in Warsaw

and different things that are happening that he's facing.

So we probably spent about 20 minutes,

and then Pastor Paula said, OK, we're going to pray.

And so we laid hands on him.

That picture that you saw was actually my ring on my hands,

and my wife's hands.

Now it's gone around the world.

People are calling us, some people that knew,

they said, oh, those are your hands.

But I actually took that picture from behind,

standing behind the president.

And it was a very humbling moment.

I prayed for him, I prayed protection on him,

I prayed for supernatural wisdom,

and I prayed against the enemy that's

doing whatever they can to undermine,

that if they dug a hole, they would fall and hurt themselves.

REPORTER: This prayer that happened,

this is happening in the midst of a lot of negative media

attention over Russia, as you know.

How does the president appear to be handling the pressure

in this nonstop Russia mania?

Firstly, he's always handled pressure.

You go back to his whole life, it's been about that upheaval.

I think it energizes him.

He seemed totally relaxed.

He was very funny, and he didn't act like he

was under the gun of anything.

And obviously the media are going

to spin everything the way they can.

In many instances they're not really reporting the news.

They're reporting a bias or agenda.

And I think the American people see through all of it.

I think they just see them as talking heads

and they're not really interested.

People-- it was not Russia that put President

Trump in the White House.

It was the American people that put President

Trump in the White House.

And fortunately, we have an electoral college

that gives each state equal representation, otherwise

the three million extra people that

voted in California would have decided the fate of America.

So I see this as a last-minute reprieve

for America and the church.

This is a time for the body of Christ to rise as never before.

We have to get vocal.

It is crucial, it is so crucial, in such an urgency.

Let me just say this.

On Monday when we were there, was

the day of [INAUDIBLE] of our meetings

at the DAR Constitution Hall.

We went in 2014, we went in '15, we went in '16,

and then now we were there now for seven days.

So I rented Constitution Hall right by the White House

because that was the closest we could get to the White House.

And I remember in 2014, we stood for 15 nights, prayed

over America, issued a restraining order,

told the devil you can't have this country,

that God's going to give us a miracle.

So I see President Trump as an answer to prayer

to give America one last opportunity.

I'm not speaking on behalf of all the people

that were there that day.

I'm just talking as me, a minister and a private citizen

of this great America.

I wanted to let you know, we have to pray.

You could see the reaction to some of the people

in the media saying how terrible is that they laid hands on.

But one thing I felt that the picture did,

it emphasized prayer and it emphasized the laying

on of hands, which is something that we believe in

from the Bible.

And that we should do exactly what the scripture says.

REPORTER: Amen.

Well, thank you so much for reminding us

of how important it is to pray for our president

and our leaders for such a time as this.

And we really appreciate you coming on and talking to us

and sharing your experience there in the Oval Office.

Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne from Tampa,

thanks so much for joining us.

God bless you.

Keep up the good work.

Thank you.

God bless you.

Bye bye.