“It’s the greatest story ever told. And the best part about it is, it’s a true story,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told the assembly when he hosted the first-ever Christmas Worship Service at the Pentagon on December 17, 2025.
He was joined by his wife, Jennifer, and welcomed Rev. Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse, along with Christian musicians Matthew West and Anne Wilson.
Hundreds of military and civilian War Department employees gathered in the Pentagon courtyard for prayer, worship music, and reflection. Graham led the congregation in prayer, while West and Wilson provided music during the service.
Hegseth arrived late after traveling with President Donald Trump to Dover Air Force Base for the dignified transfer of the remains of two Iowa National Guard soldiers and an American civilian interpreter killed earlier in the week in Syria.
During remarks at the service, Hegseth honored their sacrifice and emphasized remembrance of fallen service members and their families during the Christmas season.
“Yes, they served in uniform, served all of us, on behalf of all of us,” Hegseth said. “We serve a bigger and greater God. We know where they are. We pray with them. We pray for them.”
In his address, Hegseth framed the worship service within the tradition of early American leaders, citing George Washington’s reliance on prayer during moments of national hardship. Washington was also instrumental in the formation of the U.S. military chaplaincy.
On July 29, 1775, while serving as commander in chief of the Continental Army, he formally requested that the Second Continental Congress establish an official Army Chaplain Corps. Congress approved the request the same day, creating what became the Army Chaplain Corps.
Hegseth stressed that War Department personnel are routinely asked to accomplish extraordinary tasks under extreme conditions and said prayer acknowledges dependence on divine guidance rather than human strength alone. He announced that monthly prayer services at the Pentagon will continue.
Graham praised the administration for its visible support of faith, Christmas observance, and the military, saying such openness reflects the religious beliefs of millions of Americans.
He highlighted the long-standing role of faith in the U.S. armed forces and emphasized the importance of chaplains, describing the Chaplain Corps as foundational to military morale and spiritual resilience.
Since assuming his role as Secretary of War less than a year ago, Hegseth has taken significant steps to restore faith and reintroduce Christian values within the United States military.
Central to that effort has been a revamp of the Chaplain Corps, which he has described as essential to the spiritual and moral health of the armed forces.
On December 17, 2025, Hegseth ordered the immediate elimination of the Army’s Spiritual Fitness Guide. The 112-page document mentioned “God” only once, referenced “feelings” 11 times, included “playfulness” nine times, and did not mention “virtue” at all.
Hegseth criticized the guide for relying on what he called “New Age notions,” arguing that it reduced the human spirit to “consciousness, creativity, and connection” rather than grounding it in faith and moral formation.
On January 29, 2025, Hegseth issued the memorandum “Restoring America’s Fighting Force,” formally eliminating all diversity, equity, and inclusion offices and initiatives across the War Department.
The directive dismantled DEI programs department-wide and ordered their removal from training, administration, and institutional policy.
By May 2025, a task force confirmed that the directive had been fully implemented across military installations.
As part of the process, nearly 400 books containing DEI-related content were removed from military libraries, and all DEI material was stripped from Pentagon training programs.
The department also ended the observance of “identity months” and related activities during duty hours.
Hegseth has been explicit in his criticism of DEI ideology within the military, calling the phrase “our diversity is our strength” the single dumbest phrase in military history.
He has argued that unit cohesion, discipline, and shared mission, rather than identity politics, are the foundations of an effective fighting force.
In a September 30, 2025, address to commanders at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Hegseth told hundreds of generals and admirals that the era of identity politics inside the military was over.
“No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses. No more climate change worship. No more division, distraction, or gender delusions,” he said. “As I’ve said before and will say again, we are done with that s—.”
Hegseth declared that the Department of Defense mindset had ended and that the Department of War was now focused exclusively on its core mission: war fighting, preparing for war, and preparing to win.
He also established regular Pentagon prayer services, launching monthly Christian prayer and worship gatherings in May 2025.
The services are held in a Pentagon auditorium during working hours and broadcast internally on the Pentagon’s television network.
They have featured Hegseth’s personal pastor, Rev. Brooks Potteiger of Pilgrim Hill Reformed Fellowship in Tennessee.
At the first service on May 21, 2025, Hegseth opened with a prayer, saying, “King Jesus, we come humbly before you, seeking your face, seeking your grace, in humble obedience to your law and to your word. We come as sinners saved only by that grace, seeking your providence in our lives and in our nation.”
He later explained the purpose of the gathering, stating, “This is precisely where I need to be, exactly where we need to be as a nation at this moment, in prayer, on bended knee, recognizing the providence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
Hegseth has defended the prayer services as voluntary and firmly rooted in American military tradition, citing George Washington’s prayers with the Continental Army at Valley Forge. “Appealing to Heaven, to God, is a longstanding tradition in our military,” he said.
Toward the end of the Christmas service, Hegseth returned to that theme. “As George Washington did that first year, he went on bended knee for providence in impossible tasks,” he said.
He added that, on a daily basis, the military is “asked to do impossible things, work impossible hours, at impossible odds, which mere men and women cannot do. And that is why we bend the knee, because we know where our strength comes from.”
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