Cissie Graham Lynch, granddaughter of Billy Graham, tapped for religious freedom ambassador

September 21, 2026

Cissie Graham Lynch, the granddaughter and daughter of evangelists Billy and Franklin Graham, respectively, has been nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as the next U.S. ambassador at large for international religious freedom.

Religion News Service reports that if approved by the Senate, Lynch would hold an office that has been unoccupied since the beginning of the second Trump administration.

Lynch said in a post on X on last Tuesday, “I would consider it a great honor and privilege to do so. If confirmed by the Senate, please pray that I would serve with excellence and make the most of every opportunity to protect our most precious and fundamental right — and one that far too many people around the world still live without — freedom of religion.”

Lynch, who has worked as a spokesperson and a senior adviser for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the humanitarian aid group Samaritan’s Purse, served among evangelical leaders on Trump’s first-term Faith Advisory Council.

Her nomination, announced by the White House last week, was hailed by the conservative Family Research Council, which stated, “This is an excellent nomination by President Trump, and we look forward to seeing all that she will do to promote religious freedom around the world and speak up on behalf of the persecuted.”

According to Religion News Service, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent federal agency that had called for a prompt replacement of the ambassador, welcomed Lynch’s nomination and the president’s selection of three new commissioners.

The new commissioners are Catholic Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota; Andrew Brunson, a former Christian missionary who was detained in Turkey for two years on false charges; and Joe Grogan, a former director of the U.S. Domestic Policy Council who also served as an assistant to Trump during his first administration.

The ambassador and the bipartisan commission were established by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. In addition to three presidential appointees, three commissioners each are appointed by the leadership of the Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.

Photo: top, Credit: Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia/Creative Commons