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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, January 17, 2009

Jakes gets pulpit for Obama

By Rachel Zoll
Associated Press

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

The inaugural platform was being readied Jan. 9 on Capitol Hill. In size, it matches President George W. Bush's record-setting one, but the informal crowds massed nearby for this event may make history.

SUSAN WALSH | Associated Press

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Bishop T.D. Jakes, a Dallas megachurch pastor, will preach at the private church service Barack Obama will attend the morning of his presidential inaugural, The Associated Press has learned.

Jakes will give the sermon Tuesday at St. John's Episcopal Church, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

St. John's, dubbed the "church of the presidents," sits across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.

Jakes is founder of The Potter's House, a multiethnic church with more than 28,000 members. He's also a Grammy Award winner, filmmaker and author of more than 30 books.

The Dallas megapastor did not make an endorsement in the 2008 presidential election, but participated in the Obama campaign's prayer conference calls and expressed admiration for the then-candidate.

On Wednesday, a National Prayer Service will be held in the National Cathedral to cap the inauguration. Among the participating clergy will be the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell and the Rev. Jim Wallis, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Caldwell, of Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston, is close to President Bush, participated in his inaugurals and officiated at the wedding of Bush's daughter, Jenna, to Henry Hager last May. However, the pastor backed Obama in 2008. Wallis, an evangelical and editor of Sojourners magazine, has advised Democrats on reaching out to religious voters.

The presidential inaugural committee has only released one clergy name so far for the National Cathedral event. The Rev. Sharon Watkins, president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a Protestant group, will deliver the sermon.

Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America, also will participate, along with rabbis representing the three largest branches of American Judaism, The Associated Press has learned. It is also traditional for Washington's Roman Catholic archbishop and Episcopal bishop to be included.