The US first family attended service at the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. last Sunday signaling the family’s search for a new place of worship after they left Holy Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago last May as a result of Obama’s break up with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his pastor for 20 years
Finding a new place of worship for the Obamas gets even more complicated when Obama won the US presidential election because of security considerations. The first family is also aware that their presence in the church will put a little pressure on some members of the congregation as they will have to address the security considerations whenever the first family come to the church to attend mass or service.
Fox news: ‘Sunday’s service was the first Obama had attended in five months. The president-elect plans to attend service on Inauguration day at St. John’s Episcopal Church near the White House.’
‘The Rev. Derrick Harkins, senior pastor at the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church said he understands church membership is a weighty decision for the first family, or any family, to undertake’.
‘That is a very personal and yet also a prayerful decision for any family and certainly this family, so we entrust that to them as they continue to move forth and let God do the rest, he said’.
Church members at the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church said they are ready to welcome the Obamas if they so decide notwithstanding the security considerations.
During the last presidential campaign, Obama had a falling out with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his Pastor for 20 years due to some political differences.
Rev. Wright said in his sermons at the height of his campaign, that America had embraced racism and continued his attack on the way America treats its people on the basis of color and beliefs. As the pastor continues his anti-American stance, Obama decided to sever ties with his pastor of 20 years and the predominantly black church.
On his inauguration, a white evangelist Rick Warren was chosen to deliver the invocation while black Rev. Joseph Lowery will deliver the benediction.