Report: Obamas Find Church Community to Call Home
After over a year of being without a worship community, President Barack Obama has reportedly settled on a church home – Evergreen Chapel at Camp David.
According to Time magazine, Obama told White House aides of his decision to attend the nondenominational services offered at the president's country residence in Frederick County, Md.
Evergreen Chapel typically draws some 50 to 70 people every week. Weekly Christian worship services there are held for the military personnel and staff posted at Camp David and their families.
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Former President George W. Bush had also made Evergreen his primary place of worship during his eight years in office.
Since cutting ties last year with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who was Obama's pastor for 20 years at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Obama and his family remained churchless. And life without a church community has been difficult, he has said.
Congregations in Washington have extended invitations to Obama to join their worship community, and White House aides have visited local congregations in search of a new church home for the Obamas.
Obama visited a few himself, including 19th Street Baptist Church in northwest Washington and St. John's Episcopal Church near the White House.
Although he expressed early this year his desire to be part of a Washington congregation, he also said he did not want to be disruptive to the city or subject fellow church members to "being magged" every time he attended church, he told ABC's "This Week."
Camp David offers Presidents an opportunity for solitude and tranquility. Evergreen Chapel was dedicated in 1991 during George H.W. Bush's presidency. Services are led by Navy chaplains who are assigned to three-year tours of duty there. The current chaplain is Lieut. Carey Cash, 38, who is a Southern Baptist.
