Obama Picks Church, Pastor is Southern Baptist UPDATED

June 29, 2009

The church is Evergreen Chapel, a nondenominational congregation at Camp David which is open to the nearly 400 military personnel an staff at Camp David (their families included).

The current pastor/chaplain of Evergreen Chapel is Lieut. Carey Cash. Cash is a graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

Here’s the article from TIME:

Now, in an unexpected move, Obama has told White House aides that instead of joining a congregation in Washington, D.C., he will follow in George W. Bush’s footsteps and make his primary place of worship Evergreen Chapel, the nondenominational church at Camp David.

A number of factors drove the decision — financial, political, personal — but chief among them was the desire to worship without being on display. Obama was reportedly taken aback by the circus stirred up by his visit to 19th Street Baptist in January. Lines started forming three hours before the morning service, and many longtime members were literally left out in the cold as the church filled with outsiders eager to see the new President. Even at St. John’s, which is so accustomed to presidential visitors that it is known as the “Church of the Presidents,” worshippers couldn’t help themselves from snapping photos of Obama on their camera phones as they walked down the aisle past him to take communion.

…Camp David’s current chaplain, Lieut. Carey Cash, leads the services at Evergreen. If the White House had custom-ordered a pastor to be the polar opposite of Jeremiah Wright, they could not have come as close as Cash. (As it is, the White House had no hand in selecting Cash. The Navy rotates chaplains through Camp David every three years; Cash began his tour this past January.) The 38-year-old Memphis native is a graduate of the Citadel and the great-nephew of Johnny Cash. He served a tour as chaplain with a Marine battalion in Iraq and baptized nearly 60 Marines during that time. Cash earned his theology degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth — and, yes, that means Obama’s new pastor is a Southern Baptist.

Lieut. Carey Cash is the author of A Table in the Presence.

See this Baptist Press article on Cash’s book and ministry.

UPDATE:

According to Jen Psaki, Deputy White ouse Press Secretary, the TIME magazine report that President Obama has chosen the nondenom Evergreen Chapel as his new church home is inaccurate. Here’s Psaki of the White House:

“The President and First Family continue to look for a church home. They have enjoyed worshipping at Camp David and several other congregations over the months, and will choose a church at the time that is best for their family.”