T.D. Jakes Will Speak in D.C. on Inauguration Day, As It Turns Out, Says the AP

Two days before Christmas, while addressing the controversy surrounding President-elect Barack Obama’s decision to have Rick Warren deliver the inaugural invocation, John McWhorter wrote in The New Republic, “Suppose Obama had invited black megastar preacher
T.D. Jakes instead.” Turns out, Obama has given Jakes a speaking slot on Inauguration Day — kind of. The Associated Press is reporting as follows:

Bishop T.D. Jakes, the Dallas megachurch pastor, will preach at the
private church service that President-elect Barack Obama will attend the morning of his 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 they were
not authorized to release the information. St. John’s, dubbed the “Church of the Presidents,” sits across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.