Megachurch pastor to be in inauguration

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

LAKE FOREST, Calif. — Pastor Rick Warren is set to deliver the invocation for President-elect Barack Obama’s inaugural swearing-in ceremony Jan. 20, Saddleback Church officials confirmed Wednesday.

Church officials were waiting on Obama’s team to make the announcement.

Just this past August, Obama and John McCain were guests at the two-hour Saddleback Church Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion where Warren questioned them about issues that ranged from abortion and same-sex marriage to the nature of good and evil. Early this month, Warren took his annual civil forum on health to Washington, D.C., where he gave President George W. Bush the first International Medal of Peace.

for the president’s work on combating global HIV/AIDS.

Two years ago, Obama spoke and received a standing ovation when he addressed hundreds of evangelicals at the church’s Global Summit on AIDS and the Church.