Sunday, March 2, 2008
Silverlake Church Got a Visit from President Clinton

send to friend

Most of the parishioners weren’t even expecting it.  To many of those attending the 10 o’clock church service, the entrance of Bill Clinton alongside Pastor Reginald DeVaughn, Senior Pastor of Silverlake Church in Pearland, came as a complete surprise - making what would be an ordinary Sunday extraordinary and historical. 

Bill Clinton along with daughter Chelsea, Congresswoman Sheila  Jackson Lee, former Secretary of Transportation, Rodney Slater, Dr. Barbara King of Hillside Chapel and Truth Center in Atlanta, and an entire caravan of women supporters who drove all the way from Chicago, attended the service in support of Hillary Clinton. 

With nearly 1000 parishioners in attendance, former President Bill Clinton entered the pulpit and in 20 minutes outlined past and current accomplishments of his wife Hillary as well as detailed her agenda for education, health care and the economy.  Reminiscing over the “glory days” of the nineties, President Clinton reminded attendees that cleaning up America would be hard work, but Hillary was the candidate with the experience and where-with-all to get the job done. 

 While offering a compelling argument on the benefits of having his wife as the next president of the United States, President Clinton acknowledged that both Hillary and Obama are great candidates.  He indicated that he has always wanted a woman to be President and also hoped and prayed for the day when the United States would have an African-American President.  He stated, to the amusement of the congregation, that he didn’t expect God to answer both prayers at the same time. 

While the visit from President Clinton was certainly the surprise of the morning, supporters of Barack Obama were not to be left out.   Senator Rodney Ellis and other political powerhouses, including California Congresswoman Barbara Lee and Senator Gilbert Cebillo from Oakland, CA, visited Silverlake Church during the 8:00 am worship service.   Senator Ellis reinforced Obama’s message and encouraged attendees to vote on the basis of change and not gender or color. 

Silverlake Church is the largest, fastest growing church in Pearland and was recognized in 2006 by Outreach Magazine as one of the top 100 fastest growing churches in America.  Pastor DeVaughn’s influence cannot be denied, however, he has maintained a neutral position in the race without publicly endorsing either candidate.  He opened the doors of the church for each representative to speak to the congregation and indicated, “This is an all-time historical campaign; I want my members to be informed and to vote their conscience.  I want them to think and decide for themselves what to do.”

It was difficult to gauge which side Silverlake Church members were on.   It was clear that both candidates were well received by the diverse crowd of primarily middle to upper middle class African-American attendees.   According to 12 year-old Andre’, if it were up to him, he’d have President Clinton visit in a heartbeat  stating, “ I wish this day could happen all over again so he can come back to our church.”  Indeed, this was a historical day for the young and old alike.  The memories of this day are sure to be etched in the minds of Silverlake church goers for a lifetime.