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Obama's 'spiritual cabinet' offers advice and prayer: Seven fresh faces

Near the end of a bumpy first year in office, President Obama readied for a Christmas vacation in Hawaii, but before he left, he called on a group of five ministers for a spiritual recharge.

Like previous prayer calls, this one was more personal than political.

“He certainly does not ask us how we would run the country and what issue to pursue or not pursue,” said Charles Blake of Los Angeles, presiding bishop of the Memphis-based Church of God in Christ, who was on the phone with the president last December.

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