According to The New York Times, Obama has had private prayer sessions on the telephone and discussions on the role of religion in politics with Bishop T.D. Jakes, pastor of the The Potter's House in Dallas and author of Before You Do (Atria); Kirbyjon Caldwell, pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston and author of Be in It to Win It: A Road Map to Spiritual, Emotional, and Financial Wholeness (Touchstone Faith); Jim Wallis, president and executive director of Sojourners and author of God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It (HarperOne); and Joel Hunter, senior pastor of Northland, a Church Distributed in Longwood, Fla., and author of A New Kind of Conservative (Regal Books).

Jakes and Caldwell served as occasional spiritual advisers to former President George W. Bush. Wallis and Hunter were recently appointed to Obama's new President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

Jakes said he had been tapped for several prayer phone calls--the most recent being when Obama's grandmother died in November, two days before the election, the Times reported. "You take turns praying," he said. "It's really more about contacting God than each other." Hunter said of the phone calls: "The times I have prayed with him, he's always initiated it."

Meanwhile, recently retired NFL coach Tony Dungy--author of The New York Times best-sellers Uncommon and Quiet Strength (both Tyndale House Publishers)--has declined the invitation to join Obama's faith-based council because he would be able to attend only two of four scheduled meetings, according to U.S. News & World Report. Instead, Dungy agreed to advise Obama on fatherhood initiatives, CBN News reported.

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