resident Bush and First Lady Laura Bush have lavished friends and wealthy supporters with sleep over events at the White House, including stays in the much-coveted Lincoln Bedroom.

   It was a practice denounced widely by Republicans during the year 2000 election campaign, when then-President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton invited their key backers to spend time at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. George Bush pledged during his run for office that he would not utilize overnight invitations to the White House as a reward for financial contributions, or a quid pro quo with donors for political support. He told Associated Press last year, "There's something sacred about the Lincoln Bedroom."

   A list of friends, relatives and supporters who have spent the night in the White House, though, reveals that Bush is engaging in the same practice. Among those detailed on a roster of overnight guests from January 20, 2001 to May 1 of this year are political cronies and six of Bush's biggest contributors and their families who are members of a "Pioneer" group and raised at least $100,000 for the GOP presidential campaign.

   They include Roland Betts, a former partner with Bush in his Texas Rangers baseball team; Boston business exec Joe O'Donnell; and oil tycoon Joe O'Neill of Midland, Texas.

   "The Republicans made a very big deal about this during the Clinton administration," said Larry Nobel, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics. "In this whole business, the whole issue is perception."

   Among those joining Bush family members and fat-cat contributors overnight at the White House is "prosperity gospel" preacher Kirbyjon Caldwell, described as a "spiritual adviser" for the President.

   Caldwell is also head of the Windsor Village United Methodist Church, a 14,000-member-strong "mega church" locatede just north of downtown Houston. It is the largest Methodist congregation in the country. Caldwell's operation includes a multi-million dollar 104,000 square-foot "Power Center" (a former K-Mart outlet) that houses a private Christian school, office space, a branch of Houston Community College and various businesses such as a bank and hair salon.

   Prior to entering the ministry, Caldwell was on his way to becoming a financial "Master of the Universe" who began his career in finance. He attended the prestigious Wharton School of Business, and in 1987 went to work as a bond dealer in Houston. His 1999 autobiography, "The Gospel of Good Success" noted: "It was the Gold Rush era in Houston, and I was standing on the ground floor waiting for those elevator doors to open and deliver me into six-figure-dollars country."

   "Not many African-American males could make six serious figures in 1978," added Caldwell, "especially without wearing a sports uniform."

   But Caldwell insists that even through college he was tempted by 'the calling" to enter the ministry. At age 25, he left the financial markets and embarked on a four-year program at the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. He later served as an associate pastor at various churches in Texas before joining the Windsor Village UMC.

   Caldwell combined his entrepreneurial enthusiasm with evangelical theology. "I've never not been a pastor with a business background," he told Christianity Today magazine. He also began networking with key financial and political groups, from the Chase Bank of Texas and the Greater Houston Partnership to Microsoft and Continental Airlines. His message of "holistic salvation" and "good success" preached earthly fortune by presumably following the laws of God.

   "Jesus was innovative and entrepreneurial," gushes Caldwell. "So, unlike some pastors, I don't view that as a scriptural stretch or as an anti-spiritual orientation."

   Caldwell and Bush first reportedly met in 1996 after the then-Texas governor read an article about the former stockbroker in the Dallas Morning News. Bush agreed to speak at the opening of the new Power Center ballroom, where both men discovered their mutual interest in forging government-church "partnerships" to energize religious groups and address social problems. The future president was then promoting his own Texas faith-based initiative, funneling tax money to religious groups like the Teen Challenge drug rehab program, and relaxing licensing requirements and other regulations for church groups engaged in social welfare outreaches.

   Although Caldwell's Power Center currently operates without government assistance, "There is no question that Bush and Caldwell are in philosophical agreement on the potential for partnership between government and churches," noted Christianity Today.

   Bush and Caldwell became close associates, and it was the Prosperity Preacher who introduced the governor at the Republican National Convention in the spring of 2000. The two had differences on issues like affirmative action and capital punishment. Caldwell, however, embraced Bush's call for the state-church partnership, and became a linchpin in the subsequent faith-based initiative which has relied heavily on support from two diverse religious constituencies -- the religious right and Afro-American churches.

   "In Texas today," Caldwell told the Republican audience, "government, business and faith-based organizations work together to transform communities long ignored by the political establishment ... As President, the Governor's (faith-based initiative) plan will help insure that this God-given RISING economic tide will lift more boats and repairs the leaking boats as well..."

   On January 20, 2001, Caldwell offered the official benediction when George Bush was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States.

   Parroting Bush's philosophy of "compassionate conservatism" and religious revival, Caldwell told the nation, "Thank you for blessing us with the faith to believe."

   Franklin Graham, son of the eminence grise of American evangelicalism, Billy Graham, had already set the religious tone for the inaugural ceremony by giving the day's events a distinct and sharp edged Christian flavor.

   "All this we pray in the name of the Father, the Son of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit," declared the younger Graham.

   Caldwell ended his benediction in a similar fashion, citing "the name that's above all other names, Jesus the Christ. Let all who agree say Amen."

   Both invocations drew criticism from religious and secular quarters. Historian Martin Marty complained in an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times that the evangelical duo were promoting one form of religious faith over another. "The problem with saying Jesus is that it cuts off access to the Father for Muslims, Jews and others."

   Civil rights attorney Alan Dershowitz wrote, "The plain message conveyed by the new administration is that George W. Bush's America is a Christian nation, and that non-Christians are welcome into the tent so long as they agree to accept their status as a tolerated minority rather than as full equal citizens."

   Caldwell denied that he was proselytizing, or "trying to make others believe like I believe."

   "There comes a time when you need to stake your claim," he told Religion News Service. "I always prayed in Jesus' name. No need to change it now."

   Preacher Caldwell's success has also resulted in association with other movers-and-shakers besides the President of the United States, and made him a key player in the Bush administration effort to pass a faith-based initiative bill.

   "The time has come for the faith-based community, the corporate community, and government sector to join forces and identify, address and attack our social and economic ills," Caldwell says. "I know that collaboration can be effective."

   He also dismisses the fears of some religious conservatives that with government funding might come a loss of independence for churches and other faith groups, or a curtailment of their spiritual proselytizing.

   "Knowing President Bush and (former program director) John DiIulio as I do," Caldwell declared, "I don't think the initiative is going to insist that a church, synagogue or mosque compromise themselves."

   Along with his visibility and close ties to Bush -- he and the president often spend time on the phone together in prayer -- Caldwell is also part of a wider circle supporting the faith-based initiative. They include former heavyweight boxer Evander Holyfield, who made a $1.2 million contribution to the Power Center to pay for construction of a chapel, classrooms and center for "strategic warfare praying." Holyfield's money was the first in an ambitious expansion for Caldwell's operation that will end up costing an estimated $82 million.

   Holyfield, meanwhile, has spent his time and resources backing religious right organizations including the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, a Greensboro, North Carolina-based group that has established constitutionally-suspect programs for teaching the Old and New Testament in classrooms. NCBCPS has ties to David Barton's "Wallbuilders" that promotes "Christian America" materials, the Creation Science Museum and textbook monitor Mel Gabler who complains about evolution being discussed in high school science materials.

   Another new friend for Rev. Caldwell is Republican Congressman Tom DeLay, who has shared the stage with the charismatic preacher during services at Windsor Village UM Church.

   Caldwell's "prosperity gospel" message remains controversial in some religious circles, and some have accused the Houston evangelist of being a shill for Bush social policies. But Caldwell denies that he preaches a health-and-wealth message, and "would not insult God by viewing him as a sugar daddy or a slot machine."

   Still, much of Caldwell's emphasis remains on economic development, building the empire which has become Windsor Village, and boosting the president's faith-based initiative. Should funds suddenly appear thanks to federal or state programs, they could be spent on any of the ambitious projects that Kirbyjon Caldwell is organizing, everything from a huge housing development of 452 single-family homes (the largest real estate venture ever undertaken by a nonprofit organization) to construction of a lavish Tennis Center, park and, yes, more commercial developments. All of this, along with the overnight forays to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue may betray a material ambition few possess. "That's what we're doing," Caldwell tells reporters. "We're following Jesus and the Gospel of Matthew. We're blind to our ambition; we're blind to our agenda; we simply want to follow Jesus."

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