Could Apostolic become the Obamas' permanent church?

If Barack and Michelle Obama are shopping for a new church home, Apostolic Church of God must be on their short list.

On Sunday, members of Apostolic greeted the Obamas with an outpouring of affection despite the backlash two other prominent Chicago ministers associated with Obama have endured.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee delivered a "tough-love" Father's Day speech to an overflow audience that filled the balcony and spilled into adjacent meeting halls.

"If we are honest with ourselves, too many fathers are also missing. Too many fathers are MIA. Too many fathers are AWOL . . . missing from too many lives and from too many homes. They have abandoned their responsibilities, and they are acting like boys instead of men," Obama said.

"Coming from a man's man; coming from our community; coming from someone who could talk about his own father, he was the best man for the job," said Donald Sturges, who is a father.

"I was inspired. I was motivated."

The congregation seemed to take all the hoopla of metal detectors and the media throng in stride.

In an introduction that touched on the broad themes of the Obama campaign, Bishop Arthur Brazier, who recently retired as senior pastor and turned the reins of the church over to his son, gave Obama a rousing welcome.

"He's a man who has given all of his adult life to helping people. He is concerned about the poor. He is concerned about the working man. He is a true patriot, and he has done something in this country that I thought I would never see," Brazier said.

"I am filled with emotion because I have lived through some very tough times in America, but the America today is not the America of yesteryear, and I don't think it behooves us well to keep talking about the past," he said.

Brazier, who drew heated criticism from political activists in the past for his support of Mayor Daley over black challengers, is a sharp contrast to Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and even the Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina Catholic Church.

Both Wright and Pfleger got caught in an unflattering media spotlight after harsh remarks they made about race ended up on YouTube and as fodder for Obama's opponents.

Brazier, who transformed a large swatch of Woodlawn through a redevelopment company that built affordable homes in the area, pointed out that while the "struggle" goes on, "America is a great country."

In his speech, Obama used his slow start among black voters to illustrate a point about parenting.

"It was interesting how many people would say, 'Barack we love you, man . . . but we just don't think a black man can be elected president.' We had already defeated ourselves before we got started," he said.

Not anymore.

Waunetka Clark brought her 10-year-old son, Demarcus, to see living history.

"One day he can tell his children and his grandchildren that he was part of this defining moment," she said.