ASHEVILLE, N.C. (ABP) – Persons traveling to attend Friday’s memorial service in Asheville, N.C., for former Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Coordinator Cecil Sherman are advised to anticipate travel delays due to an unexpected visit to the city by President Obama.

Guy Sayles, pastor of First Baptist Church in Ashville, urged worshippers to plan to arrive no later than 1:15 p.m. for the service scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. on Friday, April 23, in the church sanctuary.

The Asheville Citizen-Times reported that Obama and his family are planning to vacation in Asheville the weekend of April 23-25. The White House didn’t release details for security reasons, but advised citizens that his travel from Asheville Regional Airport to the Grove Park Inn will close interstate highways and their exits/entrances.  The disruption in traffic flow is anticipated to begin at 1:30 p.m. Travel at or near that time will need to be on secondary routes.

The White House said no public events are planned, but the newspaper said it is anticipated the president will likely interact with the public, meaning some other unplanned crowd and traffic control.

For those not planning to attend Sherman’s memorial service, it is scheduled to be webcast live at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/cecil-sherman. A similar webcast was announced for an earlier memorial service for Sherman at River Road Church, Baptist, in Richmond, Va., but it failed due to technical difficulties.

Sherman, 82, who led the Atlanta-based Cooperative Baptist Fellowship from 1992 until 1996, died April 17 after suffering a massive heart attack.

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