WASILLA, Alaska - Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s former pastor thanked God on Sunday for all of the candidates in the White House race for the Nov. 4 election, Republican and Democratic.

Palin and her home town have become the center of media scrutiny since Republican presidential contender John McCain rocked the political world by picking the moose-hunting Alaskan governor as his running mate.

Larry Kroon is the pastor of the Wasilla Bible Church, a charismatic evangelical church which Palin, the town’s former mayor and Alaska’s current governor, attended for several years.

“Our father I thank you for the all candidates you have put in the national election,” he told several hundred people gathered for worship on a cool Sunday morning at Wasilla Bible Church.

He also said “We should respect the American press” and asked his flock to “pray for the press. Democracy needs it.”

But given the sudden media focus on his church in this small town of less than 10,000 people nestled in the green woods of Alaska, he pointedly asked the media in attendance such as this correspondent not to hastle him or his congregation today.

“It’s a day for worship, not for interviews,” he said.

Palin, who is staunchly opposed to abortion rights, has ignited the Republican Party’s conservative Christian base, which was uninspired by the maverick McCain.

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Photo credit: REUTERS/Brian Snyder. Sen. John McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin at a campaign rally in New Mexico, Sept. 6, 2008