The New Hope Baptist Church Helps Bobbi Kristina’s Grandmother Deal With Her Tragic Loss As Cissy Houston continues to keep a bedside vigil for her granddaughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, her church members told Bossip that she’s sought solace in the Lord’s house. Cissy Houston, 81, is a longtime, faithful member of the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, NJ. Houston is often seen during services sitting in the church’s downstairs lounge, listening to New Hope’s head, the Rev. Joe A. Carter. She takes in services in private downstairs in order to not make a commotion. The Baptist house of worship is where her daughter, Whitney Houston , grew up, and where she was laid to rest almost three years ago. “She’s always here,” one New Hope member told Bossip. “Nine times out of ten, she’s here.” So dedicated is Cissy to New Hope Baptist, that she sang a solo for the funeral of the church’s oldest trustee the same week that she flew to Atlanta to be by Bobbi Kristina’s side. The church member told Bossip that Cissy’s devotion to the church is helping her deal with her daughter’s death and her granddaughter’s fragile state. “I guess that kind of helped relieve her,” the source, a longtime member, told Bossip. This Wednesday marks three years since Whitney Houston’s death. The Rev. Joe A Carter didn’t mention Cissy or Bobbi Kristina during Sunday’s sermon, or the one the week before, but parishioners acknowledged Cissy’s pride of place in the congregation. The close-knit churchgoers are fiercely protective of their most famous member. One member threatened a reporter Sunday who was asking questions about Cissy. The Rev. Carter did not return Bossip’s repeated requests for comment. Bobbi Kristina remains in a coma after a friend found her face down in her bathtub. Bizarrely, her mother died after being found in a bathtub in 2012. Meanwhile, Houston family cousin Dionne Warwick is continuing to recover from a nasty fall in the shower of her South Orange, NJ home. Warwick slipped Jan. 24, and underwent ankle surgery, recovering in the hospital for nearly two weeks. A source close to the singer told Bossip that she’s now at another medical facility, and Bobbi Kristina’s tub incident is still too raw for her to talk about. “It’s very, very personal,” the source quoted the singer as saying.
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BOSSIP Exclusive: Cissy Houston Seeks Comfort In Family Church
