Rick Warren's Son Commits Suicide After Battle With Mental Illness
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The youngest son of Evangelical Mega-Church Pastor, Rick Warren died after committing suicide in his Orange County home Friday morning according to the Associated Press.
Pastor Rick Warren's youngest son Matthew commits suicide in his Orange County home.(creative commons)
Warren’s son, Matthew, 27, had been reportedly struggling with depression and mental illness for years and according to the Orange County Sheriff’s department, was found dead by a self inflicted gun shot in his Mission Viejo, Calif. home.
Rick Warren, who heads the Saddleback Church in Lake Forrest, Calif. said his son took his life just hours after spending an evening together with family.
Warren said in a letter he wrote to the Saddleback Church community:
“In spite of America’s best doctors, meds, counselors, and prayers for healing, the torture of mental illness never subsided. Today, after a fun evening together with Kay and me, in a momentary wave of despair at his home, he took his life.”
“No words can express the anguished grief we feel right now. He had a brilliant intellect and a gift for sensing who was most in pain or most uncomfortable in a room. He’d then make a bee-line to that person to engage and encourage them.”
Warren, who has authored the best-selling book “The Purpose Driven Life,” was not scheduled to address his congregation Sunday morning in light of his son’s death.
