The 27-year-old son of evangelical Christian pastor Rick Warren died Friday of a self-inflicted gun shot at his Mission Viegjo, California home.
Matthew Warren killed himself after spending the previous evening with his father, the author of the 2002 best seller ‘The Purpose Driven Life,’ that has sold 30 million copies over the past decade.
According to Supervising Deputy Dan Aikin of the Orange County Sheriff-Coroner’s Department, the estimated time of death was 10 a.m. on Friday morning. A 911 call summoned authorities to the home at about 5:15 p.m.
Pastor Warren is the founder and senior pastor at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, the eighth-largest church in the United States. He issued a letter to his congregation on Saturday morning to notify them of his son’s suicide.
He wrote, “Matthew was an incredibly kind, gentle and compassionate young man whose sweet spirit was encouragement and comfort to many. Unfortunately, he also suffered from mental illness resulting in deep depression and suicidal thoughts.”
“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.”
“In spite of America’s best doctors, meds, counselors, and prayers for healing, the torture of mental illness never subsides. Today, after a fun evening together with Kay and me, in a momentary wave of despair at his home, he took his life.”
Warren, 59, was named by Time magazine as one of their ’15 World Leaders Who Matter Most,’ and one of the ‘100 Most Influential People in the World.’ Newsweek added him to their list of ’15 People who Make America Great.’ He gave the invocation at Obama’s first inauguration.
The renowned minister has been married to Kay Warren for 33 years. Their other adult children are Amy and Josh. They also have four grandchildren.
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