In an email to the staff of his massive Saddleback Valley Community Church, controversial evangelical pastor Rick Warren wrote that his 27-year-old son Matthew killed himself on Friday night at the family’s Southern California home in “a momentary wave of despair.” A later statement from the church confirmed that, “Despite the best health care available, [Matthew’s deep depression] was an illness that was never fully controlled and the emotional pain resulted in his decision to take his life.” Warren, who authored the best seller The Purpose Driven Life and delivered the invocation at President Obama’s 2008 inauguration, will not address his congregation this morning because another pastor was scheduled to preach as part of a planned sermon series.
