It’s been nearly a year since Saddleback Church pastor and bestselling author Rick Warren lost his son to suicide, and now he is calling the Church to begin to long road of clearing misconceptions about mental health and taking the plight of the suffering seriously. “I’m certainly not going to waste this pain,” Warren said. “One of the things I believe is that God never wastes a hurt and that oftentimes your greatest ministry comes out of your deepest pain. I remember writing in my journal that in God’s garden of grace, even broken trees bear fruit.”
To that end, Pastor Warren’s church will host The Gathering on Mental Health and the Church on March 28, a day long event with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange and the National Alliance on Mental Illness, to raise awareness and spread information regarding the truth about mental illness and how the Church can positively get involved. Warren will preach his first sermon following his son’s death on just the subject, saying “It’s amazing to me that any other organ in your body can break down and there’s no shame and stigma to it, but if your brain breaks down, you’re supposed to keep it a secret” …
