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![]() Prior to the pandemic, attendance at the church’s three services averaged around 8,000 combined. The Grace to You preacher received so much attention for his stance-from the elders’ viral post on the church’s website to a segment on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News program-that the church added an additional 1,000 chairs outdoors yesterday. MacArthur-who has taken an outspoken stand against churches yielding to government regulations on worship gatherings-said this Sunday was “a very special day for a more abundant joy” since the congregation was together in person once again. In Sun Valley, congregants filling Grace Community Church’s 3,500-seat sanctuary rose and cheered, some documenting the moment with their iPhones, when pastor John MacArthur opened the second week in a row of in-person services. ![]() I miss you beyond what my heart can stand.Two California churches were so eager to meet last weekend that when their services began, worshipers erupted in applause. By 11:45 that night, my sweet husband was in the presence of Jesus. “I took this on Monday evening around 7:30 pm at our son’s baseball practice. “Can’t sleep, so I’m watching this video over and over again,” Juli wrote. The next day, Juli posted an Instagram video of Wilson tossing and catching his son, who squeals with laughter and says, “Again, again!” “I’m so proud of this little guy, and I’m honored to be his dad,” Wilson wrote. On Monday, Wilson posted a photo of Finch, a smiling, blond-haired boy holding a thumbs up and wearing a red baseball glove and a T-shirt reading, “You’re killin’ me smalls!” - a quote from the the 1993 movie “The Sandlot.” Finch, he wrote, had started playing baseball the week before. Wilson is survived by his wife and sons Finch, 4, and Denham, 2. “Then please don’t assume someone who died of suicide via severe depression is going to hell either. “The reality is, you wouldn’t dare say that someone who died of cancer is going to hell just because of their illness would you? I hope not,” he wrote. In a blog post last year, Wilson acknowledged he had “contemplated suicide on multiple occasions” and challenged the commonly held belief that suicide leads to hell. In 2016, Wilson and his wife, Juli, founded Anthem of Hope, a faith-based nonprofit organization that runs a chat line for people struggling with psychological distress and is “dedicated to amplifying hope for those battling brokenness, depression, anxiety, self-harm, addiction and suicide.” “And I started remembering the things I’d heard from the crusades and the passages of Scripture I had memorized, the Bible studies I had been to, devotionals I had read and the conversations I had with my family.” “I was sitting in my car, as I’ve shared many times before, Googling painless ways to commit suicide, and this flood of emotions and wisdom and guidance and God’s presence just began to infiltrate my life,” Wilson told Faithwire. In an interview with Faithwire, Wilson said that sermons by Laurie at Harvest Crusade - a massive, annual evangelical event at Angel Stadium - had led him to become a Christian. Wilson, of Corona, had been an associate pastor at Harvest Christian Fellowship for 18 months. Kay Warren - who, along with her husband, megachurch pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church, lost their son to suicide - responded to that tweet saying she was grateful for Wilson’s “willingness to be the arms of Jesus” to the woman’s family. ![]() Your prayers are greatly appreciated for the family.” That morning, he also tweeted that he was officiating a funeral “for a Jesus-loving woman who took her own life today. Hope, he wrote, is for everyone, and “you don’t have to keep living in the darkness.” Wilson died on the eve of World Suicide Prevention Day, and he had been tweeting on Monday about the occasion. In 2017, more than 47,000 people died by suicide - a rate of about one every 11 minutes. Suicide is a growing public health crisis and the second leading cause of death for people ages 10 to 34, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As part of our Column One story on Kevin Howard’s struggle to build a life beyond the battlefield, here is a list of organizations that provide support, information and resources to veterans and others. ![]()
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