Phil Elder, a native of Texas and former resident of Fort Worth, died Monday, Sept. 8, 2008, in Nashville, Tenn.

Memorial service: 10 a.m. Friday at Gambrell Street Baptist Church. Officiating will be longtime family friend, Dr. James D. Williams. Visitation will follow in Maston Hall. Private interment service will be led by Dr. Clyde Glazner of Gambrell Street Baptist Church.
Phil was born July 9, 1966, in San Antonio. Phil, a 25-year resident of Nashville, Tenn., was in the landscape and outdoor service business for the past 19 years. He was a loving son, father and brother and will be greatly missed. (read rest of obituary HERE)

I didn’t know Phil, but my understanding is that he’s been to Cross Point the past three weeks. I also understand that Phil decided to take his own life earlier this week. I got a call from another pastor whose a friend of his parents. He told me that Phil hadn’t been to church in decades, but a friend of his invited him to Cross Point a few weeks ago. They found several of our CP programs along with the message notes.

I prayed today…

God help me to remember how important every single Sunday is at Cross Point. Help me to remember there are hundreds of people sitting in the seats that are hurting and lost. Confused and disappointed. Questioning and searching.

I mourned today…

I wish we could have done more. I feel that we probably did everything we could with the time God gave us with Phil, but I still wish we could have helped him understand how precious his life was. I wish he could have seen that God had a purpose for him. I wish he would have called me or one of our staff to go grab a cup of coffee. I wish we just had one more chance with him!

I cried today…

I cried as I thought about his parents, Lloyd and Sue Elder. Dr. Elder was the president of the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board (Lifeway) from 1983 – 1991. I can’t imagine the pain of losing your son in this way. As a father of three boys this thought just overwhelmed me.

So today will you pray. Pray for Phil’s family. Pray for the thousands and thousands of people we rub elbows with everyday who are fighting depression, drug and alcohol addictions, mental illnesses, hurt, anger and so many other demons that seem to run rampant in our broken world.