Evangelical pastor Rick Warren's son commits that at age 27 after long battle with depression

By LESLIE LARSON

Rick Warren's son Matthew has committed suicide at the age of 27 after a long battle with depression. The evangelical pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California revealed his son's death to his church on Saturday. The Orange County Sheriff Coroner's office told the MailOnline that the estimated time of death was Friday at 10am.

'No words can express the anguished grief we feel right now. Our youngest son, Matthew, age 27, and a lifelong member of Saddleback, died today,' the pastor told his congregation in a statement, pleading for their prayers as the family mourned his death. The distraught father revealed in a statement that Matthew had struggled with mental illness from a young age, experiencing 'dark holes of depression, and even suicidal thoughts.'

'Kay and I often marveled at his courage to keep moving in spite of relentless pain. I'll never forget how, many years ago, after another approach had failed to give relief, Matthew said "Dad, I know I¹m going to heaven. Why can't I just die and end this pain?" but he kept going for another decade,' the grieving pastor continued. Despite countless doctors and medication, 'the torture of mental illness never subsided.'

Rick Warren is married to Kay, who is active in her husband's ministry, and they have two other adult children, Amy and Josh. The pastor remembered his youngest child for his 'brilliant intellect and a gift for sensing who was most in pain or most uncomfortable in a room.'

He said that the tragic event occurred after Matthew had spent time with the couple. 'In a momentary wave of despair at his home, he took his life.'

The Coroner's office said that an autopsy would be conducted next week on either Monday or Tuesday. The church said in a statement that they were 'deeply grieved for the loss of Pastor Rick and Kay Warren upon hearing of the death of their youngest son, Matthew.' 'Our church family has had the privilege of ministering together with the Warrens and their family, all of whom have been lifelong members of Saddleback, over the last 33 years.'

Warren, 59, is one of the leading voices in the evangelical movement in America. His church, located in Orange County, is ranked the seventh largest congregation in the U.S. with an average weekly attendance of 20,000. Though the spiritual leaders never publicly detailed their youngest son's struggle, Kay did tell Christianity Today magazine in an interview last April that 'a loved one was struggling with a mental illness' on the same day that Rick Warren delivered his prayer at Obama's inauguration in 2009.

She authored a book about overcoming adversity, Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn't Enough, about finding victory over despair through faith in Christ. 'Suffering does give one an appreciation for joy,' she told the Christian magazine in 2012. 'Those who have suffered have been given the opportunity to recognize the limitations of ourselves and to know ? in our darkest days."