Pastor Eddie Crain from NorthPointe Community Church in Fresno, California shocked the congregation on Sunday after he suddenly collapsed after delivering a sermon and then died of a "cardiac event."
According to Charisma News, Crain spent 11 years with the church and served as the children's pastor. He is survived by his wife and five sons.
"He literally had just poured his heart out in his passion to make a difference for kids," senior pastor Steve Williams shares on the church's Facebook page. "Please pray for his family and for all who will be so deeply impacted by this loss."
Williams added that Crain had an "enormous presence" in their church and they are still trying to process the fact that he is gone.
"We don't get over our grief, we get through it. We can have confidence that God walks through this with us," Williams wrote in another Facebook post. "In Hebrews 13 God promises that, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' So we can confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?'
"We can trust that God is good. Even when there are so many questions we just don't have the answers for — about why, why now, and what's the meaning in this? Everything that we know about God leads us to trust all that we don't understand about God," he says. "We're in uncharted waters as a church family, but we know that Jesus goes with us. And that we will do this together."
The church will be celebrating the life and legacy of Crain this coming Sunday at 9:30 a.m., 11:15 a.m., 1 p.m., or 2:30 p.m., and they are inviting everybody to attend. Meanwhile, a private burial will be scheduled at a later date.
