The former president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, Phil Lineberger, who is also pastor of Sugar Land Baptist Church, committed suicide on Sunday, according to reports emerging Wednesday. Lineberger is known to have suffered with depression for a long time.
Pastor Lineberger's son-in-law, Brian Seay explained that he "lost a battle with depression and took his own life."
Lineberger was raised in Texarkana in Texas, and went on to graduate from the University of Arkansas and the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. More recently he took up roles as a regent at Baylor University and William Jewell College as well as a trustee at Dallas Baptist University.
He leaves behind his wife, Brenda, adult children Becky Groves, Amy Seay and Kathy Lineberger, as we;; as 10 grandchildren.
It has been announced that a memorial service will take place at Sugar Land Baptist Church at 1 p.m. local time on Thursday June 4, 2015.
Lineberger has led the Sugar Land Baptist Church in Texas as pastor since 1995, but due to illness took medical leave in March 2015.
Four years ago, Lineberger's friend, Pastor John Petty, also took his own life after suffering depression. In the eulogy, Lineberger addressed the struggle that those with depression suffer with: "Depression is a time defying sadness. Depression speaks a language of its own known only to those who are depressed. Currently, some 19,000,000 Americans suffer from chronic depression. That's 1 out of every 15 people in America. In fact, depression is the leading cause of disability in the United States and abroad for people over 5 years of age."
"Depression, we're told, may be the biggest killer on Earth. It claims more lives than war, cancer, and AIDS together. Twenty-eight million people in America, 1 out of 3 Americans, are on some kind of medication to try to handle this terrible, terrible darkness, time defying sadness, and confusion of mind and emotion."
Addressing his friend's suicide, he said, "When a tragedy like this happens, the first question that comes to us is, 'Why?' We can see no reason for it. We're overwhelmed by the mystery of it. Jesus Himself asked the question on the cross, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' In this tragedy, it seems as if God had forsaken John.
"John had given his life and energies to serving God. Why then had God forsaken him? Why had God not taken away this darkness and despair? But God had not forsaken John. God was going through this hour with John. God was where we could not be. He was in and with John during these tragic moments leading to his death. Only those who suffer from depression can know the pressures and problems John endured. We don't know how many times he came to this precipice and walked away. We don't know how many battles he fought successfully before he lost this one. Life puts more pressure on some than others."
