unfortunately, in many christian communities, mental illness is a stigma and a taboo, and and many of us have failed in addressing it with a deliberate spirit and contextualization. it s an illness. heart disease didn t dilute your christianity. having cancer doesn t make you less of a christian. neither does mental illness. that s why i believe we need to create space. imagine if the christian community would work with mental health professionals in partnership in building firewalls, in addressing mental illness in a more sustainable and viable manner. in interviews the warrens did hint and did mention their son s mental illness. they didn t name him specifically, but were they open about it? did you know about matthew s issues? you know, again, as it pertains to our interactions, pastor rick is a wonderful leader across america and particularly in the evangelical community, but we we know that in many of our families we
another approach had failed to give relief, matthew said, dad, i know i m going to heaven. why can t i just die and end this pain? the youngest of warren s three children, matthew worked for the church s mail order warehouse division. the church said he played an important but quiet role at saddleback. during sunday s sermon matthew s uncle asked for prayers, even from those who didn t know him personally. we re a family, and we re walking through this together, and as i said a couple of times in that message, your prayers for rick and kay and their family, you may think i m just adding one prayer to many, many others. every single prayer makes a huge impact. reporter: before becoming ill this past week pastor rick warren planned on delivering a sermon on how church members can get through tough times. now he s counting on them to help him get through some tough times of his own. nick valencia, cnn, lake forest, california. all right, nick, thank you very much. president obama