Tears the size of Texas

Hearts are broken at two Texas congregations mourning the tragic deaths of church elders in recent days.
Michael Lee “Mickey” McNamara, 76, an elder at the Ninth and Elm Church of Christ in Orange, Texas, was killed last week in a robbery at his insurance office.
KFDM-TV interviewed a fellow elder in a report on McNamara’s death:

“Mickey McNamara was a man of peace and of love, what we would call in the body of Christ, Mickey McNamara is a saint,” said Charles  Block,  an elder at Ninth and Elm Church of Christ. “He loved people. He loved his family. One of the finest men I’ve ever met.”
McNamara was one of five elders at the church. They comforted one another before Wednesday night’s church service.
“If he was looking for money, Mickey would have pulled everything out of his  pocket and probably taken him to the bank,” said Block. “He would have given him the shirt off his back.”

Police have made an arrest.
At the Riverside Church of Christ in Coppell, Texas, members used the Internet to inform the congregation and heal after an automobile crash claimed the lives of a church elder and his daughter, as CBS-11 reported:

Father Phil Gage, 54, and his daughter Raychel, 20, died at the  scene.   Mother Debbie, 58, and Raychel’s 18-month-old son Zach both were   transported to area hospitals and are recovering well.
Soon after the crash, information began trickling to Facebook keeping friends and family updated as  well as providing an outlet for healing  for members of their church, Riverside Church of Christ.
“Whole groups have been sharing back and forth about their loss, what they remembered about Phil and Rachel and that sort of thing and  even  our youth group decided that they would put up a blog,” said Doug Johnston, a fellow elder and family friend.

Jarrod W. Robinson, Riverside’s preaching minister, told me in an e-mail:

“Phil was one of our elders, and we loved him dearly. Raychel, his 20-year-old daughter, was a beautiful young woman of joy. Our hearts are broken at their passing. We are doing everything we can to be a visible, tangible sign of God’s faithfulness towards Debby, Phil’s wife and Raychel’s mother, as well as to Raychel’s surviving son, Zachary.”

• Feedback
  Patsy, so sorry to hear of your loss!

  Bobby Ross Jr.

  April, 28 2010

  Words cannot express the sorrow I feel for this family. My prayers are with you. I recently lost my husband, J.D. Walker, so I know the devastation of these losses.

  Patsy Walker

  April, 28 2010