Bronx Church Looks to Prayer After Deadly Crash

(Sept. 20) -- Even after a horrible accident took the lives of their bishop, his wife and four other congregants, the members of a devastated Bronx church trust that God has a plan.


Bishop Simon White, 55, his wife, Zelda, 52, and four other members of Joy Fellowship Christian Assemblies were killed Saturday when their van blew a tire and rolled across a New York State highway, sending eight people flying out of the vehicle. Sunday, worshippers at the church looked to music and praise to push through their grief.

Members of the evangelical church sang "Such a good God" and gave thanks. "We take life and death for granted, but this is a wake-up call," Associate Pastor Recardo Millwood told grieving church members Sunday, according to The Wall Street Journal. "It's serious, serious business. No one knows when your number is going to come up."

Fourteen church members were traveling to a sister church in upstate New York when the van flipped at least three times. Police said the aftermath was horrific.

"Absolutely tragic scene. One I have not been to in my career, a similar scene like that," New York State Police Maj. Robert Meyers told NY1. "All I can say is my heart goes out to all the people involved and their families, and the prayers of the New York State Police are with them."

The church's associate pastor, Titus McGhie, 66; and Evelyn Ferguson, Elaine Reid and Avril Murray, all 65, also died in the wreck. The accident was a terrible blow to the small Jamaican church, where mourners described Bishop White, a Jamaican immigrant, as a joyful and sincere religious leader who helped turn around the lives of many of his members.

Glenford Edwards, 55, said White found him on the street hanging out with drug dealers one day and convinced him to make a change.

"He got out of his car and said, 'Come here! This doesn't fit you,'" Edwards said Sunday, according to The New York Times. Edwards said White helped him find a respectable job. The two men had served in the Jamaican military together years before.

Ewan Peart, 54, said White and his wife, Zelda, were soul mates. "I found them to be rather inseparable," he told The Times. "Zelda was extremely supportive of her husband." The couple left behind eight children.

Police said they did not suspect that alcohol was involved in the crash. The driver, who suffered injuries but survived, was extremely upset and asked people to pray. "I'm in a lot of pain," Bernard Lattibuediere, 52, told The New York Post this weekend. "I'm really stressed right now. It's a very difficult situation. Just pray for everyone involved."

And prayer was what the members of Joy Fellowship Christian Assemblies focused on as they celebrated the lives of their friends and loved ones Sunday.

"We might seem crazy to you," church member Norma Forbes told the New York Daily News. "We are a people in mourning, but we are not a people without hope."