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From
the Daily Mail UK
- A pastor who rounded up his parishioners and confessed to having an affair dropped dead moments later from a suspected heart attack, witnesses have said.
Bishop Bobby Davis, the pastor and founder of the Miracle Faith World Outreach Church in Bridgeport, Connecticut asked his parishioners to stay behind after services on Sunday.
'After the service on Sunday, the bishop's family asked us to remain in the church and the bishop confessed to us something that happened long ago,' Judy Stovall told the Connecticut Post.
'He wanted to come clean with all of us. He wanted to ask our forgiveness.'
But after Davis, 72, revealed to the crowd that he had cheated on his wife of 50 years, Christine, 69, the shocked congregation began shouting at him, witnesses said.
'We were shouting, "We forgive you, we love you,"' Stovall said. 'I held his head as he lay on the floor... Our congregation is hurting now.'
Amid the commotion, Davis dropped to his knees and keeled over and died, witnesses told the Post.
'The stress of all of it - he had a heart attack,' Stovall continued. 'I held his head as he lay on the floor... Our congregation is hurting now."
Davis was pronounced dead at Bridgeport Hospital and the cause is still to be determined, according to the Office of the State Medical Examiner.
It is believed he suffered a fatal heart attack following the noise from the congregation.
Police spokesman William Kaempffer said that a detective has been assigned to investigate the case.
Davis, a certified marriage and family therapist, served as pastor since he founded the church with his wife in 1967. The couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last June.
The church website said that his wife Christine 'has worked alongside her husband for over forty-five years, teaching the Word of God... She is a dynamic teacher whose style and wisdom compliments that of her husband to the extent that they almost always minister together in some capacity.'
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BRIDGEPORT -- (ctpost.com)
A congregation loudly confronted its longtime pastor about his alleged infidelity -- and in the midst of their yelling, the pastor dropped dead.
That's what happened Sunday at the Miracle Faith World Outreach Church, according to members of the congregation and police sources.
Bishop Bobby Davis, pastor of the Harriet Street church since its founding in 1967, was pronounced dead at Bridgeport Hospital.
"After the service on Sunday the bishop's family asked us to remain in the church and the bishop confessed to us something that happened long ago," said Judy Stovall, an elder at the church. "He wanted to come clean with all of us. He wanted to ask our forgiveness."
Members of the congregation were very vocal with Davis just before he passed out, but they were shouting support for him, Stovall said.
"We were shouting, `We forgive you, we love you,' but the stress of all of it -- he had a heart attack," Stovall said. "I held his head as he lay on the floor," she said, her voice cracking with emotion. "Our congregation is hurting now."
The cause of death is pending further review, according to the Office of the State Medical Examiner.
Police spokesman William Kaempffer would only confirm that a detective has been assigned to the case. "The circumstances are under investigation," he said.
Stovall conceded that the shouts from the congregants did get loud. A woman, who wouldn't give her name, said she had been outside the church at the time and heard yelling coming from inside, but didn't know what was being said.
Davis founded the church with his wife, Christine. The couple, of Monroe, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last June.
According to a church biography, the couple initially held prayer meetings in the home of Christine Davis' mother in Stamford. In 1987 they moved to the Harriet Street building and in 1998 they opened a new church facility at 754 Main St. in Monroe.
That building is no longer in use for church services, parishioners said.
Bishop Davis graduated from the Vision Christian College of Ramona, Calif., with a doctorate degree in ministry and a master's degree in theological studies. He was is a certified marriage and family therapist.
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