Church is supposed to be a place where people
seek solace and comfort during times of need.
But for one Houston family, they found the
exact opposite at the worst possible time.
Barbara Day, the daughter of 93-year-old Olivia
Blair, had always planned to bury her mother
at the Fourth Missionary Baptist Church, a
church she had attended for 50 years. But the
pastor, Walter Houston refused to bury Blair
because she hadn’t paid her tithes.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution included
excerpts from Barbara Day’s interview with
KRIV in Houston, Texas.
“It was like the last insult in the world.” Day
said her only wish was for her mother to be
buried “in the church that she loved and
worshipped all of her life, even as a little girl.”
Day said that her mother had been a church
member for five decades but had been sick for
the past ten years and in a coma for that past
two years.
Tyrone Jacques, a preacher watchdog contacted
Pastor Houston and asked him to reconsider but
he would not be persuaded. Instead, he said,
Blair was “no longer a member of the church
because she had not supported it financially in
the last 10 years.”
Jacques then offered to pay for the service but
Pastor Houston said no, claiming that
“membership had its privileges.”
Day was outraged saying that the church only
cares about “getting money money money
money money!”
I tend to agree with Day. I don’t see how the
church can claim their operating under God’s
will in this situation, particularly when Jesus
spoke frequently about aiding the sick and
poor. And if she stopped paying tithes, then it
seems like that’s something she’ll have to take
up with God. Just like Pastor Houston might be
asked to explain why he chose not to bury her.
What do you think about this church’s decision?
Should they have buried this woman because it
was just the right thing to do or were they just
in their decision considering she hadn’t
contributed financially in the past ten years?
FOX 26 News | MyFoxHouston
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