Crystal’s Story

How the Church Surrounded a Pastor’s Widow in Crisis

Crystal knows firsthand the weight of loss. Her first husband abandoned her, leaving her to raise five children on her own. Dan, a faithful PCA pastor, had also endured deep sorrow after losing his first wife to breast cancer. When God brought Crystal and Dan together, they sought to rebuild a life marked by hope after profound suffering.

In 2018, Dan and Crystal moved from Crystal’s home state of Massachusetts to North Carolina, where Dan had accepted a call to pastor Harvest Presbyterian Church (PCA).

But tragedy struck again: while preparing a sermon at the church, Dan died suddenly. “He was my best friend. Besides the Lord, Dan was my everything,” Crystal recalls. “When people had problems, he was right there for them with no condemnation. There was love, care, and gentleness about him.”

With no income—not even Social Security—Crystal was left with almost nothing. On top of her grief, she now faced the overwhelming burden of paying rent and bills. In a season marked by uncertainty, financial burdens quickly added to the emotional weight she carried.

She applied for disability and Medicare but was unable to get either. “With Dan being gone, I would have had nothing. I wouldn’t even know where to go. I couldn’t go live with any of my kids. I already had my daughter and granddaughter living with me.” She was being supported by her sons and Harvest Presbyterian until a local pastor and one of her elders told her about the Relief Fund.

“When one of my elders told me about Ministerial Relief, I couldn’t believe it. I was in shock and stunned by it. I applied and started receiving financial assistance within a month. It is truly the Lord caring for me through this ministry, or I would have nothing. I’ve been able to pay my rent, my bills, and get food. I’ve been able to go to sleep at night knowing I was taken care of, even though I don’t have my best friend and my pastor beside me.”

The ministry leaders who serve our churches are often financially unprepared for these moments of distress. The Relief Fund was created to step in and answer the call for PCA pastors, their families, and their widows in times of distress by providing temporary financial assistance to overcome unexpected obstacles and fill the financial gaps many face in retirement.

“There are literally no words to describe being supported through the Relief Fund,” Crystal reflects. “God decided to take Dan, but I felt that I was to just be still, because that’s all I could do…but that God would provide for me because I literally didn’t have anything.” – Crystal

Crystal’s story reminds us that caring for widows and ministers in distress is a church-wide calling. Together, we can help provide for widows and ministers in need. Your gifts will help pay for housing, food, doctors visits, prescriptions, utilities and more so that the church can look after widows and others in need. Learn more and give at genevabenefits.org/lookafter.