Bishop Bobby Davis, a pastor at the Miracle Faith World Outreach Church in Bridgeport, Connecticut, passed away Sunday after a particularly troubling confession of infidelity to his congregation.
Davis, who founded and served as pastor for the church since 1967, told his parishioners that he had to come clean about something after the regular service. When he admitted that he had been unfaithful to his wife "long ago," the mixed reactions of the members sent Davis into cardiac arrest.
Judy Stovall, a church elder, told the Connecticut Post that Davis just wanted to ask for the church's forgiveness. "We were shouting, 'We forgive you, we love you,' but the stress of all of it -- he had a heart attack," Stovall told the newspaper. "I held his head as he lay on the floor. Our congregation is hurting now."
But according to reports at the Christian Post, Davis' confession wasn't exactly his idea. "He (Bishop Davis) had confessed it (infidelity) personally to his wife prior to the service, and she called a meeting after church with just the members and the members stayed. He wasn't there at the time, he was somewhere else apparently, neither of them were in the service that morning. They had one of their pastors do the service," explained a source who asked not to be identified to the Christian Post.
"From what I was told, she (pastor's wife) told the congregation what he had done. And so, when he comes through the door he had no idea what he was walking into. So it wasn't even. 'We're gonna make an announcement today' ... in a unified way as a couple," the source revealed.
"I'm told that when he walked through the door she basically told him, 'Tell them what you just told me,' which is what induced the heart attack, because it's not like he was walking into it knowing," the source explained.
Later reports state that Davis' family got physical, despite words of support from the church members. "One of the sons attacked him," the unnamed source continued. "I was told one of the daughters poured water on him. It was like something out of, not even like the Old Testament, but a bad reality TV show."
Although witnesses defend the congregation's story that the pastor's heart attack was brought on by the stress of the confession, the case is under investigation by Bridgeport police and the official cause of death is still being determined.
Bishop Davis received a doctorate degree in ministry and a master's degree in theological studies from the Vision Christian College of Ramona, Calif. He was also a certified marriage and family therapist.
