Michigan Community Mourns Pastor Who Veered Off Road, Drove Car Into Lake
A community in Michigan is mourning the death of its beloved pastor after his car veered off the road, which was later found by police submerged in a lake.
Police with Montcalm County, Michigan say that Kurt Hoffman, the lead pastor at Trinity Evangelical Free Church in Stanton for the past four years, passed away over the weekend after he missed a turn while driving and accidentally drove into a lake. The 53-year-old pastor had been driving down South Brown Road when he missed a curve, hit a fallen tree and sped into Lampman Lake. He was discovered by authorities after a passerby noticed a vehicle submerged in about six feet of water in the lake. The pastor was still sitting in the driver's seat with his seatbelt on when he was found.
According to The Grand Rapids Press, authorities are continuing to investigate what caused the pastor to veer off the road and into the lake, although police have reportedly suggested the victim had been driving at high speeds. Hoffman's family had reported the pastor missing on Saturday morning after they had not heard from him for several hours; it is unclear when the crash took place.
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The pastor's sudden death has shaken the Stanton community, and many of the congregation members at Trinity Evangelical Free Church learned of the pastor's death before services began on Sunday. Mark Edwards, the administrative pastor at the church, told WZZM 13 that "the term pillar of the community really doesn't come close enough" when describing Hoffman.
"[...] he was just a marvelous man. It's devastating the whole community we're reeling in it but we know, God has a plan."
"Anyone that didn't know him, come through our doors, drive into Stanton, and the good things you see, he had a part of," Edwards added to Fox 17. "This church became an outreaching church because of him. This church became a church that loved each other so much, and was unified, because of him. He taught us what it meant to be a part of the church of Jesus Christ."
Pastor Hoffman is survived by his wife, Brenda, two sons, a daughter-in-law and a granddaughter.
