Pastor-Teacher Tom Pennington of Countryside Bible Church in Southlake, Texas, was recently hospitalized after he suffered a “heart event” last week and even stopped breathing in his daughter’s arms last Friday when he was on a family vacation. “As we shared earlier, Pastor Tom had a heart event Friday morning while on vacation. After being resuscitated, he was taken by ambulance to the hospital where he continues to be sedated in the ICU,” the church announced in a statement on Saturday evening.
According to The Christian Post, Pennington served 16 years at John MacArthur’s Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, as a senior associate pastor and as MacArthur’s assistant. At his church, Pennington teaches on Sunday services, oversees the church staff, and works with the rest of the elders to provide leadership to the entire church. Additionally, he serves as the dean of The Master’s Seminary-Dallas Distance Location.
According to a statement by church officials, Pennington will remain in the hospital for at least another week as he is expected to have a defibrillator implanted in his heart.
“Tom continues to make remarkable progress. He is alert and interacting like Tom, with a sense of humor and talking about getting back in the pulpit,” church officials said in a statement Sunday evening.
Pennington was also moved out of intensive care on Monday, and “in the next day or two, they plan to install a defibrillator to prevent any such events in the future hopefully.”
On the same day, the church officials released their statements, one of Pennington’s three daughters, Lauren Pennington, shared in a statement on Facebook that her father stopped breathing in her arms.
“When we took these pictures on Thursday night, I had no clue that 15 hours later, my dad would stop breathing in my arms,” she shared on Saturday.
“He’s still in a fragile but currently stable spot. Thank you for continuing to pray hard. We know the Lord hears,” she added while quoting from Isaiah 41:10, which says, “Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; surely I will help you; surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”
In a Sunday evening update, the church stated doctors found out that Pennington’s “heart event” was due to a “blocked artery” that “has largely calcified.”
“His doctors have … determined that the blocked artery has largely calcified, and so putting in a stent is not possible, but his blood vessels have developed around it, so they aren’t concerned about blood flow in that area,” the church said.
“They will be working to help him regain strength in the coming days so that he can travel home, hopefully in the next week to 10 days,” the church added, citing Psalm 28:6-7 blessing God for His mercy. “Tom’s medical team is amazed at his recovery. We praise God for it. Thank you for your continued prayers.”
Photo Credit: ©Facebook/Countryside Bible Church
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.