Pastor Refuses to Bury Elderly Woman Because She Did Not Tithe While in Nursing Home

Olivia Blair was a dedicated member of her church for over fifty years. When she passed away, however, her family was shocked that they would have to look for another church to bury her.

Blair, who was 93-years-old when she died, had not tithed in her last years, according to the pastor, and therefore, despite her past attendance, he would not do the funeral.

Blair’s daughter, Barbara Day, was hurt by the decision of Walter F. Houston, the pastor at Fourth Missionary Baptist Church in Houston, Texas.

“It was like the last insult in the world, there was nothing else that I could do for my mommy but funeralize her in the church that she loved and worshiped all of her life, even as a little girl,” Day said.

She further explained that the reason Houston refused was because her mom “had not paid her dues, and she had not attended the church in recent years.”

Day countered that the dedicated churchgoer had a very good reason for her absence those last years of her life.

“For the last two years, my mother has been in either a nursing home or she’s been in a hospital. And the last few months, she was in a coma!”

She added that she cannot accept the Houston’s decision was based on anything other than greed.

“There’s no explanation for anybody that has been paying dues for a church that long, for him to make me have to roll my mother’s body around town, and somebody finally picks her up and says, ‘Yeah, we’ll do the best we can,’”Day said. “They knew she was ill! They don’t care! All they care about is getting money money money money money!”

Even when Tyrone Jacques of PimpPreacher.com offered to pay for the funeral on the day the church was closed to avoid interfering with church activities, Houston refused telling him, “Membership has its privileges.”

Day, who eventually found a way to bury her mom at another church, said that this is a sign of a church gone wrong.

“What does this have to do with God?”she asked, stressing that a church should not operate based on concerns for the bottom line.