Church is still in shock and saddened by pastor's death...

HICKORY - Condolences and messages of support are pouring into Sandy Ridge Baptist Church after the death of the pastor.

David Treadway, 42, the Sandy Ridge minister since October 2004, was found dead in his car Sunday morning. He apparently took his own life.

Hickory police were called to the home at 8:47 a.m. Sunday. The car was in the garage.

Police are continuing the investigation, and Treadway's body was sent to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem for autopsy.

News of his death was posted on The Biblical Recorder's Web site.

The Recorder said Treadway was found "by his wife as she was leaving to go to church."

"Although Hickory police are investigating, a note Treadway left indicates he died by his own hand," the Recorder wrote.

"Several months ago Treadway, pastor at Sandy Ridge about five years, told the congregation he was under doctor's care for depression. An early statement Sunday from church leadership said their pastor had 'succumbed to the disease of depression.'

"Treadway was chairman of the Baptist State Convention Board of Directors Business Services Committee.

"Catawba Valley Baptist Association Director of Missions Duane Kuykendall met Sunday night with church leadership. He said the 895-member church has undergone 'significant growth' during Treadway's tenure."

The church's Web site contains condolences from many friends of the congregation throughout North Carolina and from other states.

"My mother and father-in-law attend your church and on numerous occasions I have attended there with my wife and her family. I am the youth pastor at Antioch Baptist Church in Mount Airy ... and (I) thought a great deal of David," the Rev. David Gantt wrote Monday.

"In fact the way I preach I modeled from the way that he did. My heart broke yesterday when my mother-in-law called me. No words could ever provide the magic cure for the hurt that we are all feeling right now, but God is still on his throne. The world has lost one of the best pastors that I have ever heard. I know that David is in the presence of the King that he always preached of.

"I pray that God's hand of mercy, grace and peace, be on the Treadway and the SRBC family during this time of loss ... Our God is good yesterday, today and tomorrow no matter what this world and life may throw at us. Seek his face always."

Gantt's message is an example of the support and compassion people are sharing on the Web site.
Worship Pastor Rodney Powe, who is leading the Sandy Ridge congregation through the tragedy, thanked everyone for their caring on the church Web site.

On the Net:
• www.sbc.net
• www.biblicalrecorder.org

via www2.hickoryrecord.com