Pastor IV Hilliard speaks about his wife’s “traumatic incident”

By Leonardo BlairSenior Reporter Tuesday, September 17, 2024

Megachurch pastor IV Hilliard, co-founder of New Light Church in Houston, Texas, urged his congregation on Sunday not to trust “tabloid and online stuff,” declaring, “I love my wife” after she posted “disturbing posts” online, including a photo of a bruise she said was caused by hitting her head on a shower door.

The public debate surrounding the health of his wife, Pastor Bridget Hilliard, was sparked by a photo of her injured head that was recently posted on Instagram. The original post about the “traumatic incident” she suffered on August 18 has since been deleted, but screenshots of the post continue to be shared online.

“In [a] Situation like this, I would like to thank everyone for [your] Prayers. Don't try to trust the tabloids or the online stuff for your information. That's just speculation. You have to trust the proven voices you've heard over the years. Let me say it again. “I love my wife,” Hilliard told the congregation he passed away in 2018 to his daughter, Pastor Irishea Hilliard.

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“I know the family loves Bridget. And we know that the fervent prayer of the righteous goes a long way. So we know we're going to get through this and we're going to see victory on the other side,” he said. “I want to say, don't let the devil tell you that you have to take sides. … You don't have to take sides. There's no side you can take because you don't have enough information.”

In her first post, Bridget Hilliard announced that her therapist advised her to travel to a home in Florida on September 7 following a “traumatic incident” on August 18.

She was accompanied by four women “who witnessed the traumatic incident to see if there would be severe, unbearable, debilitating pain.”

Bridget Hilliard, 68, also noted that she is now a “permanent resident of Florida.”

Their sudden decision to make Florida their permanent residence, as well as the timing of the traumatic incident, came around the same time that New Light Christian Center put up for sale a 24-acre property with six separate houses that would serve as the founders' residence, for $15 million.

Some people, like well-known black church blogger Ann Brock, speculated that Bridget Hilliard's post could be a sign of domestic violence, while others, like online talk show host Larry Reid of “Larry Reid Live,” speculated that she was struggling with mental health issues.

Before his public statement to the church on Sunday, Hilliard wrote an internal email to New Light Church pastors shared online by Larry Reid Live in which he claims his wife is struggling with an issue that is both medical and spiritual in nature.

“I am writing to share that we, the family, are concerned about Pastor Bridget's well-being. We are actively and prayerfully seeking medical help and spiritual support to help her through this difficult time. I am equally alarmed by the disturbing posts, which are completely out of character for her,” Hilliard claimed in the letter.

“As a result of this post, many of you have reached out to me and others,” he said, asking them to join him in a seven-day period of prayer and fasting.

A link to a video on YouTube that Bridget Hilliard had shared along with her original post about the hematoma to “refute the lies being told” was also removed.

She stated in her original post that she has received help in dealing with her anxiety and physical pain since the “traumatic incident.”

“I never thought I needed a therapist. But I thank God for Dr. Dre. He taught me how to verbalize the traumatic incident without reliving it,” said Bridget Hilliard. “I had a recent CT scan (Thursday, September 5, 2024) to rule out a concussion. The doctor on duty in the emergency room was amazed at the scan and said you have a perfect brain for research purposes. It looks like the brain of a 40-year-old.”

In his comments on Sunday, Hilliard said he wrote a letter to the congregation before the service to provide additional background.

“I wrote the letter so that everyone can understand. We are in a situation where [we are] under spiritual attack, but we know how to fight. All my life I never thought I would be involved in a fight like this, but we're winning,” Hilliard said. “Now when we say we're winning, I don't mean I'm winning, I mean we're winning. Our family is coming together. That's our prayer.”

When The Christian Post reached out to the church on Monday for further details, a spokeswoman, who did not reveal her identity, said the church would have no further comment.

It is unclear how many members the 38-year-old megachurch still has, but in 2018, New Light Church had more than 20,000 members.

IV Hilliard stressed that his family is facing a complex conflict and asked members to continue to support the church led by his daughter.

“There are a lot of aspects to this that we can't talk about publicly. There are a lot of aspects to this that we just have to deal with in an organized way right now. When you're in the state and subject to the laws, you have to do things a certain way. You can't just get away with it,” he said.

“What we all need to do now to defeat the devil is to rally behind the vision of this church and the vision of our pastor,” he said to applause. “Whatever is going on in my personal life has nothing to do with our pastor and nothing to do with the mission in the church.”