Canadian author, pastor, blogger, book reviewer, and reformed theologian Tim Challies announced today that he lost his 20-year-old son, Nick, unexpectedly. Nick was Challies’ only son.
The father of three wrote, “In all the years I’ve been writing I have never had to type words more difficult, more devastating than these: Yesterday the Lord called my son to himself—my dear son, my sweet son, my kind son, my godly son, my only son.”
Challies posted on his website that Nick was with his sister and fiancée playing a game with other students “when he suddenly collapsed, never regaining consciousness.” Many people, including the paramedics and doctors, worked to save his life but they were never able to bring him back. Challies wrote, “He’s with the Lord he loved, the Lord he longed to serve. We have no answers to the what or why questions.”
In a “Family Update” post, Challies had written on March 17, 2020, that Nick was enrolled in a five-year program at Boyce College and Southern Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Tim and his wife, Aileen, traveled through the night to Louisville after they received the news of their son so they could be together with family.
Tim asked that you remember them in your prayers as they mourn their loss as a family together.
“We know there will be grueling days and sleepless nights ahead. But for now, even though our minds are bewildered and our hearts are broken, our hope is fixed and our faith is holding. Our son is home.”
As you lift their family in prayer, please remember Nick’s two younger sisters, Abigail and Michaela. Also remember his fiancee, Anna Kathryn Conley, who was in the process of planning their wedding.
Others Offer Condolences
Nick and his fiancée are members at Third Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, pastored by Greg Gilbert (What Is The Gospel?). Known author and blogger Matt Smethurst is an Elder at Third Avenue Baptist and posted on Twitter, “Nick was a member of our church here in Louisville. His fiancée still is. Please pray for her and for the whole Challies family.”
President of Southern Theological Seminary, Albert Mohler wrote on Twitter, “Our hearts and prayers are with Nick Challies’ loving parents, Tim and Aileen, his sweet sisters Abigail and Michaela, and his devoted fiancée, Anna Kathryn Conley. All on-campus @BoyceCollege classes are cancelled today so that students and faculty can minister to one another.”