He lived well. He loved well. He did justice. He loved kindness. He walked humbly with His God. He fought the good fight. He finished the race. He kept the faith. That faith is now sight … flawlessly focused sight! His passion was being a pastor … not just a preacher. For him living honestly and authentically—including owning up to how imperfect he was—was a constant catalyst for conversation that allowed him to point others to His perfect Savior.

PCA minister Phillip Sealy, born January 19, 1963 in Grove Hill, Ala., was called home to glory on January 13, 2020, after a 2-year bout with cancer. Phillip and his family had moved within the last couple of years from North Carolina to plant a church in Ocean Springs, Miss.

His wife, Lori Mullwee Sealy, wrote the following:

Last night, January 13, 2020, my dear Phillip Sealy passed from this life into real life after a 2-year battle with metastatic melanoma.

He lived well. He loved well. He did justice. He loved kindness. He walked humbly with His God. He fought the good fight. He finished the race. He kept the faith. That faith is now sight … flawlessly focused sight!

His passion was being a pastor … not just a preacher. For him living honestly and authentically—including owning up to how imperfect he was—was a constant catalyst for conversation that allowed him to point others to His perfect Savior.

He was friends with those who many would say could never be a pastor’s friend. No one was too bad and no one was too good for him.

In perfect, albeit painful providence, I watched God use the autism in our home to make him a person and pastor of great patience and sincere compassion. He delighted in walking with those who wept and in pursuing those who others had given up on.

He did all of this only by grace … and oh how he loved to tell of God’s grace.

His smile and laughter, his steadfast faithfulness to his family and friends, his never ending willingness to reconcile where there had been a rift … because Christ has reconciled the greatest rift … those are things I have cherished and already miss with a deeply hurting heart.

I am better because of his life, his love, and his leadership. I will miss him with great groans of grief until that day when my faith is made sight itself.

The Lord gives. The Lord takes away. Blessed—forever and ever in ALL things and at ALL times including these times—BLESSED be the name of the Lord. Selah.

Phillip is survived by his wife and their children, Joshua and Elizabeth.