Rev. Timothy D. Wright, the founding pastor of the Grace Tabernacle Christian Center in Crown Heights nand an award-winning gospel singer, is in critical condition in a hospital bed in Pennsylvania after a car accident that killed his wife and co-pastor, Betty White. The couple’s 14-year-old grandson, D. J. Wright, who was also in the car, also died in the Saturday night crash. They were returning from a church conference in Detroit. Here’s an excerpt from Monday’s Times’ article:

Addressing the congregation during the midday service, Bishop James Gaylord said many church members felt as if they had been left “without sails, without oars, without direction.” But he urged them to unite and help the family through the difficult time.

“The world has been affected by what has happened,” he said in an interview before leaving the church to visit Pastor Wright, who remained in critical condition on Sunday evening at the Geisinger Medical Center’s intensive care unit in Danville, Pa. “His gift, his talent. He was a tremendous man.”

Pastor Wright, known to fans as the “godfather of gospel,” has recorded more than 10 albums of gospel music and has been nominated for several Grammy Awards. He started his own choir in 1976, and grew popular over the decades with hits like “Troubles Don’t Last Always,” “Who’s on the Lord’s Side?” and, most recently, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,” which spoke of the victims of Hurricane Katrina.