Pastor Robert Morris of Gateway Church returned to the pulpit Sunday, and shared the full story of his recent health scare.

Morris founded Gateway Church in 2000. He felt the Lord calling him to start “Bible-based, evangelistic, Spirit-empowered church” for the Dallas-Fort Worth area. It now has 39,000 members on several campuses.

Here Because of Prayers

“I want to tell you thank you,” Morris said. “Thank you for your prayers. I’m here because of prayers, and I’m here because of some phenomenal first responders and medical professionals.”

Morris said that at one point he had lost over half of his blood, and paramedics couldn’t find his pulse. Medical site healthline.com reports that a loss of more than 40 percent of your blood is fatal. One of Morris’ doctors later told him, “There’s no medical reason why you’re still alive today.”

During the message, Morris attributed his being alive to a miraculous work of the Lord, in response to the prayers of His children. He asked, “If we could come together to pray for a dying person, what would happen if we came together to pray for a dying nation?”

In early April, Morris was recovering from a previous, unrelated surgery when he began feeling weak and passed out. Morris’ wife Debbie called 911, and the paramedics diagnosed Morris with dehydration, giving him two bags of fluid. Later, Morris passed out again, and paramedics then recommended that he be CareFlighted to a hospital immediately.

Right before Morris got on the helicopter, he asked Debbie to post on social media asking for prayer.

The word quickly spread, with many church members meeting up that evening to pray for Pastor Robert. Many more joined online through a Facebook livestream of the prayer rally that was held at Gateway’s main campus in Southlake, Texas. Debbie Morris later posted that 250,000 people were praying for Morris in over 45 different counties.

At the hospital, doctors discovered that Morris was bleeding internally from a torn artery. The next day, when his condition failed to improve, doctors realized that Morris was still bleeding, and found the second torn artery. Morris also got pneumonia during his stay in the ICU.

You can click here to watch Morris tell the full story.