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Paula White named new pastor of New Destiny Church, Riva Tims sues
APOPKA --
New Destiny Christian Center named its new leader Thursday, as a co-founder of the church filed a lawsuit in protest.
Paula White, who heads up the Without Walls International Church in Tampa, was named New Destiny’s pastor Thursday.
Protesters have been vocal though against installing White as the new pastor, replacing the late founder of the church, Pastor Zachery Tims.
Zachery was found dead in a New York City hotel room Aug. 12. An autopsy was performed but how he died has not been released because family members are fighting to keep it sealed.
“Now I also want to announce at this time, that as of 9 o'clock this morning, a lawsuit has been filed,” said Pastor Riva Tims' attorney Robert Gibson.
Gibson and Tims held a news conference late Thursday morning at the Pine Hills Community Arts Center on West Colonial Drive in Orlando.
Tims, the late pastor’s ex-wife, is the lone plaintiff in the suit.
According to court documents, she is suing the New Destiny Christian Center Church Board of Directors and newly installed pastor.
“I've been hearing the cries. I've been hearing the concerns. I've been hearing so much that I want to, have to, literally, publicly take a stand against and challenge what is happening,” exclaimed Riva Tims, whose voice was drowned out multiple times by cheers and applause.
She said the church bylaws make it plain that she should be pastor of the church. Tims said she has tried to meet several times with New Destiny's Board of Directors and White, but they have refused to meet her.
Tims said this is also a family matter. She said the couple's four children were raised in New Destiny Christian Center. She said the church is their heritage, inheritance and legacy.
"I'm here to declare to you today that as a founder of New Destiny Christian Center, that I am the real mother," Tims said to more cheers.
Tims reminded her supporters that when the she co-founded the church in 1996, New Destiny only had four members. The mega-church now boasts nearly 8,000 members.
The legacy is the reason she said the Board of Directors should not have the final say.
Tims and her attorney said if nothing else, the congregation should be allowed a final vote on who should be pastor of the church.
There is a contingent of people at the church who are suspicious of White.
Her church, Without Walls, has been saddled with controversy.
<span style="font-weight: bold">A 2006 audit found the church had more than $26 million in debt, while her and her ex-husband, who believe in the "prosperity gospel," lived a lavish lifestyle.
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