Zachery Tims’ line of mourners in the thousands for public viewing – Examiner.com
With mystery still surrounding Zachery Tims’ death, thousands of mourners stand in a long line around the mega church of the New Destiny Christian Center in Apopka for a public viewing. Camera’s were not aloud in the church, but TJ Bristol of Orlando spoke with the Orlando Sentinel after being one of the first mourners in the church to few Pastor Tims and say his good-by.
As Bristol says, Tims touched a lot of people with his preaching and the line that went around the Christian Center for most of the day proves this. Bristol called Tims, “a man of God who reached out to people, especially those not use to attending church.” The church member then said this is how Tims reached him. “I was out on the streets and talked to me and it changed my life.”
Bristol’s tribute to Tims’ was all that anyone would want after leaving this earth, that is to have people say that you touched their lives, and from the look of the crowds that came to Tims viewing, he did this with a lot of people.
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The funeral for Tims is today at the First Baptist Church of Orlando. Riva Tims, Pastor Zachery’s ex-wife, talked to his church members this week asking that they all bound together at this time.
Much mystery remains around the death of Tims, who was found dead on the floor of a NYC hotel room. He had a small package of what police believe to be drugs in his pocket on his person. While tests are still not back on the cause of his death, many suspect a drug overdose. Tims was able to fight his way out of a drug addiction and a life of crime and then go on to build his church. Because of his rough beginnings, he was able to relate to people going through the same thing.
Tims, who was a millionaire pastor, who is suspected of dying from a drug overdose would not be the first mega church pastor to fall from grace. Bishop Eddie Long in Georgia just recently settled a sex abuse case with four young men out of court. This case included and incident of sex abuse that reportedly took place in Connecticut, when one of the boys came with Long to the Nutmeg State for a conference. Long had made several guest speaker appearances in Connecticut.
Reference: Orlando Sentential, Connecticut Post achieves.