Source: The Orlando Sentinel
New Destiny Christian Center officially announced today what had been widely rumored: The Rev. Paula White has been selected as the successor to Zachery Tims.
White, 45, will assume her duties as senior pastor during the Apopka megachurch’s annual New Year’s Eve services on Saturday.
“We celebrate the continuation of a vision, a vision launched back in 1996 with the founding of New Destiny Christian Center as a non-denominational church with a multi-cultural mission,” Board of Directors member Elder Marguerite Esannason said in a statement released by the church.
“The central directive of this ministry has always been to build people of purpose, power and prayer. We believe Pastor Paula will continue to make New Destiny a church for all people, reaching out to the hurting and the lost by touching lives and helping individuals overcome the disabling challenges of life.”
White, senior pastor of Without Walls International in Tampa, is a popular evangelist and author who hosts her own cable television show. For a time, she served as Zachery Tims’ personal pastor.
Tims, 42, died in August. His cause of death has not been released.
White was selected after a search conducted by New Destiny’s Board of Directors. She will serve as a non-voting member of the board and will be subject to the oversight of both the Board of Directors and the church’s Board of Regents.
“I will come to my new assignment with a servant’s heart, humbled by this great responsibility and grateful for the confidence the board has shown in naming me Senior Pastor,” White said in a statement. “I will work tirelessly each day to ensure that the mission of this church is fulfilled and that its ministry and congregation remain united and strong.”
White’s selection has caused a backlash among some members of the congregation who feel that their voice was ignored in the search process. A group of members — many of whom back Pastor Riva Tims, the church’s co-founder and ex-wife of Zachery — has been protesting the selection of White and has threatened to take legal action to remove the board of directors.
“We prayed fervently for guidance during our search which led us to ask Pastor Paula White to take over as Senior Pastor,” Harold Fuller, acting chairman of the Board of Directors, said in a statement. “We were searching for someone who could understand the history of our ministry, one who had a close relationship with our members and our staff and one who knew the heart of our senior founder. We earnestly know that the Lord led us to select Pastor Paula White.”
Members of the Board of Regents and Board of Directors called on all NDCC members to unite in support of White and to continue the church’s work and ministry.
“We know that times of transition and change can often bring questions, concerns and uncertainties,” Fuller said. “But we ask that all of our brethren in Christ would unite in prayer and support of Pastor White and to work with her to move our great church forward into a promising new future. Together we will continue to accomplish great things in the name of the Lord.”
