Riva Tims: 'When It All Falls Apart'

new details are emerging tonight about the death of mega church pastor Zachary Tim pastor he headed up a Central Florida Bank a church police sources sources have it a new circuit in my color and a concrete also does as has been found dead the news of the sudden death of mega pastor Zachary Tim's shocked the Christian community he was a man driven by unlimited energy and great vision to win souls to Jesus in just a few short years Pastor Zachary and co-pastor Riva Thames his wife of 15 years grew their church of five to an astonishing eight thousand member congregation but the pressure of their meteoric rise would eventually take its toll on their marriage on their ministry and on the life of pastor Zachary Thames Riva Thames has spoken very little about the events that led up to the death of her ex-husband until now I loved that he had a boldness about him he wasn't afraid he was always talking about thinking big doing things grand and that really pulled me in found my Queen today I love you well I want to move Zachary and Riva were 22 when they first met at church with a shared passion to win souls to Jesus they married and shortly thereafter ventured out to start her ministry in our land of Florida so we labeled ourselves as outreach ministry so our whole goal was to pull people in from the streets not to pull them from other churches but really to get those that were unsaved and I think the people felt our love they felt our sincerity and we were young we had a lot of zeal for the Lord a lot of excitements if God said go on TV we had the faith to do it if God said go to the community we just had the faith to do it but his church membership grew at an astonishing rate so did their status in the church world it becomes an empire it becomes a your own name that's highlighted and it becomes about you when it's not Beth never had supposed to be people tend to pull that out of you and if you're not careful they'll begin to worship you more than they worship God in the beginning it did not affect us he used to put on the back wall humility a huge sign so every time he preached he would see that but then when we moved to our last building and TV you know we're on national television at people are calling all the time it started to infiltrate that the church and begin to interfere in their marriage it was somewhat of a distance that began to take place I could still connect but I knew that there was something different when when he began to travel a lot and wouldn't allow me to go then I knew something was wrong and then of course I found out that there was you know infidelity a cheating scandal surface involving pastor Albert was there a level of remorse the different choices that he makes that remorse there in the beginning now in the beginning he was remorseful he got caught and that's the part that hurt there was no running after me coming after me he was trying to keep everything together my heart hurt not just in a spiritual way not just in an emotional way but a physical way and I didn't realize that people hurt that badly but the Lord told me hold your peace that was the hardest thing you could ever do I loved my husband the church belong to God I wanted my husband and I wanted my family and that meant that we had to sit down or step away from a pulpit for a season I was willing to do that the Zachary was reluctant to step down from ministry to pursue counseling but he did if I could have just had my husband sit down for a year now that's unheard of pastors like no your church is going to know if it belongs to God come on someone else would come in they can run the ministry and the family could get healed but that's not how it happened people well many people members well-meaning who loved their pastor pastor is okay we don't care what you did pastor just come back we're going to support you they became in any pillars as well but not realizing it after only three months of counseling he chose to resume ministry Riva felt her husband's return was premature their family was still heard and broken but she was even more devastated by the reaction of the leaders within their church actually I was just kind of like you know yeah boot it out you know so to speak and you know ask not to come back it was like you know they see you they won't heal I was told so just stay away believing things couldn't get any worse Zachary dropped another bomb and he says I have something else to tell you and he begins to share with me more about the affairs and affairs of plural yeah when she tried to seek help from some other high-profile pastors they didn't want to hear it or if they did hear they would say with that get over it it happened to me um you got to think about the church you got to think about the ministry and my mindset was it first starts at home you know your relationship with God starts at home first before you can go out and minister so that just kept bewilder umekes i couldn't understand that by now Reva felt abandoned by her husband the church and at times God I would try to rehearse in my mind what did I do wrong hmm that I would go through this because in all actuality everything looked like he was being blessed and I was being rejected and I kept saying why are they rejecting me why are they blaming me but it was in that place of brokenness we experienced the true loving heart of God like never before and I just begin to see God in a whole new light I realized he never left me he was holding me he was guiding me he was instructing me although I couldn't hear him clearly his love never stopped that love would eventually transfer to her now estranged husband many occasions I thought I forgave hmm it was until I was just sitting in the room I say I hate him and I would just scream it out and I like where did that come from after I forgave him but it was still rooted deeply and it was bitterness it was resentfulness because I felt you ruined my life I felt you took everything away because you of what you did it was until I began to pray for him for real and when I began to pray for him I begin to get compassion I began to see the root of his struggles I begin to feel sorry for him I forget to feel love for him then and only then forgiveness came Wow as Rivas spent time in prayer for Zachary the Lord revealed the areas of brokenness in her own life I began to take a look inside and I didn't like what I found what is it shine a lot life like self-righteousness lust in my own self just wanting to be accepted by men and not God so he began to shine the light on the filthiness in me again I was going through something God was purging things out of me when I thought he should have just been dealing with my husband right but he said no there are things in you that also has to be rectified and changed and done better and thank God I listened thank God reven Zachary's marriage eventually ended in divorce Zachary continued in ministry while Reva quietly focused her attention on raising their four children a week before Zachary was found dead in a New York hotel room the couple had a chance to reconcile on a family trip to Puerto Rico this picture was the last time they saw him alive he came to me and he said I'm sorry and he ended up telling his church at a marriage seminar that I believe my wife would have still been with me and our family would have been okay if I had to listen to better counsel and ran after and fought for my family instead of running and fighting for the Church today pastor Reva heads up a new ministry called majestic Life Church I was given a call and I had to complete that I teach no celebrity pastors you know it's all about God she's also written a book called when it all falls apart a candid portrait of how God heals those facing heartbreak and betrayal his blood can cover anything no matter how dirty no matter how nasty no matter how horrible it will cover but you have to make a decision that you're going to repent and not continue as a lifestyle God's grace covers but when you go through a situation when you find yourself in a child or tribulation understand that God's love and His mercy is amazing

Channel: The 700 Club

Views: 1,049,096

Rating: 4.8061924 out of 5

Keywords: cbn, 700 club, 700club, 700clubclips, featuredclip, kw100, riva tims, wife, mega pastor zachary tims, husband, adultery, death, hd720, closedcaptioning, christian, cbn testimonies, cheating, marriage, marriage advice, shunned by the church, the church, chrisitan church, shunned, cheated on

Id: Bm6ipiz6YGA

Length: 9min 35sec (575 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 04 2012