Zachery Tims Dead, Police Suspects Drug Overdose

Zachery Tims, founder of the megachurch New Destiny Christian Center, is dead and police believe it may be because of a drug overdose.

A police source told the New York Daily News that a small glassine envelope allegedly containing a white powder was found on Tims. He was found dead in a hotel room at the W Hotel in Times Square, New York City, on Friday. However, the New York Medical Examiner hasn't yet published any definitive results following an inconclusive autopsy earlier this week.

Police will have the powder tested to determine if it's a form of narcotics, the source told the New York paper.

Tims, a former drug addict, was delivered from the habit when he was converted to Christianity. He was then called into ministry, according the church's Web site.

Tims, 42, started the 8,000-member church in Apopka, Fla. in 1996. His death has shocked the congregation.

Some of his followers have asked that the public not to judge Tims, especially seeing that no official reports have been released.

"Don't listen to all the negative things, wait for the conclusion of the matter," one person wrote on the NDCC's Facebook page.

"One day you will be judged and I am sure you dont want to be judge with the same strong hand you judge him... RIP Pastor Tims may you be remember for the good deeds and let those good deeds be over shadowed by the bad ones," another wrote.

Tims has been surrounded by controversy before. In 2009, Tims divorced his wife after 15 years of marriage after admitting to having an affair with a stripper. He survived by her and four children.