VIRGINIA
WTVR
[with video]
May 24, 2013, by Raymond Hawkes and Mark Holmberg
RICHMOND, Va (WTVR)- The Richmond Outreach Center has an amazing rags to riches story. But what will happen to it now that its charismatic founder is facing child sex charges and has stepped down until they’re resolved?
According to its non-profit, tax-exempt income report, the Richmond Outreach Center is a $17 million dollar independent church organization that brings in some $3 million a year.
But it started here on a wing and prayer 12 years ago when Pastor Geronimo Aguilar, his wife Samantha and a core group of fellow believers in inner city ministry came from California and opened up an outreach center a Midlothian Turnpike warehouse across the street from a strip club.
The energetic Pastor G, then 31, quickly built up a following based on a rock-and-roll, rough-and-ready, reach-the-unreachable ministry very similar to that of his LA based father, Phil, a former Hells Angels and drug dealer whose style has stirred up controversy.
The effectiveness, the tangible power of Pastor G’s ministry led to explosive growth, first to as vast site on Warwick Road – now the ROC’s youth ministry headquarters and site of its Spanish-speaking church body – then to it’s current multimillion dollar facility on Midlothian Turnpike, a rehabbed former flea market.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.