Roc Lays out Plans to Move Forward
By Louis Llovio
RICHMOND, Va. — Jonathan Falwell will serve as an adviser to the board of directors of the Richmond Outreach Center as it looks to move forward after its founder and senior pastor resigned this week to face child sex abuse charges in Texas, board member Billy Croxton said today. Croxton, who spoke outside the church’s Youth Center on Warwick Road, said Falwell and an executive pastor would serve as spiritual advisers and offer counsel as the South Richmond megachurch known as the ROC looks for a new pastor. Falwell is pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg. Several other local pastors will also assist the church’s board as it looks for someone to replace Geronimo Aguilar, who stepped away from the church Wednesday evening, Croxton said. Croxton, who was the first board member to speak publicly since Aguilar was arrested May 21, said the church’s staff and board was prepared – and anxious – to move forward. “The board’s role, from which we have not strayed, is to continue the ROC so it advances its mission of changing lives and making life changers for years to come. The ROC plays a critical role in helping the less fortunate in our city,” Croxton said, who choked up several times when speaking. The board will meet again Monday evening to discuss Aguilar’s severance and how long he will be allowed to remain in a church-owned home where he is currently living. Stephen C. Lewis, the church’s general counsel, said a committee has come up with some recommendations for severance terms, but the board needs to be briefed and has to vote on a final package. He would not disclose the committee’s recommendation. Once a decision is final “we’ll tell Mr. Aguilar the terms and when he’ll have to move out of the parsonage.” Lewis said the church will reach out to city of Richmond officials Monday in order to pay property taxes, which it is exempt from as a nonprofit, while Aguilar lives in the home. Lewis said no decision has been made on whether the church will sell the home, which has been assessed at $591,000. The board will also decide Monday whether three other pastors who also stepped down this week will get severance. Croxton, who said the ROC’s ministries would continue, is not sure how long the pastoral search will take or what parameters will be set. “We’re pretty new at this, and you need to understand that we’ve never had to do this before. We’re going to wait and see what God has in store for us,” Croxton said. Aguilar has been charged in Texas with sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl and her older sister for more than a year while living in their parents’ home in Texas in the 1990s. He faces seven felonies in the case, four of which carry sentences of up to life in prison. Contact: LLLovio@timesdispatch.com
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