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And for the victims, it's an experience that has forever changed their lives and the way they interact with the church. We spoke with a congregant whose cousin was an alleged victim via telephone. Jaleeza Roberts has this story.

Pastor Kevin Tzib
"You see, there's a fire that's ignited. Moses was running away from purpose. Moses was running away from what he had been called to do. But in the midst, in the middle of the way, in the middle of what he was doing, God captured his image."

That is how you may have seen him before or perhaps at the Pro-Israel rally organized by the churches but today Pastor Kevin Tzib of Dunamis Ministries was charged on with 6 counts of sexual assault and 1 count of unnatural crime, which have allegedly occurred over the past 5 years. Today in a briefing with the media, this is what police disclosed:

ASP Stacy Smith, Staff Officer
"As a consequence of police investigation into reports made by four male persons, police have formally arrested and charged 33-year-old Kevin Tzib, a Belizean pastor of Santa Elena Town, for six counts of sexual assault and one count of unnatural crime. The incidents that account for these charges span over 5 years between February of 2021 and July of 2026."

"He appeared before the San Ignacio Magistrate's Court today, whereby the prosecutor objected to bail, and bail was denied, and he has been remanded to the central prison until his next court appearance."

But even with these charges being laid and the good pastor being remanded until his next court date, damage has been done and one church member who has been there since the beginning explained to us that what inclined her to join was the apparent "radicalization" of the faith but confirmed that rumors of Tzib's doings were nothing new but the victims were afraid:

Anonymous, Church Member/Cousin of Victim
"These young men, for one, they were afraid to speak up because they're afraid of what people will say. Also, because of the authority that he holds in the church, not only just at Dunamis but in the country because, as we all know, Dunamis is a recognized church and so these young men thought that nobody would believe them or side with them because everybody sees this man highly as a man of God."

Reporter
"When the church became aware of the allegations, because we know that one of the victims explained that he brought it to the church, you know, with the church members, do you believe that they kind of covered up for him?"

Anonymous
"Yes, so what happened there is that one of the leaders, he came back from where he was and he started to recognize certain things in the church and so he started to reach out to these young men and a couple of them explained to him what they had been through and so he gathered the leaders, he gathered these young men who were willing to come forward and the pastor was there as well."

"We have been fasting and praying and, you know, because these victims have asked us not to do anything on their behalf, we have respected them and we have somewhat been silent about it but at the same time verbal in the sense that a lot of members have left. If anybody comes to us and asks us why we left, we'd be honest about it and we're online posting about these situations. Now, we are most definitely not satisfied with how the leadership who stayed behind handled this because you're not supposed to be backing up the pastor who is being accused even though, yes, he might have some grace because you might not be sure, but if you do that, please don't forget the victims."

The church senator also had strong words against what has unfolded and is concerned that churches are not doing enough when their leaders breach national law:

Louis Wade, Church Senator
"Based on what the police are saying, this appears to be the worst allegations that I have heard against a church leader in all of my years of pastoring and so it is something that we need to take very seriously. One would think that after the last issue that occurred in Punta Gorda, that church leaders would have a better understanding of how to deal with these matters. Certainly, we cannot dictate how any person is going to act or behave, but once a victim comes forward or once allegations come forward, every church needs to have a protocol of how to deal with it to ensure that they give fair opportunity both to the victim as well as to the person who the allegations are coming against. And then pastors and leaders need to know when an allegation comes up, whether it has legal ramifications, and then that needs to be forwarded to the police."

"We can begin to see the pattern that is showing that independent churches that do not have a proper oversight structure within the country are finding it more difficult when there is no one above the pastor that they can give an account to. And so the issue is, is a national law breached? Then it goes to the police."

Dunamis Ministries issued a less than nothing statement today stating, quote, "We wish to make it clear that the Church does not intend to prejudge the matter or express any opinion concerning the guilt or innocence of the individual charged. These are questions to be determined exclusively by the Court upon consideration of the evidence presented." But Wade believes that statement was not enough:

Louis Wade, Church Senator
"It is not adequate because the victims are saying that this has been a process, that they have been trying to get the attention of the leadership for four years. I think that that is inexcusable."

"something systemic is wrong, and it hurts me to say that, but it is obvious to the professional that systems that were supposed to protect the victims were used instead to protect the alleged perpetrator."