Debbie Dingle stands at Mount Kilimanjaro, where she climbed to raise awareness
of human trafficking and women forced into sexual slavery.
Members of Advent Lutheran Church raised $70,000 to help women escape.
Photo provided
By Tim Pallesen
Debbie Dingle’s church congregation supported her last year when she climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.
Now the members of Advent Lutheran Church are rallying to boost her up the world’s tallest mountain — Mount Everest.
Dingle is raising awareness about human trafficking and women forced into sexual slavery.
“I believe God is totally at work in this,” the Boca Raton soccer mom says.
Advent Lutheran agreed with her mission last year, raising $70,000 through car washes, garage sales and other fundraisers to help women around the world escape their tragic lives in forced prostitution.
“The congregation embraced it spiritually and financially,” Dingle said. “I felt we all went up that mountain together.”
Dingle never imagined this would be her mission until her sister-in-law suggested she check out Operation Mobilization, a worldwide Christian ministry with 6,100 workers who rescue women from prostitution, exploitation and poverty through job training and other assistance.
Women rescued in India gave Dingle a bracelet. “I put on that bracelet and I knew right then that I was meant to go,” she said.
Dingle told her husband, Scott, and four teenagers that God wanted her to climb the mountain. They immediately supported her first Freedom Climb in Africa last year.
Of the 48 women who scaled Mount Kilimanjaro, none raised more than the $70,000 that Dingle and her family raised at Advent Lutheran.
But Dingle returned home to her normal life in Boca Raton thinking God had only wanted her to climb one mountain.
She had heard about the next Freedom Climb in Nepal this April, but God hadn’t communicated to her about the world’s highest mountain.
Then Dingle enrolled in a Bible class at Advent Lutheran titled “Knowing and Doing the Will of God” from the Experiencing God series by author Henry Blackaby. The message was clear.
“I felt God was knocking on my heart,” Dingle said. “I felt an overwhelming call from him.”
Dingle stood before her congregation at Sunday services on March 3 to announce that she will climb Mount Everest next month to rescue more exploited women.
“God will show you where he is working and ask you to join him,” Dingle said. “When God invites us, we need to have the courage and obedience to say yes.”
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Allison Good stands with Gov. Rick Scott at a Miami news conference
in which she told her story of being the victim of human trafficking.
Photo provided
The Lord is using Allison Good in a much different way to bring awareness to the sexual exploitation of women.
He’s given her courage to tell a story that began at age 5 when a relative sold her for sex.
Good, 33, directs the women’s ministry at The Avenue Church in Delray Beach. Her turnaround came in 2004 when a former pastor at Spanish River Church in Boca Raton led her to Christ.
“I prayed that God would deliver me from drugs and alcohol and that I could use every tear that I ever shed for his glory,” she said.
Spanish River hired Good as outreach director one year later. But she hesitated to talk about her past. She was ashamed for her own behavior and also for leading other women into drugs and prostitution.
All that changed when Good stood beside Florida Gov. Rick Scott to tell her story at a Miami press conference on Feb. 13. Scott warned of a worldwide human trafficking epidemic — and Good was his witness.
Good says she went public because she realized that God is telling his story of redemption when she shares how God changed her life.
“He has me on a ride. I’m just hanging on. This is really uncomfortable at times,” she admits. “But I want to say yes. My desire is to obey him no matter what the cost.”
Good first found the courage to share her story to a few other women at Spanish River Church in 2009. As her confidence grew, she began speaking for Redeem the Shadows, a charity that supports victims of human trafficking.
Good found her daily purpose is to share God’s love to other women through her job at The Avenue Church.
“I never thought I would be a biblical counselor, but now the majority of my time is pointing women to Jesus,” she said.
"The Lord allows me the honor to speak into their lives. I get to bring them a hope that never fails.”
The Avenue Church invites the public to attend a forum on human trafficking at 6:30 p.m. May 10 at the Delray Beach Community Center.
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The public is invited to a night of music, food and wine that CROS Ministries hopes will grow into its largest annual fundraiser.
The April 19 event at the Delray Beach Center for the Arts at Old School Square features popular local guitarist Eric Hansen.
The interfaith food ministry operates the Caring Kitchen in Delray Beach, six food pantries and other programs with 3,000 volunteers.
An annual walkathon raised $37,000 for the charity last October. The goal for the new Magical Evening of Music fundraiser is $50,000.
Tickets are $75. Call (561) 233-9009, Ext. 106.
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Another interfaith charity that provides emergency shelter for homeless families hosts its first walkathon on Sunday, April 7.
Nineteen South County churches and synagogues open their doors to families in the Family Promise shelter program. The walk and fun day start at 3 p.m. at Pond Apple Pavilion in the South County Regional Park. Food trucks, a bounce house and dunk tank will entertain families.
Contact Valerie Smith at 573-2360 for information.
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Members of a Boca Raton church win the award for the most unusual evangelism outreach.
Motorists got a 50-cent break on gasoline for two hours on March 9 at a gas station on North Federal Highway thanks to the Journey Church.
Church members pumped gas, washed windows and invited motorists to their Sunday worship at Boca Raton Community High School.
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Disabled Israeli veterans benefited when children from three Jewish schools in Boca Raton learned about caring on Feb. 27.
More than 500 students in grades 1-4 at Donna Klein Jewish Academy, Hillel Day School and Torah Academy made cards and picture frames for the veterans as they learned about Chesed, the Jewish obligation to care for others. Fifth-graders made caps for children with cancer.
Students in grades 6-8 told the younger students about the veterans and children they were helping. High school students planned the day with help from the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County.
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Dr. W. Douglas Hood Jr., senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach,
prays with parishioners at the opening of Holly House.
The Holly House ladies at First Presbyterian are known for the Christmas wreaths, tree ornaments and other handicrafts that they make for their annual holiday bazaar.
“But we’re not just folks sitting around making things,” group leader Regie Moorcroft made clear at the dedication of the new 3,600-square-foot Holly House on Feb. 26.
“This is a wonderful group of people who care for each other,” Moorcroft said of the 50 or so silver-haired women who now have their own gathering place on First Presbyterian’s campus in Delray Beach.
The women gather Tuesday and Thursday morning to make their handicrafts and pray for those who are struggling.
“Holly House is a ministry where they reach out and take care of one another,” the Rev. Douglas Hood said, explaining its importance particularly for an elderly woman who loses her spouse.
“They come to this group because it helps with the grieving process,” Barbara Vanderkay said. “They know people are going to be kind.”
Tim Pallesen writes about people of faith, their congregations, causes and community events. Email him at tcpallesen@aol.com.
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