Testimonies Of Transformation And Stories Of Hope Shared At A Hand Up Ministry’s Annual Gala

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

This year’s Celebration of Hope gala and fundraiser for A Hand Up Ministry on May 3 featured testimonies from two graduates of the program and guest speaker Bruce Deel, CEO of City of Refuge. Deel encouraged those involved with A Hand Up to be brave, find strength in the spirit of the Lord, be faithful, stay in the race, and remain hopeful.

The first testimony of the evening was from Carrie. She shared her story of coming out of heroin addiction by going through A Hand Up’s women’s ministry at the Hope House. She said, “I was homeless living out of a truck. I was lost and broken. I’d lost my kids, my family, and myself. Today, I’m in a place I never dreamed I’d be—three-and-a-half years clean.”

She explained that before entering A Hand Up, she didn’t know who Jesus was and she didn’t have a relationship with the Lord, but through her time at the Hope House, she learned about the love and forgiveness found in Jesus. This spiritual and heart transformation went hand-in-hand with her life transformation.

Next, Randy Bethune shared, “I was born into a family with a long history of drug addiction, and for most of my life, I thought that was just how it was going to be.” He began using in middle school, and in ninth grade, he was caught selling drugs. This turned into a cycle of in and out of jail until 2017 when Bethune attended a church service in the Dade County Jail.

A man at that service had done time with Bethune’s father and asked to pray for Bethune. The man said, “If you don’t break this cycle, you’ll pass this on to your kids.”

Bethune entered A Hand Up men’s ministry. “God began surrounding me with the right people to walk with me through this new season of my life.” At the gala, he described the doubt, fear, and stress in this season of change but also God’s amazing provision. “God was making things possible that I never thought possible.”

In addition to getting his license, a job, and all the other details of life straightened out, Bethune also went through a spiritual and mental reordering. “God called me to be everything I wasn’t before—A better leader, a better man, a better father, and follower of Christ.”

Next up, Deel told the story of City of Refuge in a winsome, humorous, and engaging manner. From his years in ministry, he’s come to understand the difficult life that many Hand Up participants have experienced, but he also knows what it takes to run a ministry like A Hand Up. His genuine love for broken people—the kind of love that sees past what they’ve done or are still doing—was evident when he talked.

After 14 years pastoring in a comfortable, suburban setting, Deel was asked to help close a dying church in downtown Atlanta over the course of six months. About five weeks into this trip, a woman came to church and told him that she’d been a stripper for 14 years. She asked for help getting out of that life. Deel had no experience in this kind of ministry, but he said he’d help. The next week, the woman brought a man with her who was an alcoholic and had been a paying customer of hers. During the church service, the man said he needed Jesus.

Drug addicts, alcoholics, people fresh out of jail, and people in all kinds of crisis started showing up, but Deel still planned to close the church and return to his suburban life and ministry. He said, “I knew what ministry was supposed to look like, but God said, ‘How about hang out in the hood for the rest of your life?’” It became clear that God called Deel and his family to the inner city.

This is how City of Refuge was started in 1997. “It was just more fun than we’d ever had in church, I’m telling you,” Deel told the audience. “We weren’t having any leaders’ meetings about the color of the carpet or the music’s too loud. We were saying, ‘You didn’t get shot. I didn’t get shot. Hallelujah!’”

Deel shared that today, about 300-400 people live on the City of Refuge campus. The program has rescued more than 1,100 women and children out of sex trafficking. Last year alone, 807 people joined the workforce by going through vocational training at City of Refuge. In the last 18 months, the program worked with 138 people released from incarceration. Deel was glad to report that only four have reoffended. The program has also expanded to many other cities.

It’s motivating to imagine what something like this could look like here in northwest Georgia. After 28 years of A Hand Up, how many lives will have been transformed? What other ministries might spring up to meet the needs in our community? Who is being prepared now, even if they don’t know it yet, to be the next generation of restorers and peace makers?

Deel offered the following encouragement: be brave, find strength in the spirit of the Lord, be faithful, stay in the race, and remain hopeful. He explained, “In the spiritual warfare that we fight, I can be brave and go into the enemy’s camp, but if I don’t take the possession of the spirit of the Lord with me, I’m still going to lose.”

Of faithfulness, Deel said, “Not every day’s going to be a beautiful one. Not everybody’s going to receive the resources provided and find themselves delivered from that thing that’s been haunting them. Not everybody will make the decision to follow the Lord…Faithfulness is not about results. Faithfulness is about obedience…Faithfulness is about getting up tomorrow and doing what God asked me to do, and doing it with passion, excellence, dignity, and integrity.”

His final encouragement was, “Some of you have a son, daughter, brother, sister, mom, or dad who it just seems like they’re crashing and burning over and over. Just stay in the race…We get to be hopeful that today might be the day of transformation…Today might be the day that the chains of addiction, bondage, alcoholism, depression, anxiety, bitterness, and unforgiveness are broken. And if not today, then tomorrow might be the day. You never know what God might do.”

Sheriff Ray Cross, Captain Joe Chambers (jail captain), and other members of the Dade County Sheriff’s Office attended the event. Cross told the Sentinel, “Of all the programs and community outreach the sheriff’s office sponsors, A Hand Up is one of the most gratifying to see lives changed, families restored, and a commitment to God and our community. Rex and Tammi Mayo and the staff do a tremendous job with the program and it’s growing every week. Thanks to everyone who attended and helped make the fundraiser a success.”