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Issue link: http://magazine.kcm.org/i/1525255
started. "Tell me about her." The list was very specifi c. So specifi c, in fact, that in 1995 he recognized her when she walked through the door. Having found one another in the spirit, they felt as though they'd known each other their whole lives. Dean was 30; Lori was 26. They met in August of 1995. He proposed in September. They married in May of 1996. The next year their son was born. They had their fi rst daughter in 1998 and their second in 1999. One day, Lori asked Dean to pick up something at Home Depot. Walking down an aisle along with two of his children, Dean came face to face with the man who, 22 years earlier, had sexually abused him. In a single moment, his life unraveled. Knowing there was a problem, the kids asked, "Daddy, what's wrong?" That evening, Dean told Lori, "I'm going to tell you something I've never told anyone. Twenty- two years ago, I was sexually abused. Today, I ran into that man." "Dean, everything makes sense right now. We've got to get you help." Dean resisted. He had the Lord and knew how to pray. However, Lori persisted. Telling the Story "I'd been ministering for years," Dean explains. "I was often on television. But when I came face to face with something I'd never dealt with, I came apart. "I didn't talk to the fi rst counselor I saw. When I got to the second he said, 'Dean, I have a lot of respect for what you do. But I'm not here to care about your ministry, how you do it or how eœ ective it is. I care about you. I'd like to help you, but I can't make you do anything.' "I opened up, and that conversation lasted 11 years," Dean said. "I believe everybody needs someone safe to talk to, to identify challenges, approach them through God's Word, and be healed." During this process, the Lord posed a question to Dean: Will you forgive the man who abused you? "No. It wasn't fair. I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't sow that seed." Was the Cross fair? "I'll have to get back to You," Dean responded. "Right now, my answer is no. I won't forgive. But let me do what I need to do." B V O V : 1 7 Three days later, Dean came back to God. "Yes, Sir, I will forgive…by faith." That's when everything changed. "From that day forward, our ministry went through the stratosphere," Dean says. "Doors opened that I never dreamed possible. "I've learned that when we forgive, we get free. When we get free and our hearts are healed, we can really be used by God. Today, I talk about all these things with teenagers. I tell them, 'If you don't deal with your emotions, they will deal with you.' I ask them who they need to forgive and if they feel rejected. I explain that on the other side of rejection is a word called accepted, and that we are each accepted in the Beloved. In all this, I tell them that suicide can never be their answer." Death Averted Dean has used private aviation for travel since 2004. In 2005, he ministered at a large Teen Challenge service in Pennsylvania. He had planned to fl y home that evening, but was asked to speak the following day at a school in Kentucky, where a shooting had occurred. Accepting the invitation, Dean decided to fl y to Kentucky that night, speak the next day, and then fl y home. As was his normal custom, Dean walked around the plane and prayed. Inside, he and Watch You Matter TV on Sun. 3:30 a.m. | 4:30 p.m. Mon. 2 p.m. | Sat. 4 a.m. ET Watch C H A N N E L C H A N N E L