“I grew up hearing Scripture about being righteous, serving the Lord, being a faithful servant, and taking care of one another,” she wrote. “Except my reality was…feeling scared and sick because I knew the punishments disguised as ‘discipline’ potentially waited for me around any corner I turned.”
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Although abuse made the woman’s life “difficult, painful, and tormented well beyond what it should have been,” she said she was able to overcome and heal.
Victims Describe Cult-Like Atmosphere at Florida Church
Eight women told authorities about sexual, emotional, mental, and financial abuse they experienced while attending Dyal’s church as children. They described grooming and a cult-like atmosphere, with “public beatings, abuse, and humiliation.”
One woman alleged that Dyal molested her five to six times per year for about five or six years. Another said when she was a teen, church leaders set her up to be courted by a 40-year-old man.
A man who described being physically and mentally abused as a boy at Dyal’s church said the environment was isolated and controlling. Another survivor explained, “Oppression doesn’t seem like oppression if it’s really all you’ve ever known.”
In February 2023, police released footage of Dyal and his sons being interrogated. All three men denied the allegations against Dyal.
When the pastor was alone in the room, at one point he began praying and talking to himself. “I’ve served God. I’ve served you honorably, Lord. Not perfectly, but honorably,” Dyal said aloud. “Well, it all ended in shame. I guess that’s how it’s being. Just amazing.”
