The Assemblies of God, the most important Pentecostal denomination in America and the world, together with the Atlanta Dream Heart and a number of associated organizations whose mission consists of combating human trafficking, have been accused in a federal lawsuit of trafficking lots of of younger adults looking for to develop into missionaries and pastors.
“This case reveals a sophisticated human trafficking and forced labor operation disguised as a religious ministry. Young, vulnerable individuals, including the Plaintiff, were recruited nationwide with promises of missionary training, only to be systematically isolated, manipulated, and coerced into providing unpaid labor at sporting events, conventions, and corporate gatherings across the country,” the 86-page lawsuit filed final Monday in a federal courtroom in Georgia and reviewed by The Christian Publish, alleges.
Along with the AOG and the Atlanta Dream Heart, the lawsuit additionally names as defendants: the Atlanta Dream Heart Church, Inc., and associated operations the Atlanta Faculty of Ministry, Frontline Response Worldwide, Inc., Assemblies of God, Georgia District Council Assemblies of God, Inc., MC Basis, Inc. doing enterprise as Mission Motion Corps., and John Does 1-50. They’re collectively referred to as the ADC Defendants within the lawsuit.
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The plaintiff within the case is listed as Jane Doe Ok.D., who alleges that, amongst different issues, she was sexually assaulted by Atlanta Faculty of Ministry founder and former AOG minister Daniel “Dan” Palmer. She asserts that from 2014-2015, whereas attending the Atlanta Faculty of Ministry, Palmer subjected her and different victims to systematic abuse and trafficking beneath the guise of the college he based in 2013. The college operates beneath the umbrella of the Atlanta Dream Heart, which is part of the AOG-supported Dream Heart community.
The Dream Heart started in 1994 as a house missions challenge of the Southern California District of the Assemblies of God and claims to remodel lives by Christ by “addressing needs such as homelessness, hunger, poverty, addiction, education, and human trafficking,” in accordance with the group’s web site.
It’s alleged that though each the Georgia District and AOG knew or ought to have identified of Palmer’s abuses years earlier and will have terminated his potential to guide and function an AOG-affiliated group, his ministerial credentials weren’t revoked till 2021.
The choice adopted “nearly two decades during which Daniel Palmer and the ADC Defendants neglected, abused, trafficked, and exploited hundreds of young adults for financial gain,” the lawsuit alleges.
Requested concerning the allegations within the lawsuit, the Assemblies of God deferred to a response from the Georgia District Council Assemblies of God.
“We are aware of the lawsuit that has been filed and want to express our deep concern over the allegations being brought forward. While we are limited in what we can say due to the ongoing legal process, we want to be clear that we take these matters very seriously,” District Superintendent John Dougherty stated in a press release to CP. “We are praying for everyone impacted and are trusting that healing and peace will come.”
The lawsuit alleges that sure representatives of the college and church focused religious Pentecostal youngsters and younger adults from impoverished areas across the nation who had desires of changing into missionaries and pastors. They have been promised free housing, meals and tutorial coaching in change for doing volunteer work “spreading the gospel at corporate and sporting events.”
“Upon arrival, the students soon learned the promises were inaccurate and misleading. Students were subjected to abhorrent living conditions, including being crammed into overcrowded rooms and forced to sleep on cold floors or in vans in dangerous, crime-ridden areas of Atlanta and other major cities,” the lawsuit claims.
“They were forced to perform chores at the church for 12 to 14 hours a day, typically six days a week, with minimal time scheduled for their promised ministerial education. The food the school and church provided was often expired, moldy, or infested with maggots,” it provides.
The criticism alleges that primary healthcare was “non-existent” whereas “injuries were woefully neglected.”
“Any concerns or questions as to the conditions were immediately dismissed by the school and church as questioning God’s will, labeling the Plaintiff and other students as ungrateful,” the criticism alleges. “Plaintiff and other students were exhausted, malnourished, and emotionally distressed and had no outlet to raise concern or opportunity for corrective measures.”
With out naming the corporate, the lawsuit stated the plaintiff and different ministry college students have been pressured to work as “volunteer” waiters, bartenders and concession attendants “for a major restaurant conglomerate” in a scheme that generates “billions in annual revenue.”
“Despite this immense wealth, they refused to pay the trafficking victims for their extensive labor or to offer them habitable living conditions or food while Plaintiff and others worked their events,” the lawsuit alleges.
“Instead, the restaurant entities made tax deductible ‘donations’ to various 501(c)(3) pass-through entities created by the church defendants, deriving dual financial benefits from both drastically reduced labor costs and substantial tax advantages.”
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“Well bless their hearts.”
