“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Originally published December 27, 2007
Friends of Dunlap urged to fight evil with good deeds
By Nic Corbett
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

CRAWFORDVILLE — Speakers at the funeral for slain Crawfordville woman Cheryl Dunlap urged her friends and family to fight evil with good deeds.

“We are not going to be in a cloud of fear or a cloud of anger over this,” said Bob Gladstone of the FIRE School of Ministry, which Dunlap graduated from.

Gladstone quoted the apostle Paul from the Bible: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Dunlap, a Florida State University nurse who also taught Sunday School, was reported missing Dec. 1. Hunters found her body two weeks later in the Apalachicola National Forest in Leon County.

No arrests have been made, but investigators have released photos taken at a West Tennessee Street ATM showing a masked man making withdrawals with her card.

Dunlap’s friends and family sang along softly to Christian songs Thursday afternoon in a packed auditorium at the River of Life Church.

Some held up their hands and waved them slowly side to side. The crowd stood and sang, which is a tradition at River of Life. A full band performed. Lyrics to the songs flashed onto two large overhead screens.

The Rev. Henry Jones, pastor of River of Life, and the Rev. Keith Collins, who knew Dunlap in Pensacola, delivered sermons.

Gladstone talked about how proud he was of Cheryl for all she had done to help others. He tried to comfort her friends and family.

“Like many of you, I don’t understand how or why certain things happen in this life,” he said. “And probably like most of you I can barely wrap my mind about recent events. But I do know this — that God is good and God will make everything right in Jesus Christ.”

Lori White, a pastor at the church, told the crowd that a few weeks before she went missing, Dunlap told her about a dream she had. Dunlap dreamed she saw the Lord stand up and extend his hand to her. White now sees the dream as the Lord’s way of preparing Dunlap for what was ahead.

“I know that the Lord was gracious and gave her a gift so that in her darkest hour, she knew she was getting ready to go up and have a whole new realm of intimacy,” White said.

Collins compared Dunlap to a “martyr,” whose blood is the seed of the church. Even with the tragedy that happened, he said, “the enemy does not win in this matter.”

“Despite the level of darkness and demonic evil that fueled this act of violence, today the testimony of Jesus Christ and Cheryl Dunlap remains intact and actually shines brighter than ever before,” Collins said.

The service was followed by burial at Whiddon Lake Cemetery.

Donna Berry said her husband, Billy Berry, who was a pallbearer, went on a mission trip to Mexico with Dunlap about two years ago.

He wasn’t going to go because he was worried about back pain while hiking, but he changed his mind when he learned that Dunlap, a nurse, was going.

Dunlap brought her nursing supplies so she could check the blood pressure of Mayan Indians in the mountains.

Dunlap also went on mission trips to Haiti and China, Jones said.