“Evangelization is the essential ministry of the Church and Caroline Gambale Dirkes is passionate about proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ. Caroline has extensive experience in youth ministry and she speaks credibly with young people, bringing the Gospel into their lives.”

“Our youth and adults loved Caroline Gambale. She was passionate, spiritual and relevant in her presentation.”

“You are a gift to the Church! Thank you for your talk on Evangelization on Pentecost. You were wonderful.”

“Dan and Caroline, thank you so much for sharing your special gift of evangelization by word and song with us yesterday evening. It was a special evening indeed.

One never knows whether a mixed group of youth and adults will work well, but you seemed to be able to reach across the generations and touch many. The youth who attended were very happy they came. We had several parishes represented and everyone seemed to be very receptive of your message and happy to hear it being talked about.

Thank you again and may God continue to bless your ministry to our Catholic youth.”

“Caroline, I want to thank you for your interest in our kids at CCHS. Our retreat surveys were overwhelmingly positive, your talk topped the list.I wanted to share an email I got from one of our teachers. Somehow she stumbled on a girl’s website and forwarded to me what the girl had to say about the all day retreat...We each do something different, and we are so grateful that you were able to be”Jesus” to our girls that day. She sums it all up into “Retreats save lives.” I couldn’t agree more.”

“Caroline was so funny and I feel like I could really relate to her. Many of the things that she has gone
through in her life which she shared in her talks really impacted the teens and they could relate to her. As the women’ session speaker she made it a lot of fun and very interesting to listen to. All of our girls really enjoyed the time we had to pray over one another this was very effective and special time to bond with the group.”

“Hilarious and straight to the point! Loved the girls session. She hit all the tough issues and made them feel like they were not alone and not awful if they were in that position but were loved and helped them to see a way out!”

“Caroline was, hands-down, my favorite speaker. She started her talk off by telling us that she was just going to be real with us, and I think that was really apparent in her speech. She tied in her family and her own life very much to her speech. She, literally, made the speech HER own story. She kept the talk very real, telling us the bad that happened in her life, but then describing how she reverted back to God, our Father. Like Bob Rice, she always kept the jokes rolling, but still remained focused on who we were gathered to worship. I thought that her entire talk was based of a great idea and I hope that the Steubenville team doesn’t lose her as a speaker for next year!”

“I loved her! Caroline was my favorite speaker at the conference. She really help me realize that just because everyone else is doing something doesn’t mean you have to do it to! Plus I loved that her and her husband were so pure before they were married. It just shows that it is possible to wait and have sex before you’re married.”

“OH MY GOSH! Caroline was phenominal. Both our boy and girls loved her. Her spech for the girls was so honest it really reached them. God bless her and her new little one.”

“OUTSTANDING!!! This woman was the most inspirational person I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. She truly changed my life and made a bigger impact than anyone. Everything she said was EXACTLY what I needed to hear and she was so truly inspiring and is now my biggest role model! I will never forget the words of Caroline. Especially things she discussed in the woman’s session. It would be a blessing to have her speak again at next year’s conference.”

“Dan and Caroline:
Thanks so much for coming to Colorado Springs and doing a family Life in the Spirit Seminar for us at Holy Apostles Catholic Church . We had about 30 middle and high schoolers and OVER 100 adults go through the seminar.
Well, what can I say? Your talks and times of praise and worship touched the hearts of all present beyond what I had hoped for or imagined. The Spirit was there in POWER – lives were changed – and we were challenged to be more bold and evangelistic as a charismatic community. Many people have told me what an absolutely great seminar this was.
So, here are your scores on a 1 to 10 scale, ten being the highest:
Enthusiasm – Ten
Power – Ten
Joy – Ten
Praise and Worship – Ten
Evangelization – Ten
OVERALL BLESSINGS – Ten

Fantastic job!!! Praise God!!”

“Dear Caroline,
Hi, my name is Danny. You sort of met me at the Steubenville retreat. You prayed with me on the adoration night. I just wanted to say thank you so much for doing that. I tried to find you on Sunday after mass to tell you but I couldn’t find you, so I thought that email would be the next best thing. But I just wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for praying with me that night. It meant so much to me. I had never felt anything like that before in my life; I can’t even explain it. But ever since Saturday that has been the only thing on my mind, I can’t stop thinking about it. I’m still trying my best to find out kinda what it all meant and everything. So thank you so much.”

“When I usually think of in-school retreats, i think oh good...another day of pointless lectures from a bunch of people who have been outta their teens longer than I’ve been alive. Right? Well this year was different. I mean it deff started out the same. Mass, pointless games, Adoration, Talks...But one of the speakers actually struck me. Caroline.
She was so young and lively and genuine. plus she was hilarious. Shes the kind of person that stands out immediately as someone you are drawn into listening to. Her message really hit me for some reason. It’s almost as if God was picking out word for word exactly what He needed me to hear at that moment. Like every word of it applied to how I was living my life. Caroline talked about purity and doubt and struggling with knowing what God wants from us. Whats expected by society from us and what God wants. And there is such a difference.
She talked about how boys treat girls. How they use them sometimes, and how they might not realize it. Or on the other hand how they do it on purpose.Then she showed us clips from “A Walk To Remember” and she told us how we deserve to be treated. She let us know that each of us was important and that she was sooo excited to be able to be involved with us. Caroline made me think.
...I want what Caroline told us we deserve. I never imagined i was worthy of that...because I’ve always been treated worse.. ya know...i just figured that was what i was supposed to be settling for. Retreats Save Lives.”

“Dear Caroline and Dan,
I just wanted to thank you so much for coming to Colorado Springs and to Holy Apostles. The Fire in the Fall Seminar was exactly what my wife and I needed at this time (and we’ve desired something like this for a while). I’ve tried to go to a life in the spirit seminar before, but I just didn’t think it was for me. But when this came up, I decided that I needed to go to this one. I’ve always been very guarded and closed about my faith, that it was something between me and God, but I realized with my small group and with your talks that it’s something that needs to be shared. I needed to open my heart to Jesus and to these people I had never met before, and it felt absolutely beautiful! I just gave myself completely to the Lord, and everything just felt better. It goes to show that we need community prayer, and God wants us to have that.

We actually met briefly at the seminar and you both prayed over my wife and I (thank you, thank you so much, and thank you, Lord!). My wife actually went up to you, Caroline, while you were holding your beautiful baby, and you and Dan, with your kind and generous hearts, decided to come pray with us, and we were moved beyond words. I thank you again so much, and know that we are praying for you too! May God bless you always!”

“What an inspiration. All of her talks were incredibly relatable. I felt as though every topic she brought up and discussed was something that I personally was dealing with in my life. Afterwards, I went up to go speak with her and it was the first time in my life where I felt comfortable enough to truly confess a sin which had been bothering me for quite some time. We cried and prayed together, and the entire time I felt respected, worthy, and loved rather than the disappointment and disgust I was expecting to receive after confessing.
SHE IS AMAZING!”