Devastating news today. My abuser is back in the pulpit. 😭🤬🤮🤯 https://t.co/anu860KSJz— Jules Woodson (@juleswoodson11) October 26, 2019
I received a message yesterday from a local source in Memphis, Tennessee, that Andy Savage is starting a new church, Grace Valley Church. I was sent a link to Andy’s message from an interest meeting with prospective new members.
Breaking: Andy Savage, former @hpmemphis pastor who confessed to sexual assault of a teen in his youth group in TX, is starting a new church in Memphis- Grace Valley Church. Message from his “interest meeting” https://t.co/iaGKFz5PmJ @juleswoodson11 #churchtoo #metoo— Amy Smith (@watchkeep) October 26, 2019
Andy Savage is a former pastor at Highpoint Church in Memphis who resigned in early 2018 after confessing to sexual assault of a teen girl who was a member of his youth group while he was on staff as a youth minister at a church in Texas. I wrote about Jules Woodson and her story here on my blog along with Dee Parsons at The Wartburg Watch.
According to a Friendly Atheist post on Patheos, a website for Grace Valley Church was launched on September 24, 2019.
According to Whois, the website was created on September 24. This is been in the works since at least then. Which would mean it took Savage 18 months to go from leaving a church in disgrace after admitting to sexually assaulting a child… to starting a brand new church in the same city. (Not that their experiences were the same, but it took Ted Haggard nearly four years to begin a new church after he, too, resigned in disgrace. Mark Driscoll also took 18 months between resigning from one church and starting another.)
The pastor who covered up Andy’s sexual assault of @juleswoodson11 is still a Southern Baptist pastor @StevePreach #caringwell #churchtoo #sbc19 https://t.co/hl3U5eB3Yr— Amy Smith (@watchkeep) October 26, 2019
In light of Andy Savage’s return to the pulpit, with his vile self-serving sermon on “grace,” it’s worth another look at this thread by @wademullen illuminating the tactics of abusers in trying to dominate & control the narrative. Savage embodies these. https://t.co/LCDFa9FwFz— Christa Brown (@ChristaBrown777) October 27, 2019
The full post from Wade Mullens is fantastic.
I am now continually struck by the odd behavior of the church. Through "forgiveness" the church allows predators to stay in positions where they can feast, again. In secular medicine, if a physician is found to be a predator, that person no longer practices. Period. This is not about forgiveness. A man (or rarely a woman) can be forgiven. They should not be in the position of authority, to mentor people's souls (one of the ways that I look at pastors), to be in a position that where they can prey again. The fallen can be a part of the church, work in the church, but they should not be in a position of authority.