Growing up in an Evangelical Church I knew of many incidence like this that the church silences and covers up. As much as the MEGA CHURCH EVANGELICALS preach against others they deem UNWORTHY to be saved {LGBTQI+}, you would think they would have good sense NOT to mess around with the young people in their church. I believe that term is PEDOPHILE. These mega church pastors are QUICK to call the LGBTQI+ Community a bunch of EVIL PEDOPHILES while the can not seem to keep it in their pants whether it is with a GIRL or BOY. If you were to count up all the PEDOPHILES in the PRISON SYSTEM you would see that almost ALL of THEM ARE STRAIGHT WHITE CHRISTIAN MEN!!!
EVANGELICALS need to wake up - GOD IS CLEANING HOUSE and HE IS STARTING WITH ALL YOU "FAMOUS" EVANGELICAL MEGA CHURCH PREACHERS who don't even preach HIS WORD most of the time. GOD IS TIRED of ALL THIS APOSTASY in HIS HOUSE!!!
IT IS TIME for ALL MANKIND whether you are STRAIGHT, LGBTQI+, whatever religion you are, GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER and START GIVING GOD the RESPECT HE DEMANDS or GET OUT of the CHURCH and live your lies that are leading the MASSES STRAIGHT to HELL. GOD is TIRED of the SUNDAY and WEDNESDAY CHRISTIANS, HE EXPECTS EVERYDAY of the WEEK CHRISTIANS out doing HIS WILL!!!
The TIME is NOW to REPENT and get your life right with the ALMIGHTY GOD!!!
I pray that GOD will put a burning desire in all who read this to work on cleansing yourself so you can be called A GOOD and FAITHFUL SERVANT of the ALMIGHTY GOD...
Blessings and Peace reign in your hearts,
I was Assaulted - He was Applauded
Jules Woodson reacts to the apology issued by Andy
Savage, a pastor at the Highpoint Church in Tennessee, who admits to a
"sexual incident" when she was 17 years old.
By JULES WOODSON on Publish Date March 9, 2018.
Jules
Woodson says she was 17 when her youth pastor, Andy Savage, sexually
assaulted her. In late 2017, almost two decades later, Ms. Woodson,
inspired by the #MeToo movement, emailed Mr. Savage asking whether he
remembered what has haunted her for decades. When he didn’t reply, she told her story
to a blog for victims of church abuse. Days later, Mr. Savage addressed
his congregation at the Highpoint Church in Memphis, where he is a
pastor, and the church streamed the service online as usual.
At
the service, Mr. Savage apologized to the mega-congregation for what he
calls a “sexual incident” when he was a 22-year-old youth pastor at his
former church in Texas. He received a standing ovation from the
congregation. Many online viewers of the video remarked on the applause.
The
church pulled the video offline, but not before The Times saved a copy.
We then viewed it with Ms. Woodson, whose reactions and commentary we
taped for the Op-Ed video above. She recoils at Highpoint’s head
pastor’s carefully orchestrated introduction of Mr. Savage and at Mr.
Savage’s use of Christian tenets like sin and redemption to characterize
his behavior and to try to absolve himself.
Mr.
Savage never talks about the details of the event. Instead, Ms. Woodson
points out, he refers to it only as a “sexual incident,” without a
victim or a perpetrator.
The pastor to whom Ms. Woodson had reported her sexual assault resigned from his ministry in February,
seeking her forgiveness for failing to protect her. Texas has a clergy
law for sexual assault cases, but in a statement, the local police said
that the case is beyond the statute of limitations.
Highpoint Church concluded an investigation of Mr. Savage this week. Its results are not yet public.
Update, March 20: Andy Savage announced his resignation, writing: “I agree with Jules that, of all places, we as the Church should be getting this right.”
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More from the New York Times, here
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Megachurch Pastor Andy Savage Resigns Following Sexual Misconduct Allegations
______________________________________________________________________________
Andy Savage resigned from HighPoint Church in Memphis following an
investigation into a "sexual incident" that occurred several years ago.
"While
the investigation found no other instances of abuse in Andy's ministry,
the leadership team at Highpoint Church agrees that Andy's resignation
is appropriate, given the reasons stated in his resignation statement.
Highpoint leadership has come to recognize that it was defensive rather
than empathetic in its initial reaction to Ms. Jules Woodson's
communication concerning the abuse she experienced, and humbly commits
to develop a deeper understanding of an appropriate, more compassionate
response to victims of abuse," the church said in a statement.
The church placed Savage on leave while a third party investigated if any further abuse occurred in Savage's tenure.
The
incident reportedly occurred years ago when Savage allegedly forced a
woman in his youth group to perform a sexual act for him.
"Throughout
the last two and a half months, I've had the opportunity to spend much
time in prayer and God's Word, as well as to reflect on the thoughts
shared by so many who responded to the post by Jules Woodson and to my
statement on January 7th. Your passionate opinions on this important
matter have truly helped me to gain perspective that I simply could not
have achieved on my own. I have come to understand Jules' vantage point
better, and to appreciate the courage it took for her to speak up,"
Savage said in a statement.
The statement continues:
When
Jules cried out for justice, I carelessly turned the topic to my own
story of moral change, as if getting my own life in order should help to
make up for what she went through and continues to go through. Morality
is meant to guard against injustices, not to minimize them, to
compensate for them, or to obscure them. I agree with Jules that, of all
places, we as the church should be getting this right.
As I've reflected during my leave of absence, I have come to see that
many wrongs occurred in 1998. The first was my inappropriate
relationship with Jules, which was not only immoral, but meets the
definition of abuse of power since I was her youth pastor; therefore,
when our relationship became physical, there could be no claim of mutual
consent. Another wrong was the failure to follow due process afterward;
Jules deserved, and did not get, a full investigation and proper
response 20 years ago.
Admittedly, at 22 and in my first job, I
truly believed that I was being guided through proper steps for
restitution, which included resigning my position and moving from
Houston to Memphis. Those steps seemed significant at the time, and I
trusted in the process assigned to me. Only through my recent time of
reflection have I realized that more should have been done.
Of
course, this does little to relieve the suffering Jules experienced
because of my mistakes and the neglect of due process that followed. I
sincerely want to get this right. I want the church to get this right. I
want Jules, finally, to see it gotten right.
That is why, after
much prayer and counsel, I now believe it's appropriate for me to resign
from my staff position at Highpoint Church and step away from ministry
in order to do everything I can to right the wrongs of the past.
Apologies are important, but more is required. I know that stepping down
once, or even a second time, still doesn't make things right for Jules.
But addressing my own acts of abuse this way acknowledges the
importance of confronting abuse in our culture and in the church at
large. In addition, I will continue striving to grow through this
experience going forward as I seek God's will.
To my Highpoint
family, I am grateful for all the ways you've loved me, my wife and our
boys. I would never have been able to come to this place of
understanding and conviction without your love and loyal support
throughout this process. I will always treasure the opportunities we've
had to serve the Lord together.
Savage's official
resignation comes after months of church women coming forward to discuss
their own abused pasts as part of the #MeToo and #ChurchToo movements.
