Forgiveness and Disqualification

Andy Savage is the teaching pastor at Highpoint Church, a megachurch in Memphis, TN.  While the name seems familiar to me, I can't say I was really familiar with anything about him.  You know what they say about megachurch pastors: They all sound and look alike.  Okay, that may not be true, but prior to the story I'm about to discuss I didn't know anything of him for good or for ill.

As it turns out, while he was a youth minister at a church in Texas about 20 years ago, he offered a ride home to a 17 year old female student after a church event.

Let me stop here and briefly point out how the "Graham/Pence Rule" has been derided over the past couple years.  And while it's not a perfect "rule" and may seemingly place the scrutiny on the female, it is hard to chastise its effectiveness and its usefulness in some capacity.  As a male who has worked and volunteered in education and youth/young adult ministry for the past 12 years, the thought of giving a minor female a ride home alone stops me dead in my tracks.  This is not just a bad idea, it's a terrible idea.

The continuation of this story is about what you would expect.  Savage did not drive the female directly home, but rather parked the car in an isolated area and pressured her into sexual activity.  He then stopped her, freaked out over what he did, and told her not to tell anyone.  Feeling empowered by the many brave women who have shared their own stories of sexual assault and sexual harassment over the past several months, the female, Jules Woodson, emailed Savage, reminding him of what happened.  With no response to her email, last week she made public her story.  This past Sunday, Savage addressed it in front of the Highpoint congregation.

In his statement, Savage refers to the student as a "high school senior" and not the more accurate description of "minor."  He also states that he "sought forgiveness from her, her parents, her discipleship group, the church staff, and the church leadership, who informed the congregation."  Woodson say these confessions are non-existent.  Savage continues his statement saying this issue was "dealt with back in Texas" and then asks for the congregation's forgiveness.  They responded with 20 seconds of applause, and supposedly a standing ovation.

Up front, I do not believe Savage should be a pastor any longer.  I'll come back to this idea, but I also want to issue caution.

First, Jesus heals all repentant sinners, and we are all sinners.  Every pastor's teaching you sit under comes from an individual who has sinned.  This person may even sin against you.  We would have no pastors or elders if we sought perfect, sinless men to fill those roles.

In addition, it is often the radical stories of grace that enamor us.  I recently read Robby Gallaty's remarkable story of conversion following an addiction to painkillers.  His life before Jesus and after is a great testimony.

However, these sins, and possibly more importantly, how they were handled, are not the same.

Savage, serving in a church leadership role, took advantage of a minor.  Again, while in a church leadership role.  This isn't an offense conducted by someone who had nothing to do with Jesus.  Savage was serving the church in a professional capacity.  Further, he was serving in a role where he was charged with teaching youth about, and leading them to, Christ.  He betrayed what he professed and used a position of power to get something he wanted, sexually, from an underage girl.  He violated another person in an incredibly intimate way.

And while Savage claims repentance, there seems to be extensive discrepancy as to how he sought forgiveness.  Instructing a girl not to tell anyone is vastly different than confessing to her parents and to the church.  Is it possible Woodson is lying?  Of course.  Yet, it's hard to imagine someone who pastors a 2,000 person congregation (and being in that role for 16 years) wouldn't already have a story like this as common knowledge.  After all, Savage claims he confessed it to the entire congregation.  Wouldn't that leak out? 

For someone like Gallaty, his sin is a part of his testimony.  Aside from the fact most of us would argue sexually assaulting a teen is far worse than being addicted to painkillers, Gallaty uses his story to demonstrate his road faith in Jesus and being made a new creation.  Meanwhile, Savage's story was buried and ignored until the victim was courageous enough to come forward.

The requirements of pastors and elders are clearly stated in scripture, including being above reproach.  Paul writes this to both Titus (Titus 1:6) and Timothy (1 Timothy 3:2).  With this story's revelation, Savage can no longer make such a claim.  The biblical argument is that Savage should no longer be in the pastorate.

To their credit, Bethany House quickly dropped Savage's new book on (you can't make this up) marriage.

The next step is for Highpoint Church and its lead pastor Chris Conlee to make the painful decision to ask Savage to resign, or, if need be, fire him.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  1 James 1:9
Forgiveness is available to Savage.  Maybe he has truly repented to God for his actions, though it seems from Woodson's story that his repentance is incomplete.  Regardless, Savage's actions as a youth minister, even from 20 years ago, have disqualified him from being a pastor.  It's embarrassing enough that evangelicals have so vocally supported political candidates with sexual misconduct.  Do we really need to do something similar by advocating for our church leaders to keep positions of power when such misconduct is revealed?

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