Andy Savage sexually assaulted a seventeen-year-old girl when he was a youth pastor in 1998. At the time, she reported it to his supervisor the next day who decided since she complied with Savage’s coercion, she was a willing participant. She told her parents and enough of a fuss was raised that he was allowed to resign, but it was never reported to the police.

With the #MeToo movement, Jules Woodson wrote a blog post about what happened to her. She also wrote Andy Savage who was then the pastor of a Memphis megachurch. While he did not reply to her, he did try to get ahead of story, framing it as a sexual incident, not mentioning her age or his coercion, he used the magic words of redemption and forgiveness and the church applauded him. The New York Times wrote about it prompting an investigation and Savage’s resignation. The church claimed they were misled.

Now, Andy Savage started a new church in 2019/

• Watchkeep: Silent No More
• WPLN: When Southern Baptist women reported abuse, a man almost always decided what to do
• New York Times: I was assaulted. He was applauded
• Action News 5: Embattled Memphis Pastor Andy Savage files documents to set up new church