Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Jesus Creed

Home
Evangelical
The Jules Woodson Story: #churchtoo

The Jules Woodson Story: #churchtoo

Last updated on: January 12, 2018 at 9:54 am by Scot McKnight

The Jules Woodson Story: #churchtoo 2018-01-12T09:54:04-06:00 Scot McKnight

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Jules Woodson story: #churchtoo is increasing consequences for men like Andy Savage

By Becky Castle Miller is the Discipleship Director at an international church in the Netherlands and writes about emotionally healthy discipleship at medium.com/wholehearted. She conveys her five kids around town on bikes and studies New Testament in the middle of the night via Northern Live.

Andy Savage was the Youth Pastor at Woodlands Parkway Baptist Church in Texas when he sexually assaulted a girl in his youth group. He offered to drive Jules Woodson home one night after an event. When he passed the turn for her home, she thought maybe he was taking her to get ice cream. Instead, the man who was much larger than her and in authority over her took her out into the dark woods, groped her breasts, and told her to suck on his penis.

That’s the kind of language you won’t often read on Scot’s blog. I include it not to titillate or to offend but to inform. Now you know what Savage’s current church, HighPoint, wasn’t told this past Sunday when they applauded him, giving him a standing ovation that went on for twenty seconds.

Woodson made her story public last Friday, January 5, and on Sunday, January 7, Savage got up in front of his church and confessed to a “sexual incident” with a “high school senior” when he was a “college student.” (Direct quotes from his statement.) The church celebrated what they thought was his honesty. Would they have responded as generously if he had told the full truth? What he should have said was, “As a Youth Pastor, I lied to a student in my ministry to get her into a car with me alone. I drove her out to a deserted place and told her to perform oral sex on me. Then I demanded that she keep it secret.”

Several pastors in multiple churches over the intervening years failed in their mandatory reporting duty by never making a police report. Sexual assault is a crime, and clergy sexual abuse is also a crime in Texas.

A lot has happened in a week. As of Friday, January 12, a week after the story broke:

-Savage admitted to a sexual encounter with a student under his shepherding care. Though he didn’t share the details nor describe it as assault, he at least did not deny it happened.

-Woodson filed a police report in Texas. A detective opened a case. Tragically, because of the statute of limitations, they are not able to press charges, even though Savage’s actions violated several Texas laws. If Savage and other church leaders had not covered up the matter for so long and forced silence on Woodson, criminal justice could have been served.

-Even though Savage has escaped criminal justice by telling Woodson to keep quiet, marketplace justice has been swift.

-KLOVE removed Savage from an upcoming cruise lineup.

-Bethany House cancelled publication of Savage’s forthcoming book on marriage.

-Baker Books cancelled publication of a book by Chris Conlee, the current Lead Pastor at HighPoint, the church where Savage is Teaching Pastor. Conlee said in a church statement that he knew about Savage’s choice to have sexual contact with a student in his ministry and still partnered with Savage in their church.

-Austin Stone Church has placed on leave Larry Cotton. He was the Associate Pastor at Woodlands whom Woodson told about her assault when it happened. According to Woodson’s account, Cotton covered up and lied about the abuse instead of reporting it. Austin Stone is hiring a third party investigative firm to look into Cotton’s decisions in that case.

-Savage went on the radio show of his sympathetic friend Ben Ferguson and further shared details of his treatment of Woodson. He only sees it as problematic because he failed to keep his own standard of sexual purity, speaking only about the immorality of his actions and completely missing the unethical and illegal aspects of his choices. He announced that he will be taking a leave of absence from HighPoint while a third party investigates.

Contrast all this response with a sexual abuse case I covered in September. A Christian university was accused of mishandling and covering up rape, also failing to report the incident and an alleged confession by the rapist to the police. The school put intense pressure on those reporting it to stop talking about it. The major Christian leaders named in the coverup have faced no public consequences for their actions and inactions to this date, though investigations are ongoing.

What has changed in the past four months?

It’s being called “The Reckoning.” The #metoo movement of women (and men) sharing their stories of men sexually assaulting them has given more and more victims the courage to speak up. It’s been followed by #churchtoo, focusing on sexual abuse and coverups in the church. As more survivors of spiritual and sexual abuse have spoken about their experiences in churches, it’s given others not just courage but also hope. Hope that people will listen, hope that people will believe, hope that abusers will actually face justice.

The Reckoning has hit the hills of Hollywood and the halls of Congress, and now it’s coming to a church near you. On Twitter, Ryan Ashton wrote, “@andysavage is the Church’s Harvey Weinstein moment.” I hope that this is the moment when churches and Christian leaders will learn how to respond correctly to abuse reports and bring healing and justice to victims rather than further damaging them.

Read the post that broke the story, which includes the text of Woodson’s police report:

http://thewartburgwatch.com/2018/01/05/i-thought-he-was-taking-me-for-ice-cream-one-womans-metoo-story-of-molestation-by-her-former-youth-pastor-andy-savage/

Follow @wartwatch and @watchkeep on Twitter for frequent updates.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

January 12, 2018

Atonement Questions: Q&A

Next Post

January 12, 2018 Every Country Is Beautiful

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Acts of the Apostles Adam Advent Anabaptism Angels Anglican Apologetics Atonement Baptism BCP Prayers Bible Biblical Studies Birds Blogging Bloglossary Bonhoeffer Books Calvinism Christianity Church Church History Coffee Colossians Commentary Recs Conversion Creation Creeds Culture Death Ecclesiastes Economics Education Embracing Grace Emergent Emerging Movement Eschatology Essays Ethics Eucharist Evangelicalism Family Fasting Fathers Fellowship of Differents Footsteps Tour Fun and Whimsical Gospel Grace Happiness Heaven Hell Holy Spirit Irenaeus James Jesus Jesus Creed Job Justification Kingdom of God Law Lectures Lent Liberalism Love and Marriage Mabanteneni Manhood Mary Miracles Missio Alliance MissioLife Missional Missional Jesus Movies and Film New Perspective Northern Seminary OneLife Origins Project Orthodox Parables Pastor's Spouse Pastoring and Leading Pastoring and Preaching Patristics Paul Paul-John Tour Pharisees Pietism Political Theology Prayer and Formation Preaching Problems for Faith Psalm 119 Psalms Public Issues Purgatory Religions Resurrection Revelation Romans Rule of JCreed Science and Faith Sermon on the Mount Sports Ten Commandments Theology Third Way Top Ten Lists Translations Uncategorized Universalism University Ministry Way Out Weekly Meanderings Wisdom Women and Ministry Work Worship Writing & Blogging Youth Ministry

Select a Month July 2021 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Paul Peter James John