A pastor at a Tennessee megachurch has publicly admitted to sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl 20 years ago after the victim penned a heart-wrenching account of the abuse.
Andy Savage, a pastor at Highpoint Church in Memphis, has admitted to and says he is continuing to atone for the 1998 incident in which he drove the girl down a secluded road and asked her to perform oral sex on him.
At the time, Savage was a college student and youth minister at Woodlands Parkway Baptist Church in Texas.
The girl, a 17-year-old high school senior, was a member of his youth ministry.
She clearly recalls one evening in Spring 1998 when Savage offered her a ride home one night after a meeting.
The woman writes that he drove past the turnoff for her house and instead drove down a dirt road with a promise of a surprise.
Andy Savage is the ‘Teaching Pastor’ at Highpoint Church, a megachurch with three locations across the Memphis, Tennessee area
A woman has penned a searing account of how Savage sexually assaulted her 20 years ago when she was a 17-year-old high school senior and he was a youth ministry leader at a church in Texas. Pictured is an interior of one of the three megachurch branches of Highpoint Church, Savage’s current employer
‘I remember feeling special and excited,’ she writes on the blog called Watch Keep. ‘I assumed we were going to get ice cream.’
Instead, she writes, he drove down a dead end road, turned off the vehicle’s lights, pulled his penis out of his pants and asked her to perform oral sex on him.
‘I was scared and embarrassed, but I did it. I remember feeling that this must mean that Andy loved me,’ she writes.
She also says that Andy asked her to unbutton her shirt and that he proceeded to touch her breasts.
The incident lasted for five minutes, she writes, at which point he got out of the car, came over to the passenger’s side, and knelt in front of it and exclaimed: ‘Oh my God. What have I done?’
She says he told her to keep what transpired a secret, and then he got back in the car and drove her to her home.
The victim then states that she approached the church’s associate pastor, a man, to discuss what had happened.
She writes that the first thing the associate pastor said after she relayed her entire account was: ‘So you’re telling me you participated?’
The pastor’s seemingly victim-blaming reaction stunned her.
The woman writes that Savage offered to drive her home one night after a meeting but instead drove her to a secluded spot, pulled out his penis and asked her to perform oral sex on him. Pictured is an interior of a Highpoint Church location
Savage responded to the woman’s account confirming it and saying that he continues to atone for his action. Highpoint Church has confirmed that church leadership knew of the incident. Pictured is an exterior view of one of the megachurch’s locations
‘I didn’t say that I screamed no, jumped out of the car and ran into the dark forest because I hadn’t. I told him that Andy had asked me to perform oral sex and unbutton my shirt and I did,’ she writes.
‘Not only did I suddenly feel this immense guilt for doing what Andy had asked me to do but I also started to feel that this was my fault somehow because I didn’t stop him.’
She writes that the church’s leadership tried to treat the incident as water under the bridge – until she worked up the courage to tell more people about the incident, which eventually prompted Savage to leave the church due to a ‘poor decision’ he had made.
No details were revealed to the church’s congregation.
‘No one could imagine Andy doing anything bad or immoral, much less illegal, and so, it somehow became my fault that Andy was leaving.’
Savage responded to the post with a statement admitting the action. He writes that he ‘apologized and sought forgiveness from her, her parents, her discipleship group, the church staff, and the church leadership’.
‘I was and remain very remorseful for the incident and deeply regret the pain I caused her and her family, as well as the pain I caused the church and God’s Kingdom,’ he writes.
‘There has never been another situation remotely similar in my life before or after that occurrence….This incident was dealt with in Texas 20 years ago.’
Savage, a father-of-five, said: ‘I was and remain very remorseful for the incident and deeply regret the pain I caused her and her family, as well as the pain I caused the church and God’s Kingdom.’ The lead pastor of his current church said: ‘I can assure you that I have total confidence in the redemptive process Andy went through’
Highpoint Church’s lead pastor, Chris Conlee, added an addendum to Savage’s statement to confirm that church leadership knew about the incident.
‘I can assure you that I have total confidence in the redemptive process Andy went through,’ the addendum reads. ‘I have watched Andy strive to live a godly life and proactively share what he has learned to help others.’
The blog post detailing the victim’s account further reveals that she had sent Savage a sharply worded email on December 1 with the subject line: ‘Do you remember?’
The email signs off with ‘#me-too,’ a reference to the movement for women to share their stories of sexual harassment and assault.
Men in positions of power across multiple industries have been hit with such allegations since five women came forward to the New York Times back in October to share how disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein had harassed or assaulted them.
Savage’s page on the Highpoint Church website indicates that he is now a married father-of-five. He serves as the church’s ‘Teaching Pastor’.
His bio reads in part: ‘Andy enjoys time at home with his family, great espresso, and has a mild addiction to CrossFit.’