Curating and reporting on abuses by pastors from a variety of denominations, one thing noticed is that the legal aspect of these denominations is usually silent. Typically a church lets the legal system take its course and does not invoke a team of lawyers to take on the state or the accusers. Accept for the Assemblies of God.
I have noted several occasions where the AoG churches use their power, money and influence to get their own lawyers to step and prevent cases or block sentencing. The cases involving Savala are a great example:
At a hearing last month, District Court Judge Lauren Reeder, based in Houston, said the denomination’s national office had been “flagrant” in its failure to comply with her orders to produce records related to alleged abuses by Daniel Savala, a convicted sex offender and former missionary. Pastors in the Assemblies of God’s college ministry, Chi Alpha, hailed Savala for years as “the holiest man alive” and sent hundreds of teens and young adults to his home for spiritual guidance, including after he was convicted of child sex abuse.
Savala was infamous for recording his own confession on sexual abuses of young men, and described on camera how he felt it was easy to manipulate Christian groups, like the Assemblies of God.
