Category 2
Verdict: Andy Savage has proven by his own words and deeds to be unqualified to oversee a congregation. His preaching is a detriment to the church.
Andy Savage is attempting to start a new megachurch, Grace Valley Memphis. This comes rather quickly after confessing to sexual assaulting a minor.
1 Timothy 3
1The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? 6He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.
The ministry standards he fails to meet are bolded. We can reasonably conclude that sexually assaulting a minor disqualifies him from being a pastor at a church. The ministry standards are in place to so that the church maintains a certain credibility in ministry. Why should pagans listen to preachers who get a slap on the risk from their congregation when they sin so egregiously from their pulpits. Thus overseers are to be above reproach. To start a new megachurch so quickly and daringly after confessing to this sin shows a flagrant disregard for ministry standards. For this reason he is a Category 2 false teacher as opposed to a Category 1.
Updated 11/2019