Assemblies of God

Dear Readers, It is easy to be jaded as an attorney. We see people at their worst. We also tend to latch on to stories in the media about bad actors. We are exposed to it and we are drawn to it. A cycle makes it hard to maintain faith in the purity of the human spirit.

Case in point is Daniel Savala, a monster clothed in a minister’s attire.  His sadistic playpen was his home in Houston, Texas, serving as a youth pastor with the Assemblies of God, the nation’s largest Pentecostal church.  

Savala, with an 8^th-grade education, used conniving, manipulative scriptural cloyness to convince male high school and college students to have discourse about pornography and masturbation in the service of spirituality. He had them build a backyard sauna on his property as a venue for the spiritual cleansing.  There, he convinced them to strip naked in the sauna and exchange mutual touching of their private parts to bring them closer to God. Ewww!

For over three (3) decades, Savala preached that salvation came from sharing with each other while naked: “nudity is unity.” Christ and salvation came with following his interpretation of religion, while Christian music blared. One man discussed being groomed for a decade, starting at 15. “He would say things like, ‘Hey, you know it’s OK to masturbate… Because we’re brothers, we can do it together.’”

Savala’s victims were culled from a Christian ministry, Chi Alpha, which built a presence on university campuses. Chi Alpha operated as a fraternity of like-minded Christian young men through Bible study and religious services. Savala’s acolytes referred to him as “Papa Daniel,” “God’s vagabond,” and “the holiest man alive.” 

Savala spawned disciples. Men were abused and they in turn recruited future victims to travel to his Houston home as evangelizing agents of Chi Alpha. One, Joseph Cleveland, broke down crying when he realized the full weight of what had happened to him. When he looked at his young son, he realized that he had driven other young men to the same fate he had suffered.

At least six Chi Alpha conspirators have been charged with sexual abuse. One of those was a father, Christopher Hundl, a Chi Alpha pastor at Baylor University in Waco, of an 11 and 12-year-old. Like Mr. Cleveland, he was a survivor of abuse from Savala. Mr. Hundl had so completely bought into Savala’s sick spiritual shtick, he not only brought his own boys to be spiritually awakened, he also participated in unspeakable acts. Mr. Hundl has been indicted on trafficking charges and is facing life in prison.

Assemblies of God leaders, up to its national superintendent, knew. They were warned; pastors resigned in protest when they hardened their hearts to the whispers of abuse. All they cared about was the success of Savala’s ministry, membership growth, and overflowing coffers. 

It was not the first time Church leaders had immorally sacrificed their humanity. They had acted as a protector of Joe Campbell, a charismatic pastor for children and closeted pedophile in the 1980s.

In 2012, Savala had been charged in Alaska with using his ministry as a veil for sexual abuse. His Texas enablers paid for his defense, sent a staff member to Alaska to vouch for him, and received him back in their bosom even after he pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of a minor. After serving 90 days in jail, Savala returned to Houston as a convicted sexual offender to continue with his ministry and exploitation of boys and young men in the name of God.

It took a decade for Savala’s sinning to be exposed. In April of 2023, whistleblowers launched a website to expose the ugly side of Chi Alpha. The site, “XA and the Lion’s Den,” detailed personal accounts of shame and abuse. This was picked up by the Texas A&M student newspaper, The Battalion, and later by the Christian press.

For unknown reasons, Savala videotaped a confessional of his evil deeds. In it, he said by cloaking himself in scripture, no one challenged his exploitive actions, “People can just see that spiritual part of your life without seeing the whole of who you are.” 

Savala faces life in prison for his evilness; he is the devil and a stark example of the ugliness of human nature. What of church officials? Will they ever be held accountable? As I said, it is hard to maintain faith in the basic goodness of humanity.

Warner Robins attorney Jim Rockefeller is the former Chief Assistant District Attorney for Houston County, and a former Assistant State Attorney in Miami.  Owner of Rockefeller Law Center, Jim has been in private practice since 2000. E-mail your comments or confidential legal questions to ajr@rockefellerlawcenter.com.