On College Game Day, #MemphisTacklesSavage Abuse

Andy Savage – who, in 2018, publicly confessed to sexual criminal acts against a minor who attended his prior church and who subsequently resigned from his pastoral position at Memphis megachurch, Highpoint – is founding a new church.  Recently, Savage officially registered Grace Valley Church with the State of Tennessee. In holding to the nightmarish pattern of predator pastors re-entering the ministry (a pattern exposed by the Houston Chronicle in February of 2019), it appears that Andy Savage plans to return to the pulpit… to prey.

However, most people here in the greater Memphis area haven’t heard a thing about Andy Savage, the predator in our midst.

Imperiously left without the power which knowledge brings, Memphians are unknowingly vulnerable to predators like Andy Savage who use the church as their hunting grounds.

Today, together, you and I are going to change that!

ABOUT SATURDAY, NOV. 2:

Watching college football is an American tradition which bridges political, socioeconomic, and informational barriers. It brings together football fans of every stripe, uniting us in the joy of the game and the revelry of competition.

In the providence of God, the City of Memphis will be in the national spotlight Saturday, November 2, 2019, beginning at 8:00 am (CT) and lasting late into the evening.

ESPN’s College Gameday show, will be aired live from Memphis, TN, from 8:00-11:00 am this morning (Saturday). Then, airing tonight night at 7:00 pm, the designated ESPN Primetime college football game is the University of Memphis (my alma mater) vs. Southern Methodist University (SMU), which will be played here in Memphis, TN.

Today, using this golden opportunity to raise awareness about sexual abuse within the church and to warn my fellow Memphians about predator pastors, you and I will be engaging the college football fan community – all of college football fandom – through utilizing this community’s own Twitter/Instagram hashtags (listed below):

  1. #CollegeGameday and/or #Gameday
  2. #GoTigersGo (the University of Memphis’s flagship tag)

We will be adding OUR HASHTAG to the end of every tweet.

Our hashtag is:

#MemphisTacklesSavage

OUR GOAL:

By adding #MemphisTacklesSavage to tweets utilizing the college football community’s hashtag, we reach a wide audience – an audience millions strong and which is ordinarily “out of the loop” on matters of sexual abuse in the church. Additionally, through positive engagement, we educate and encourage Memphians to TEAM UP against predators in the church.

It is NOT our goal to annoy all of college football fandom by forcing the vileness of such sexual abuse upon our fellow American who are simply trying to enjoy their Saturday and reprieve their minds from the stresses of daily life. That’s why, tomorrow, we will be embracing the college football community and joining them, where they are and in their own lives, in the simple enjoyment of the game of football.

It is our goal to use #MemphisTacklesSavage to simply plant a seed. Your only job is to tweet about football exactly as you normally would, and add our hashtag at the end of the tweet. THAT’S IT!

Easy peazy lemon squeazy!

“It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil, 32 yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large branches;”

Mark 4:31-32

HERE’S THE GAME PLAN:

Here’s what to do during tonight’s Memphis vs. SMU Primetime football game:

  1. Watch the game.
  2. At any point which the Memphis Tigers football team (the home team) accomplishes something (such as a First Down, a field goal, or a touchdown), send out a congratulatory tweet.
    1. Begin the tweet with #GoTigersGo.
    2. End the tweet with #MemphisTacklesSavage.

*If you are as SMU fan and don’t want to cheer on the opposing team, but you want to join Memphis in tackling Andy Savage and other predator pastors:

  1. Watch the game.
  2. Tweet about the game as you usually would.
    1. Begin the tweet with #GoTigersGo AND #PonyUpDallas.
    2. End the tweet with #MemphisTacklesSavage.
  3. Do NOT add the #MemphisTacklesSavage to any tweet that rails the home team (Memphis Tigers) too harshly to protect the integrity and the purpose of our joint endeavor to TACKLE predators. Celebrate your accomplishments during the game with tweets, but please reserve #MemphisTacklesSavage for non-vitriolic tweets.

Here’s what to do during the ESPN College Gameday show today (8:00-11:00 am Central Time):

  1. Watch the show (even if it means simply having it on the TV in the background as you take care of other things).
  2. Tweet any thoughts that come up as you watch the show, but make certain to keep the subject matter football-focused.
    1. Begin each tweet using #CollegeGameday or #Gameday.
    2. End each tweet with #MemphisTacklesSavage.
    3. Assign all tweets to the following 2 Twitter Addresses:
      1. @CollegeGameday, and
      2. @MemphisFB.

Here’s what to do at any time today, all day long:

For Football Fans:

  1. Watch football just as you regularly would.
  2. Tweet about football as you normally would.
    1. Begin each tweet with #CollegeFootball.
    2. End each tweet with #MemphisTacklesSavage.

For everyone else:

  1. On Twitter, use tomorrow to spread the word about sexual abuse within the church by composing tweets which utilize college football phrases and terminology. I have compiled a list (SEE LIST BELOW).
    • Begin each tweet with #CollegeFootball.
    • End each tweet with #MemphisTacklesSavage.

Here are some helpful football terms you may wish to utilize:

  • Targeting
  • Targeting a defenseless player
  • Targeting with intent to do harm
  • Eject/ejected/eject(ed) from the game
  • Tackle/sack
  • Flag on the play
  • Impermissible benefits
  • Personal foul
  • Penalty
  • Illegal play
  • Ineligible player
  • Fair play
  • Infraction(s)
  • Hit on a defenseless player
  • Rules of the game
  • Offensive foul

Here’s what NOT to do:

Please do not bash the City of Memphis or those who reside herein. Furthermore, avoid negativity. Instead, employ positive, encouraging exhortation, etc. Love moves mountains, folks!

Let’s roll!

Thank you, brothers and sisters! It’s high time Savage and other INELIGIBLE PLAYERS – who have long committed PERSONAL FOULS and TARGET the defenseless – are EJECTED FROM THE GAME and ESCORTED OFF THE FIELD. Today, together as a TEAM, we will awaken the many and, in doing so, will bring this GOAL closer to fruition. We will have VICTORY!

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The Lay Artiste

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