Transcript Comparison for the Ben Ferguson Show with Andy Savage WREC 600AM

Live on radio Thursday, January 11, 2018 4:00pm CST – fair use for analysis & critique
Two sound files published on web and linked by Highpoint Church Friday, January 12, 2018
*This transcript comparison does not include breaks and the host’s lead-in/lead-out from
breaks unless otherwise noted.

BF = Ben Ferguson, host of the Ben Ferguson Show, a friend of Andy Savage
AS = Andy Savage, teaching pastor of Highpoint Church, Memphis, TN, who while Youth Pastor
at Woodlands Parkway Baptist Church in the Woodlands, TX in 1997, who has admitted to a
sexual ‘incident’ with a 17-year old girl in his care and, for being untruthful about it afterwards.

FIRST FILE. Published Version is identical to Live Version for the first 10:37
10:29 Last words where transcripts match:

AS: “Reiterated to her the partial confession”

BF: “This is how many hours after the …
AS: “Same day”
BF: “So you’re talking the next day after this happened, you’re meeting with the mom of
Jules”
AS: “Yeah”
10:39 Transcript of the Live Version that was edited OUT of the Published Version (0:20)
BF: “All right, welcome back, it is the Ben Ferguson Show, um,
Andy Savage, Highpoint Church, who is on with me today, um, and
we are talking about, um, this issue, where a young girl in
Texas, 17 at the time, um, has come out and said that 1) the
church didn’t handle this correctly... ”

10:39 Continues after edit where transcripts match again

BF: “… um, 2) that you guys had an inappropriate relationship, um, it is brought up the
bigger issue here with churches and leadership and everything else, Andy is here telling
um…”
SECOND FILE
Published Version is identical to Live Version for first 15:45*
15:45 Last words where transcripts match:
BF: “…people believe it was still a crime. That, y’know, you were a pastor. Uh, one said
he is disqualified from ministry. Um, should you quit? Should you resign? Uh, why are
you still in the ministry? Are you gonna leave the ministry because of all this?”

Transcript of the Live Version that was edited OUT (1:23)

AS: “Um, uh, Ben, I did resign, um, when this happened. Twenty
years ago, I resigned my position, I stepped away from ministry
completely, for a season, um, and I engaged a redemptive process
in my life. Uh, I maintained relationships, uh, with key pastors
and counselors in my life, I maintained relationships with, uh,
transparency, and uh, openness with people, uh, that uh, were
trustworthy leaders in my life, uh, and I have rebuilt a life
where I have changed, um, to the degree that the lessons I
learned through this experience, um, allow me to help people in a
way, um, that I-I never would have any other-other way.”
BF: “A lot of people are saying the only reason why you’ve been
able to help people, and again, I say this bluntly, because I
think it’s important, because you didn’t fully disclose this to
the membership at Germantown [Baptist Church] when you were
there, the membership at Highpoint [Church] when you were there.
That this has been somewhat omitted from your ministry. Is that,
is that a fair, way to put it, because a lot of people found out
about this, that there was even an incident in Texas, because of
a newspaper article, or they came to church on Sunday morning.”
AS: “I have, uh, over the years, been very willing to share, um
...”

16:05 Continues after edit where transcripts match again for just 10 seconds
AS: “… elements of this story, uh, through my sermons, through my teaching, uh, and,
in more detail with specific individuals um, uh, as …”
16:15 Transcript of the Live Version that was edited OUT (2:05)
AS: “As opportunity would, uh, would deem helpful. Um, uh, but,
but no, I did not, uh, broadcast this information to the entire
congregation.”
BF: “Are you sorry for that, to, to the, to – and I say this,
forget everybody else, I’m talking about the people at the
church, are you sorry that you didn’t be more transparent? Do you
feel like you misled them by, by not broadcasting this, as part
of your story?”
AS: “No, I believe I was honest and transparent with the
leadership at Highpoint, um, and I think that was, uh, the right
place for that information to exist.”
BF: “Let’s talk about the-the real issue, and that is, there are
um, people that have started petitions to get you to force you
out, to resign. Um, there are people that think that honestly you
should be dead, uh, milder than that, there are people think you
should be in jail. Um, if I was sitting in, y’know, in the chair
you’re in right now, I think there’s a large part of me that
would think, ‘Why don’t I just resign, and just go away?’ Um have
you thought about resigning in the last week since all this
became so public, where it’s on the front pages of literally
every newspaper in the country?”
AS: “Yes. On several occasions in the last few days, I have
wanted to quit.”
BF: ‘Have you offered your resignation?”
AS: “I did.”
BF: “When?”
AS: “On, uh, Sunday [January 7, 2018], I offered to Chris
[Conlee] that I would resign, if that was in the best interest of
our church”
BF: “What did he say to you then? I mean, because most people
would think that it was a ‘no brainer’ um, you have all this
turmoil, and you’re resigning. Yes, I’ll take that resignation
and run with it.”
AS: “That would certainly be the easy thing to do. I cannot speak
for him. I can speak about him. Uh, Chris [Conlee] and the
leadership at our church, uh, believe, uh, what we have said,
since we started the church, we believe in a perfect place for
imperfect people. Um, we believe, that, um...”

16:15 Continues after edit where transcripts match for the last 7:04.
AS: “… uh, some of our greatest sins and failures, um, all of our greatest sins and
failures, can be overcome...”