Chi Alpha Sexual Abuse Survivors Share Stories, Expose Abuse on Website

Despite being threatened with a lawsuit if he fails to remove certain content, the website creator plans to continue offering the forum for support and accountability.

In response to the sexual abuse scandals connected with Chi Alpha (XA) World Fellowship, survivors are sharing their stories on a newly created website designed to give voice to those impacted.

“XA Lions Den forum aims to bring comfort, uncovering, and accountability for all those abused within Chi Alpha,” website creator Ronald Bloomingkemper told MinistryWatch.

After speaking to Boz Tchividjian, a sexual abuse attorney that works on church cases, Bloomingkemper decided to set up the forum to give survivors of sexual and spiritual abuse a place to commune.

Since May, the website has had over 2 million page views and received “hundreds of stories from victims and advocates exposing the abuse that has spanned over 25 years,” he said.

Chi Alpha World Fellowship, a network of Christian ministries sponsored by the Assemblies of God has a presence on more than 300 college campuses. It has been the subject of scrutiny since several leaders associated with the ministry have been implicated in sexual abuse scandals.

At least two leaders associated with Chi Alpha have been arrested in recent months for sexual abuse.

In May, the former leader of the Chi Alpha chapter at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, Christopher Hundl, was arrested for allegedly encouraging two boys under the age of 15 to perform sexual acts in a sauna. The improper sexual activity allegedly happened in a sauna at Hundl’s home in Waco and at the Houston home of registered sex offender Daniel Savala.

Hundl told police he had considered Savala a “spiritual mentor” since he was in college, and that Savala considered masturbation a “spiritual activity.”

Savala pleaded guilty to sexual abuse in 2012 in Alaska, but later allegedly served with five Chi Alpha Ministries college chapters. He was arrested in June by the U.S. Marshals Service Lone Star Task Force.

In May, Dallas-area law firm Scheef & Stone sent a letter on behalf of sexual abuse victims to several universities and university systems, asking them to limit the activity of Chi Alpha Ministries on their campuses. The letter asserted that Savala, in his over 30 years of association with Chi Alpha, groomed and sexually abused college-age men.

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The law firm addressed the Texas State University System, the University of Houston System, Rice University,  the University of Texas System, and the Texas A&M University System—where it claimed Savala is still active—asking them to take action “before more people get hurt.”

Bloomingkemper told MinistryWatch he met and was mentored by Savala, but rejected Savala’s invitation to go to his home so they could masturbate together. When he declined, Bloomingkemper said Savala “started to destroy [his] name and reputation.”

After he later learned of Savala’s conviction for sexual abuse of a minor, Bloomingkemper said he tried to bring his concerns to leadership of the Assemblies of God, but they did not take any action regarding Savala.

While most of the website’s content relates to Savala, several posts also raise questions about Savala’s relationship with North Central Assemblies of God Church in Houston. There are also entries questioning the actions of Luke Emerson, a leader at North Central.

Bloomingkemper has received two “cease and desist” letters—one from Emerson’s attorney and one from an attorney representing the church.

Emerson accused Bloomingkemper of defamation and requested he remove all posts related to Emerson.

North Central’s letter says it generally supports the purpose of the XA Lions Den website as a safe place for survivors, but pointed to several posts that it claims are false and defamatory. The church requested that Bloomingkemper remove the posts and publish a retraction.

Both letters threatened a lawsuit against Bloomingkemper if he did not comply.

Through his attorney at Scheef & Stone, Bloomingkemper rejected the letters’ demands. He claims to be immune from suit under the Communications Decency Act, often referred to as Section 230, which states “[n]o provider or user or an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”

Bloomingkemper claims to be the provider, not the creator, of  “statements of opinion expressed by the site’s anonymous users,”  and is thus not “legally responsible for any of the content [North Central] identifies in [its] demand letter.” His lawyer wrote that the cease and desist letter from North Central expressed an “egregious misunderstanding of the law.”

The website remains active. “Gathering stories is phase one,” Bloomingkemper wrote of the plan. “We know this is a difficult time for everyone, but the end goal is to see repentance, reconciliation, and a true revival come to the body of Christ.”