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“Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 19:14 (KJV)

Daniel Savala — Chi Alpha Campus Ministries (Assemblies of God)

An itinerant minister platformed for decades through Assemblies of God Chi Alpha campus chapters despite a 2012 Alaska guilty plea for sexual abuse of a minor. In May 2026 he pleaded guilty in Texas to continuous trafficking of persons and received 30 years without parole.

Pentecostal (Assemblies of God) Pleaded guilty (2012; 2026)

Person
Daniel Savala
Role
Itinerant minister and 'spiritual mentor' (not a Chi Alpha employee)
Institution
Chi Alpha Campus Ministries (Assemblies of God) — access through its chapters
Location
Ketchikan, Alaska; Houston, Huntsville, College Station and Waco, Texas
Status
Pleaded guilty in Alaska (2012) and in Texas (2026)
Sentence
Alaska (2012): 2 years with all but 90 days suspended, probation, 15-year registration. Texas (2026): 30 years without parole

Case in brief

Tier 1 · Court-proven — the two guilty pleas

Daniel Savala was a youth minister at Clover Pass Community Church in Ketchikan, Alaska, in 1995–1997. Indicted there on 11 counts, he pleaded guilty in October 2012 to one count of third-degree sexual abuse of a minor; ten counts were dropped. He was sentenced to two years with all but 90 days suspended, three years’ probation, and 15 years of sex-offender registration — the short custodial term a product of the law as it stood when the crimes were committed.

What happened next is the institutional story of this file, and it is documented in the attributed reporting section below: after that conviction, Savala — known to students as ‘Papa Daniel’ — remained a welcome presence around Chi Alpha campus ministries in Texas for another decade. On September 14, 2023, a McLennan County grand jury indicted Savala and former Baylor Chi Alpha minister Christopher Hundl, each on one count of continuous trafficking of persons. On May 7, 2026, at the McLennan County Courthouse, Savala pleaded guilty to that count and was sentenced to 30 years in prison without the possibility of parole. District Attorney Josh Tetens: ‘I don’t expect he will ever see the light of day again.’

Charged is not convicted. Christopher Hundl, indicted alongside Savala, has entered no plea and been convicted of nothing that this archive could verify as of October 25, 2026; his trial was set for June 22, 2026, and no outcome was found in reporting of record. He is presumed innocent. A separate Harris County charge against Savala (continuous sexual abuse of a child) was reported as still facing him at his May 2026 plea; no disposition of it is verified here.

The institutions

Chi Alpha Campus Ministries, the Assemblies of God’s campus-ministry network, and the Assemblies of God itself. Savala was not a Chi Alpha employee and held no verified credential; his access ran through chapter leaders who invited and platformed him — which is precisely why the denominational systems that existed for credentialed ministers never engaged him. Baylor University suspended its Chi Alpha chapter’s charter after Hundl and Savala came under investigation (Hundl was not a Baylor employee and resigned). The Assemblies of God, quoted on the Texas plea in May 2026, said it ‘was pleased to hear of Savala’s conviction’ and ‘stands in strong opposition to the teachings and practices he followed.’

The record

Tier 1 · Court-proven

Item Record
Alaska indictment 11 counts (Ketchikan)
Alaska plea October 2012 — one count of third-degree sexual abuse of a minor; 10 counts dropped
Alaska sentence 2 years, all but 90 days suspended; 3 years’ probation; 15-year registration
Texas indictment September 14, 2023 — one count of continuous trafficking of persons (Tex. Penal Code §20A.03), enhanced by the 2012 conviction
Texas plea May 7, 2026 — guilty, McLennan County
Texas sentence 30 years without the possibility of parole

Status

Sentenced in Texas to 30 years without parole (May 2026); transfer to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice was reported at the plea. The Harris County charge noted above is carried as open — no disposition is verified in this build.

Attributed allegations — not court findings

Tier 2 · Attributed allegations

The account of Savala’s post-2012 access is reporting, not adjudication: MinistryWatch reported he later allegedly served with five Chi Alpha chapters (a figure tracing to whistleblower accounts and a law-firm letter); The Roys Report reported frequent attendance at the Texas A&M and Sam Houston State chapters; Christianity Today reported that after the 2012 conviction, Chi Alpha leaders continued to take student groups to Savala’s Houston home, and that leaders had earlier written to the Alaska judge on his behalf. NBC News’s 2025 investigation reported that the denomination in 2018 directed Chi Alpha leaders to stay away from Savala after a report about him. Civil suits against Assemblies of God bodies alleging negligence were reported as pending in 2026; civil allegations are not findings.

Records requested & responses

This archive has not filed records requests in this case. The file rests on the published sources below and will be updated if court or institutional records are obtained, or if that changes.

Sources

Filed October 25, 2026, from the published sources below. Minor victims are never named or identified in this file.

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