The pastors who directed students towards Savala’s residence were part of Chi Alpha, a campus Christian ministry. Chi Alpha attracts students for spiritual fellowship through Bible studies and invigorating worship, and for more than 30 years, Savala was a significant figure within it. Many Chi Alpha leaders regarded him as a spiritual guide who could unravel life’s greatest enigmas.

Followers referred to Savala with reverence, using titles like “Papa Daniel” and “the holiest man alive.” He directed students in constructing the backyard sauna, which became the setting for his alleged misconduct. Immersed in his ideology, his devotees often didn’t recognize their victimhood until much later. Some students whom Savala exploited went on to become pastors themselves, continuing the cycle by bringing their own students to his influential yet deceptive environment.

The reward for that minister’s devotion: Like Savala, he now faces the possibility of life in prison.

Savala’s ministry collapsed in early 2023 when several men came forward, some anonymously, to accuse him and some of his protégés of sexual abuse and exploitation, triggering a wave of criminal charges, lawsuits and pastor dismissals. Savala was arrested, and at least six Chi Alpha pastors, leaders and students who studied under him were charged with sexual abuse.

The revelations rocked Chi Alpha and the Pentecostal denomination that runs it, the Assemblies of God, which has nearly 3 million members at 13,000 churches across the U.S. As Savala, 69, awaits trial in Waco, Texas, Assemblies of God leaders have sought to distance themselves from the lay minister, repeatedly asserting that Savala was not employed by Chi Alpha and has never been credentialed to preach in the denomination.

But an NBC News investigation, based on interviews and a review of emails, court records, photographs and social media posts, shows that Savala was deeply entrenched in Chi Alpha, with some leaders crediting him for the ministry’s rapid growth in recent decades. The reporting reveals that Assemblies of God leaders — all the way up to the denomination’s national superintendent — were warned repeatedly about Savala’s troubling history but did not cut off his influence. These failures allowed more children and young men to be abused, the reporting shows.

It wasn’t the first time officials with the Assemblies of God, the world’s largest Pentecostal denomination, have been accused of mishandling sex abuse allegations. In May, an NBC News investigation revealed how church leaders dismissed repeated abuse allegations against a charismatic children’s pastor named Joe Campbell in the 1980s, allowing him to remain in ministry for years as more alleged victims came forward.

Do you have a story to share about the Assemblies of God’s handling of sex abuse allegations? Email reporter Mike Hixenbaugh.

Chi Alpha had a clear opportunity to break ties with Savala in 2012, when authorities in Alaska charged him with sexually abusing boys as a youth minister in the 1990s. Instead, ministry leaders in Texas rallied to his defense, sending a staff member to Alaska to pay his bail and — after Savala pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of a minor — organizing a letter-writing campaign to ask the judge for leniency. After a stint in jail, Savala went right back to hosting Chi Alpha students at his home in Houston.

In the decade that followed, at least half a dozen people contacted Assemblies of God officials in Texas and at the denomination’s national headquarters in Springfield, Missouri, alerting them that Chi Alpha was exposing students to a sex offender. These whistleblowers wrote emails, made phone calls and spoke up at internal meetings. Again and again, they were dismissed or ignored, NBC News found.

“Hiddenness is the ally of abuse,” said Anthony Scoma, a pastor who resigned an Assemblies of God leadership position in Texas after he said senior denomination officials failed to act on his warnings about Savala in 2023. “The Bible talks about shining light into dark places. But leadership in the Assemblies of God says, ‘Oh, don’t shine light into our dark places.’”

Rather than reckon with how church leaders welcomed a sex offender into the fold, Savala’s accusers say the Assemblies of God has taken a defensive stance, refusing to release an internal investigation and relying on nondisclosure agreements to keep the story from spreading.

Critics, including several current and former Assemblies of God pastors, say this response exposes a church leadership culture that’s more concerned with avoiding legal liability than protecting the vulnerable. They’re calling on the Assemblies of God to commission an independent review of its handling of sex abuse allegations nationwide to ensure nothing like this happens again.

In a statement to NBC News, the Assemblies of God said it directed Chi Alpha leaders to stay away from Savala after receiving a report about him in 2018. Five years later, after receiving “reports of sexual abuse,” the denomination said it “took appropriate actions,” leading to the dismissal of more than a half dozen ministers with ties to Savala.

“We have been heartbroken to hear allegations related to Daniel Savala and the pain his reported actions caused,” the statement said. “The Assemblies of God stands in strong opposition to the teachings and practices he followed.”

Denomination leaders declined interview requests and did not answer detailed questions.

Savala has not entered a plea on his charges in Texas, and he and his lawyers did not respond to requests for comment. But in April 2023, as the accusations mounted, he recorded the confession in his living room; it’s unclear what led him to do so. The grainy homemade video later circulated among Savala’s accusers and was shared with NBC News.

Contemplating how he managed to conceal his misdeeds for so long, Savala’s eyes shift momentarily, then his gaze returns to the camera.

“I had them all very well under my spell.”