Amy Butler Biography – Pastor Amy Butler Wiki
Amy Butler also known as Pastor Army or Rev. Dr. Amy Butler was the 7th Senior Minister at The Riverside Church in New York City. She was the first woman to hold the position of Senior Minister since the church opened in 1930. In July 2019 she didn’t renew her contract with allegations of buying a minister sex toys.
Amy Butler Age
Butler is 49 years old as of 2019.
Amy Butler Education
Amy attended Baylor University graduating in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in 1995. She also has a Bachelor of Theology from the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Ruschlikon, Switzerland, as well as a Doctor of Ministry degree from Wesley Theological Seminary.
Amy Butler Husband
Butler is divorced.
Amy Butler Children
Amy is a mother of three children.
Pastor Amy Butler
After Amy graduated from Wesley Theological Seminary she became a missionary in New Orleans, Louisiana through the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. She then served on the staff of Lindy’s Place,[3] a transitional home providing care for some of New Orleans’ most underprivileged members. She later became an Associate Pastor of Membership and Mission at St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans.
In 2003 she joined Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, DC as a Senior Minister becoming the first female Senior Minister. As a senior minister, she helped more than triple in membership. She held the position until 2014 when she accepted the Senior Minister position at The Riverside Church. Her work at Calvary was featured in Paul Nixon’s book ‘We Refused to Lead a Dying Church!: Churches That Came Back Against All Odds’.
Amy Butler Riverside Church
On June 8, 2014 Butler was hired as the seventh minister of The Riverside Church which is a massive Gothic cathedral in Morningside Heights known as a bastion of inter-denominational liberalism that was led during the late 1970s and ’80s by the late anti-war activist the Rev. William Sloane Coffin Jr. She signed a five-year contract which expired in June 2019.
The New York Post reported that she had hired a lawyer to help her try to score a $100,000-a-year raise. On July 7 during the Sunday service, interim Senior Minister Michael Livingston announced that Butler had left her position. Also, a statement on the church’s website read;
“Rev. Dr. Amy Butler and the Riverside Church Council are announcing that after five years of leadership, Pastor Amy will not be renewing her contract as Senior Minister. The Council thanks Pastor Amy for her leadership and asks all congregants to pray for her continued ministry as a leader in the progressive Christian world.”
Amy Butler Salary
Amy received an annual salary of $250,000, an $8,000-a-month housing allowance and more than $55,000 in yearly pension contributions
Amy Butler Sexual Harassment
The New York Times reported that Butler had filed a formal sexual abuse complaint within the church. In several blogs posts written during her tenure at Riverside, Butler wrote about incidents that left her “deeply uncomfortable” and called on women to speak up about their experiences, citing the #MeToo and #ChurchToo movements.
In 2017 #ChurchToo movement began after widespread allegations of sexual abuse within the church. Most clergymen were fired while some were forced to resign. At the time Butler filed a formal complaint with the church.
After investigations Dr. Ed Lowe who was a member of Riverside’s leadership was found to had engaged in inappropriate behavior, violating the church’s anti-harassment policy by a member of its leadership. In one instance, Lowe gave Butler a bottle of “Sweet Bitch” wine and a similarly branded T-shirt. He was also found guilty of sending suggestive texts and emails to other women in the church.
Amy Butler Sex Toys
The New York Post reported that on May 15, 2019 during a religious conference in Minneapolis Butler allegedly took two Riverside assistant ministers and a female congregant to a sex shop. At the store, she bought a $200 bunny-shaped blue vibrator called a Beaded Rabbit for one minister — a single mom of two who was celebrating her 40th birthday — as well as more pleasure gadgets for the congregant and herself.
It is alleged that Butler also offered to buy a toy for the second minister — a gay man in a committed relationship — but he declined.
It is alleged that at the register Butler quipped, “Is this a church business expense?” and “pulled out the church credit card” — although it’s unclear if she actually used it to make the purchase.
