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Amy violette

Rev. Amy Violette, M.Div., B.A. is a pastor, professor, entrepreneur, author, speaker, and four time winner of Belmont University’s Top 100 Alumni Entrepreneurship Award. She is the Founding Pastor of Santa Fe Community Church; CEO & Fashion Designer of AMY VIOLETTE & CO; and Founder & Executive Producer of 3 HORSE PRODUCTIONS. Violette is a graduate of Baylor University (M.Div. - Ministry Leadership) and Belmont University (B.A. - Religious Studies). She was ordained to the Gospel Ministry by First Baptist Church in Decatur, Georgia. Violette is the youngest person in history to be asked to join the prestigious Academy of Homiletics. She has been influenced by the lives and writings of Dr. Fred Craddock, Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor, Dr. Joel C. Gregory, Dr. Hulitt Gloer, Anne Lamott, and O. Henry. Her essay on meeting her hero, Dr. Fred Craddock, was most recently published in What’s Right With Preaching Today? The Enduring Influence of Fred B. Craddock by Cascade Press.

Amy is a former NCAA Division 1 track-and-field athlete, Tennessee native, and music industry veteran. She began writing songs professionally for ASCAP when she was 21 years old. She often describes sermon writing as one very long song. Her sermon style follows the Inductive Method like her mentor Dr. Fred Craddock. She was named Professor of Choice by the students at Belmont University. She has been featured in COWGIRL MAGAZINE, NEW MEXICO MAGAZINE, THE SANTA FE REPORTER, SANTA FEAN MAGAZINE, and the BAPTIST NEWS GLOBAL.

In 2011, life threw her a curveball when she found out she was a victim of a video voyeurism crime by a pastor. She was in seminary, married, and on a clear track to advancement within the evangelical church movement. A trajectory that was already “edgy” and “risky” and had “to be perfectly executed” considering she was a Baptist woman called to ministry. She grew up a Southern Baptist in the south and the Baptist Faith and Message document states “women are not called to preach or lead men. Their place is in the home.” If a church or person went against that doctrine they would be disfellowshipped from the Southern Baptist forever. However, in 2008, a famous worship pastor prophesied over Amy at a baptist summer camp that she would be, “The next Beth Moore, on the mainstage, but with a M.DIV.” Amy describes the years from 2011-2015 as the hardest chapters of her life because everything crumbled.

She pressed charges and worked with the F.B.I. and District Attorney for over a year. In 2012, she testified in court in Olive Branch, Mississippi along with 12 other brave victims. At the time, the pastor was found guilty of 13 counts of video voyeurism and sentenced to 10 years in federal prison. In 2015, the ruling was overturned because it couldn’t be proven without a shadow of a doubt the exact time and date the videos were transferred from his former computer to his new computer. It was this event and the events following that led her to spend the next decade in the desert of New Mexico where she found healing with a group of Benedictine Monks. Her blog, AMY VIOLETTE BUTLER: A Blog About Faith, which chronicled her journey as a victim of clergy sexual assault won the Wordpress Blog of the Day twice. It had over 85,000 readers in 75 countries before she shut it down.

In 2016, she began a second career working in television and film. To date she has worked on more than 35 productions. Her most recent being: Apple TV’s THE LOST BUS with Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera. A few of her favorite projects include: NETFLIX's GODLESS with Michelle Dockery; ABC/CMT's NASHVILLE with Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere; AMC’s DARK WINDS with Jessica Matten and Zahn McClarnon; NIGHT OF THE COOTERS by George R.R. Martin; CW’S VAMPIRE DIARIES, AND NEWS OF THE WORLD with Tom Hanks. In 2022, she made her theatrical stage debut playing Manuelita in Georges Bizet's CARMEN at the Santa Fe Opera. Her nine stage performances were seen by over 20,000 people. In 2024, she audition for the Dean of The Juilliard School in New York City. She hopes to reprise her role as Manuelita in CARMEN for the 2025-2026 season at The Met.

Her philanthropic interests include The Española Humane, The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, The Horse Shelter, The Santa Fe Opera, Human Rights Campaign, Ghost Ranch Education & Retreat Center, Santa Fe International Film Festival, and Monastery of Christ in the Desert. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico with her horses and dogs.