A Warsaw, Indiana, pastor who drew a standing ovation from his congregation after telling them he was stepping down because he committed adultery with one person at least two decades ago drew their wrath minutes later after a woman tearfully alleged she was only 16 when the pastor took her virginity on his office floor while she sported a purity ring.

Pastor John Lowe II told his congregation at New Life Christian Church and World Outreach on Sunday that he needed to make the confession because it was the “biblical” thing to do, according to a Facebook Live broadcast shared by Maisey Cook.

“I committed adultery. It was nearly 20 years ago. It continued far too long. It involved one person, and there have been no other nor any other situations of unbecoming conduct for the last 20 years. I will not use the Bible to defend, deflect, protect my past sin. I have no defense. I committed adultery,” Lowe said without sharing any specifics.



“I say it plainly. I didn’t have an issue. I didn’t have an affair. I didn’t make a misjudgment. I sinned. I need to say that, and you deserve to hear it,” he continued.

Lowe, who has been in full-time ministry for more than 37 years, confessed that he had no good reason for waiting for as long as he did to tell the congregation. He painted himself as a hypocrite who applied discipline to others for sexual failure while hiding his own.

He asked the church for their forgiveness and announced that he would step aside and face discipline from the church. “In accordance with our church bylaws, I’m stepping aside, stepping down from ministry responsibilities,” he said to applause as he departed from the pulpit.

Soon after he stepped down from the pulpit, a woman and her husband went to the pulpit to address the congregation. The woman said that what Lowe did was not just adultery but a crime because she was only 16 when he took her virginity in his office 27 years ago.

While the age of consent in Indiana is 16, a person who is at least the age of 18 in a position of supervision or trust that engages in any sexual activity with a child over the age of 16 but under the age of 18 commits child seduction, according to state law. It comes with a maximum penalty of 1.5 years in prison; and up to a $10,000 fine.

Prosecution for this crime must begin before the victim reaches 31. “For 27 years, I lived in a prison. It was not 20 years. I lived in a prison of lies and shame, lied to protect the Lowe family,” the woman said. “For years, I thought I was a horrible person having suicidal thoughts, not realizing what had been truly done to me.” FULL REPORT