It was a stunning admission by a beloved pastor: “I committed adultery.”
“It was nearly 20 years ago. It continued far too long,” Rev. John Lowe, 65, told the church congregation in Warsaw, Indiana, during Sunday services.
“I didn’t make a misjudgment. I sinned. I need to say that, and you deserve to hear it,” Lowe continued.
The confession was captured on video by another attendee, which showed churchgoers give Lowe a standing ovation.
But then things took a darker turn, when a woman named Bobbi took to the stage. She said she was the woman involved, but the preacher was not telling the whole story.
“I was just 16 when you took my virginity on your office floor. Do you remember that? I know you do,” she said. “You did things to my teenage body that have never and should never have been done.”
She said she had been traumatized for 20 years by her experience at his hands. Then, the woman’s husband joined in and held up some jewelry.
“This was Bobbi’s purity’s ring which she wore while this man had sex with her and she felt ashamed all these years,” he said.
As she stormed out of the church, members of the congregation embraced her and shouted angrily at their pastor.
“If you did it, you need to admit it!” one congregant said.
The pastor faced the congregants and begged for their forgiveness once again.
“I ask you to forgive me. That’s all I can do,” he said.
Now he has stepped down, and the local prosecutor has launched a criminal investigation.
A statement posted by church leaders says, “We are hurting and broken for a woman who has lovingly attended and served in the church for many years.”