New life church conway ar scandal

In this screenshot from a Facebook Live video of the church service by Maisey Cook, a woman takes the stage at New Life Christian Church and World Outreach in Warsaw, Ind. with her husband to tell her story of how Pastor John Lowe II had sex with her she was 16 years old. Screenshot by NPR hide caption

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Screenshot by NPR

Pastor John Lowe II admitted a grave sin in an address to his church on Sunday, saying he committed adultery and asking for their forgiveness. But then things took a sudden and dramatic turn: A woman stepped forward to say Lowe had sex with her when she was only 16.

Lowe's initial remarks at New Life Christian Church and World Outreach in Warsaw, Ind., had seemed to satisfy the congregation. He received a standing ovation after he confessed, calling for privacy and healing and saying he was stepping down.

But as Lowe set the microphone down, a woman and her husband approached the stage and picked the mic back up.

'You are not the victim here,' woman tells pastor

The woman told her own story, of a teenager whom the pastor repeatedly sexually victimized, and of a sexual relationship that extended into her 20s.

"I lived in a prison of lies and shame" for 27 years, she said.

"I was just 16 when you took my virginity on your office floor," the woman told Lowe, who stood at the front of the pews.

"You are not the victim here," she said, saying he had not admitted the full truth of what he had done.

She added: "You did things to my teenage body that had never and should have never been done."

For years, the woman said, she had wanted to speak about the issue, but people were either too afraid or wanted to cover up the incident.

"This church has been built on lies, but no more," the woman said. "The lies need to stop."

Video of the interaction quickly went viral

The interaction was captured on video and shared to Facebook by a churchgoer who said, "This is the truth." She added, "This is what the church stopped streaming for their live video."

Lowe had depicted his actions as an isolated incident, and one that he repented 20 years ago. "It was nearly 20 years ago. It continued far too long," he said.

But the woman and her husband cast it in a different light.

"My wife — it's not just adultery," her husband told the congregation. "It's another level when it's a teenager. And I will not let this man talk about my wife like that. It happened for nine years. When she was 15, 16, the sexual grooming started. It lasted until she met me and we started dating. This is the truth."

She recently decided to come forward, the woman said, after her brother asked her about something he had seen as a teenager that long bothered him: the sight of "his pastor in bed with his younger sister, a T-shirt and underwear on."

Lowe and the church responded to the allegations

Church members immediately asked Lowe to come back to the microphone to answer the accusations. He reiterated, "I told you I committed adultery."

"Did you do it?" a man asked.

"Yes," Lowe said.

"You didn't tell them she was 14 years old!" a woman yelled.

Lowe responded by clarifying that the woman had been 16 at the time.

The New Life church says Lowe officially resigned on Monday. In a statement, it added, "In the wake of what has now been revealed, we are hurting and broken for a woman who has lovingly attended and served in the church for many years, as well as for her husband and family."

The revelations have drawn the notice of prosecutors. The Kosciusko County prosecutor's office has "confirmed it was investigating the claims," local TV news WANE reports.

When contacted by NPR, a representative said on Tuesday that the prosecuting attorney, Daniel Hampton, "is not permitted to disseminate any information regarding alleged misconduct," citing Indiana's rules of court.

CABOT, Ark. – Parents who claim their son was abused at a local daycare are speaking out and say charges against the employee are not enough.        

The alleged incident took place nearly two months ago at the Little Life Academy in Cabot, which is owned by New Life Church. Tonight, the employee accused in the case, Triana Biggers, is facing two charges: Battery and Endangering the Welfare of a Minor in the Second Degree.

Justin and Tarina Pleasants said they discovered bruises on their 4-year-old son’s arm in May after bringing him home from daycare.

“The one person we thought [son’s name] could trust the most of anybody there ended up being the person who hurt him,” said Tarina Pleasants.

Bigger’s lawyer sent a statement in response saying,

“The James Law Firm has been hired to represent Ms. Biggers against the allegations stemming from her employment at Little Life Academy.

Ms. Biggers is aware of the basic allegations but denies she did anything wrong.  Ms. Biggers worked as Assistant Director for 3 years without a complaint.  

While Ms. Biggers did supervise the minor on the day in question, she was unaware of any injury to the child.  

In addition, Ms. Biggers met with the parent of the child who was satisfied with her explanation of the day’s events and even hugged Ms. Biggers after the meeting.

We will fight these allegations aggressively.”

The Pleasants said they are concerned with more than just Biggers, though.

“Someone that would attempt to cover up abuse should not be working with children,” said Justin Pleasants.

The parents claim the director of the daycare tried to cover up and downplay the situation, offering to work with Biggers on her behavior and only showing clips of the footage of the alleged abuse.

“When we asked for more footage we were hit with, ‘We can’t share anything with you everything’s been handled,’” said Justin.

Justin said that they were informed that everything had been handed over to the Department of Human Services and the Child Abuse Hotline and that they would conduct an investigation.

Tarina also said she was met with a cease and desist from New Life’s Human Resources Director.

KARK reached out to the church and daycare’s attorney numerous times, as well as the HR Director, for comment but did not hear back.

The Pleasants said they are left with few answers from the church or the daycare…with the charges against Biggers the only thing giving them peace of mind.

They are pushing to get more video footage from other days prior to this incident and said they are certain this isn’t the first time it happened, this was just the first time they found bruising.

Meanwhile, Biggersis out on bond and is awaiting her court date on September 12.