By Dan Spalding
InkFreeNews

WARSAW – It did not take long for Jessi Kline to learn about the church scandal in Warsaw, even though she lives in Los Angeles.

The rapid downfall of Pastor John Lowe II and his scandalous revelations spread like a wildfire through the community and then ricocheted across the country through news reports and social media.

Lowe, the pastor and founder of New Life Christian Church and World Outreach in Warsaw, stood on the pulpit Sunday, May 22, and admitted to the congregation to “adultery”, which began nearly 20 years ago. He made the disclosure at the end of the service and was met with applause as many congregants gathered around him and prayed.

But he was then immediately confronted by the victim and her husband, who painted a much darker picture, saying Lowe took her virginity at the age of 16 on an office floor and then worked to keep it quiet for 27 years. The sexual interactions continued for years.

All of that was captured on video.

Kline, whose family attended New LIfe and were close friends with the Lowe family, learned of the scandal Sunday while at her apartment after a longtime friend who had also attended the church alerted her.

She said she was stunned when she first watched the video and then immediately began writing all the emotions she was feeling: anger, fear, and relief.

She said she felt emboldened by her old friend’s public declaration to talk about the abuse she encountered by one of Lowe’s children, Jeremiah Lowe, years ago.

She posted her allegations against Jeremiah Lowe and the church a day later on her Facebook page.

In a long post, she discloses how Jeremiah (known as Jeremy) molested her while babysitting in the early 2000s and how the church ignored her concerns.

“I have righteous anger and I want everyone to know what happened,” Kline said. “I want justice and to make it safe for others to come forward.”

“I never thought this would happen. I never thought I’d get this chance. I’m grateful (she) did this,” she said.

Kline said the incident happened when Jeremiah Lowe was babysitting her and her brother in their home and that they were hanging out in the basement when Jeremiah Lowe sent her brother upstairs.

He was ten years older than her. She said she looked up to him and considered him a family friend.

Now 28, she said she believes many of the details remained repressed from her memory but remembers them kissing and touching each other. At some point, he asked her to get on top of him while he was laying down.

“He asked me to get on top of him, close my eyes and let him do the rest,” she said in a phone interview earlier this week.

Afterward, she said he told her to keep quiet and that the pastor would be upset if she talked about it.

She and her family talked with the police about the incident, but they declined to pursue charges due to the lack of details.

Years later, when she began asking questions and eventually told John Lowe and his wife, Debbie, about their son’s actions shortly before her 13th birthday, she was accused of lying. 

After talking about the incident in 2006 with the Lowes, she said they wanted to handle the issue internally with a Biblical approach.

She recalls being told that “if we went to anyone else, we would not be following God, which would have eternal consequences. So much of it is about that. ‘If you do this you will go to hell.’ ”

But at the same time, church officials spoke of getting therapy and mediation. None of that transpired and the family left the church a few months later in 2007.

“They totally dragged their feet and then dragged my family’s name through the mud and we were outcasts,” Kline said.

She said she felt emotionally and spiritually abused by the church and eventually sought counseling.

While the family considered filing a civil suit, Kline said they ultimately chose not to, in part because she “just wanted it to be over.”

She and her family left the church a few months after coming forward.

Kline and her mother moved to California in 2012 after she graduated high school. She graduated from Fuller Theological Seminary in 2019 with a Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy.

“My trauma from New Life was definitely a part of my story that led to me wanting to be a therapist and be a safe person for others in an unsafe world,” she said.

While Jeremiah Lowe is not part of the church leadership, she blames the church for keeping it quiet.

“They all participated, whether by active slander or silent complicity,” Kline wrote in her Facebook post.

Her story is one of several allegations to surface after last week’s revelations. She and others are forming a list of those traumatized.

Jeremiah Lowe has been in and out of trouble and was recently convicted for home improvement fraud. Kline said she tagged Jeremiah Lowe in her post and that he then deleted his profile.

John Lowe has since resigned from New Life.

Law enforcement was notified about allegations against John Lowe a few weeks ago. The status of the investigation and exactly what he could be charged with remains unclear. Calls for John Lowe to be prosecuted have been growing. A change.org petition calling for his prosecution has generated more than 1,500 names.

Kline also disputes the claim by the church made in a statement issued Monday, May 23, that the church invited the victim’s family to church last week.

Kline said she had permission from the family to make the clarification. She said the claim is a “flat-out lie.”

“It needs to stop. They need to take responsibility,” Kline said. “They are lying to the community the same way they’ve been lying for so long.”

Kline said she’d like to see both John and Jeremiah prosecuted and believes there are other victims who have been traumatized through their connection to the church.

After Sunday’s service, the church shut down all of its social media and could not be reached for comment.

John Lowe and Jeremiah Lowe also deleted their Facebook profiles earlier this week.