Standing ovations are usually reserved for extraordinary deeds or achievements. Not so for a church which gave their pastor a standing ovation after he admitted to having sexually assaulted a teenager.

Pastor Andy Savage made the stunning confession at Highpoint Church in Memphis, Tennessee.

The incident happened when the Pastor was a college student on staff in a church in Texas while the victim was a high school senior.

Jules Woodson was 17 years old when she says she was sexually assaulted by Savage during a ride home from church.

Pastor Savage is really Savage. Pun intended.

Take it to the grave

Woodson claims that she notified a different pastor who asked her not to disclose the information. The culprit left the church a few weeks later.

The confession was brought to light in the wake of the ‘Me Too’ movement.

Chris Conlee, the lead pastor of the Memphis church where Savage now ministers, prayed for Savage and Woodson.

Woodson says that on the night of the incident, Savage got down on his knees and apologized, but told her to keep the incident a secret and take it to her grave.

Church sex scandals in Kenya

The church has recently been plagued with multiple cases of sexual abuse and Kenya has not been spared either. In December 2017 an Anglican Church of Kenya pastor was arrested for molesting a 7 year old girl.

In the same month another pastor in Kilifi was detained in connection with the rape of two women in a sisal plantation in Kilifi County.

For a while such scandals were predominantly in the Catholic Church but in recent years the tentacles of sexual abuse have spread to other denominations.