$500,000 Jury Verdict for Sexual Abuse Survivor Preyed Upon by Columbus Pastor

Lequita Jackson first approached Lewis Clemons, a Columbus pastor leading Faith Unlimited Ministries and Kingdom Awareness Ministries, because she was looking for help after another church official had made inappropriate advances toward her. Instead of protection, she found a second predator. Clemons initiated a sexual relationship with Jackson when she was 15 and continued it for roughly eight years, until she was 23.

The abuse unfolded across a range of locations: motel rooms, cars, the church office, the pulpit, and a bedroom in a family member's home. To draw women in, Clemons employed a practice he called 'body anointing,' instructing congregants to remove clothing so he could apply oil while preaching, telling them it would 'seal in the holy spirit.' When Jackson tried to end the relationship, Clemons re-initiated contact through coercion, persuasion, and false claims that the Bible justified his conduct.

Jackson filed suit in June 2017. Clemons gave a deposition in 2019, denying that 'body anointing' involved sexual conduct. Before trial he was offered a settlement that would have required only a recorded apology acknowledging the abuse, with no financial payment. He rejected it.

At trial, three additional women testified about similar conduct by Clemons. His decision to proceed without legal representation left him to cross-examine witnesses himself, during which he characterized the victims' accounts as fabricated. Judge Ron Mullins presided over the proceeding in Muscogee County Superior Court.

The jury returned a $500,000 verdict for Jackson. Jeb Butler, who represented Jackson throughout, acknowledged publicly that collection could prove difficult given the defendant's apparent financial circumstances, but the verdict formally establishes the jury's finding on the record.