Robert Morris Resigns From Gateway Church Following Details Of Abuse
Pastor Robert Morris preaches at Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas. (Photo via Facebook)
Just days after allegations surfaced that he molested a 12-year-old girl in the 1980s, Pastor Robert Morris has resigned from his Dallas megachurch, Gateway Church.
In a statement released to media today, Gateway claimed it did not know the age of Morris’ victim and the length of her abuse.
But in a statement just released to The Roys Report (TRR), the victim, Cindy Clemishire, said she confronted Morris about the abuse in an email sent in 2005. Clemishire added that former Gateway elder Tom Lane responded to Clemishire’s email, “acknowledging that the sexual abuse began on December 25, 1982, when I was 12 years old.”
In its statement, Gateway’s board of elders said: “The elders’ prior understanding was that Morris’s extramarital relationship, which he had discussed many times throughout his ministry, was with ‘a young lady’ and not abuse of a 12-year-old child.”
The elders added that they did not know the victim’s age or the length of the alleged abuse.
“Even though it occurred many years before Gateway was established, as leaders of the church, we regret that we did not have the information that we now have.”
Gateway also stated that it has retained the international corporate law firm Haynes and Boone to investigate the allegations, so the church has a complete understanding of what happened.
However, Clemishire said in her statement, “My family and I have gone to leaders of very prominent churches and well-known ministries with this information, hoping that someone would hold (Morris) accountable and remove him from ministry leadership.”
In addition to the 2005 email correspondence with Morris and Lane, Clemishire said her lawyer sent a letter to Morris in 2007, hoping for reimbursement of thousands spent on counseling “as a result of this abuse.”
“His attorney acknowledged the days as well and then attempted to blame me for the abuse,” Clemishire said.
She added, “At the very least, both the Gateway pastor and at least one elder had specific notice that I was sexually abused beginning when I was 12-years-old. Gateway had the information but intentionally decided to embrace the false narrative Robert Morris wanted them to believe.”
Clemishire also took exception to the firm Gateway hired to conduct its investigation. Clemishire noted that Haynes & Boone specializes in “crisis management.” And on its website the firm says it aims “to mitigate financial and reputational loss and stabilize in a crisis situation.
“This does not appear to be an independent investigation and this deeply concerns me,” she said.
Clemishire also noted that her attorney, Boz Tchividjian, is urging the church to expand the scope of the investigation to Morris’ entire tenure at Gateway, not just 1982-1987, when Clemishire’s abuse allegedly happened.
“This is just the beginning,” Clemishire stated. “I wholeheartedly and sadly believe I am not the only victim.”
She also quoted former Gateway Pastor Bob Hamp, who wrote in an article published yesterday by TRR: “This scandal is not just about Robert Morris; it’s about larger system dynamics at play that both foster and protect ongoing predatory behavior. If we miss this larger picture, we miss the opportunity to protect the church and put a stop to an epidemic of abuse.”
Abuse uncovered
Last Friday, The Wartburg Watch published allegations by 54-year-old Oklahoma grandmother, Cindy Clemishire, that Morris had sexually molested her, beginning in 1982 when she was 12 years old. Clemishire told The Roys Report (TRR) that the abuse took place in Texas and Oklahoma and lasted four years.
Later the same day, Gateway’s elders sent a statement to staff, which was obtained by TRR. In it, Morris admitted that “in my early twenties, I was involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady in a home where I was staying.”
Morris claimed the behavior involved “petting and not intercourse.” He also claimed that he “confessed and repented of” his actions and stepped down from his ministry position for two years in March 1987. He added that he returned to the ministry with the blessing of the “young lady’s” father.
Morris has pastored Gateway Church, a megachurch with more than 100,000 active attendees, for more than 20 years. He also has a television program, which airs in over 190 countries, and a radio program, which airs in more than 6,800 cities, according to his website.
However, Clemishire told TRR the abuse began with inappropriate touching and escalated to rape by instrumentation. She also said her father did not “bless Morris returning to ministry.”
Morris resigns from flagship ARC church
Yesterday, Morris, who had served as an overseer of Church of the Highlands (COTH), the largest church in Alabama, resigned from that position.
Pastors Chris Hodges and Robert Morris appear in a 2023 Facebook post, announcing they’ll be speaking at each other’s churches.
COTH is the flagship church of the scandal-ridden Association of Related Churches (ARC) and has a lodge for restoring fallen pastors. In 2015, COTH Pastor Chris Hodges and Robert Morris spoke on “Restoring Fallen Pastors” at a Gateway Conference.
Morris was the first pastor to platform disgraced former Mars Hill Pastor Mark Driscoll after Driscoll abruptly resigned from Mars Hill Church in 2014. At the 2014 Gateway Conference, Morris told attendees that Driscoll had made some mistakes, but “most of what you read is not true.”
Morris also served as an overseer for Driscoll’s new church in Scottsdale, Arizona, The Trinity Church, for many years. And in August 2022, Morris and Gateway hosted a preaching conference with ARC and featured Driscoll as a speaker.
This piece is republished from The Roys Report.
Julie Roys is the founder and editor of The Roys Report.