5 Weeks After Resigning From Gateway, James And Bridgette Morris Start A New Church
Five weeks after resigning their pastoral positions at Gateway Church, James and Bridgette Morris, the son and daughter-in-law of disgraced megachurch pastor Robert Morris, announced they’re starting a new church and seeking supporters.
This past weekend, James and Bridgette Morris announced their dream to be pastors of a “vibrant church passionate about the presence of God and filled with people who love God and love people” at their website.
James Morris — along with Gateway elders Kevin Grove, Steve Dulin and Gayland Lawshe — took a voluntary temporary leave of absence from the Dallas megachurch the end of June. A month later, James and Bridgette Morris resigned.
Robert Morris founded Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, in 2000. He resigned this past June, after bombshell allegations surfaced that he sexually abused Cindy Clemishire, a 54-year-old grandmother from Oklahoma, beginning in 1982, when she was 12.
Clemishire told The Roys Report she was 17 years old when she told her parents of the years of abuse that had escalated from inappropriate touching to rape by instrumentation.
Under his father’s leadership, James served as the church’s associate senior pastor and was expected to assume the top position in 2025. Bridgette Morris served as Gateway Church’s executive pastor.
“We believe God gave us this dream and many prophetic words, beginning when we were young, for such a time as this,” James and Bridgette Morris announced on their webpage. “We are taking time to rest, pray, and hear from the Lord after this last season. We are filled with anticipation, expectation, and hope as we hear from God about when, where, and how to plant a church.”
The couple invited people to support by “walking alongside us or supporting us from afar.”
This is the second relative associated with Morris to distance themselves from the sex scandal involving Morris.
Ethan Fisher, Morris’ son-in-law, rebranded Gateway Church Houston to Newlands Church. Fisher said the name change was a call from God.
Bridgette shared on Instagram that the couple intentionally took a break from social media “to pursue health, the Word, God’s presence, rest, and invest more in our kids.”
Gateway Church is in the middle of a 40-day prayer and fasting scheduled to conclude Sept. 13. One of the prayer points was for “healing for those who have been wounded by any form of abuse or hurt and that God would bring His comfort and restoration.”
This piece is republished from The Roys Report.
Sheila Stogsdill is a freelance print journalist and digital reporter, primarily covering crime issues for KSN/KODE.