Changes, developments at Gateway Church since sex abuse allegations against Robert Morris

Almost two months have passed since allegations of sexual abuse came out of Gateway Church.

The megachurch, with locations across North Texas and one in Wyoming, was led and founded by senior pastor Robert Morris. According to its website, the church has about 100,000 attendees across all campuses.

The church has undergone changes since Morris’ resignation in June. He stepped down as lead pastor just four days after Cindy Clemishire — who is now in her 50s — told watchdog blog The Wartburg Watch that she was sexually abused by Morris for four years, starting when she was 12.

Morris was in his 20s when the abuse began, according to the victim’s account.

In a statement sent to church staff and members, Morris said he was involved in “inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady.”

The church’s board of elders said they were aware of a “moral failure” committed by Morris, but in a separate statement, they said they were not initially aware of the age of the victim and the duration of the abuse.

Morris’ son, James Morris, was to take over his father’s role as lead pastor. But after an internal investigation into the abuse began and James stepped down, the board of elders is continuing its search for new leadership.

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The founding of Gateway

The megachurch was founded in 2000. It started with a humble congregation of 180 members in a Grapevine motel and grew to more than 39,000 members across its North Texas locations.

Its Southlake campus, where Robert Morris was senior pastor, opened its doors to the public on Nov. 13, 2010, and held its first services that weekend, from Nov. 13-14, according to the Star-Telegram’s archives.

Projected to cost $86 million, the Southlake campus seats 4,000 people and replaced the former location, which only had 1,600 seats.

While it opened in November 2010, the church had an official opening ceremony in January 2011.

“It is our hope that the additional seating capacity and the incredible children’s area provides an even greater tool for ministry to happen,” Robert Morris told the Star-Telegram in 2010.

The opening of the Southlake campus came three years after a Gateway Church opened in North Richland Hills in 2007, according to the Star-Telegram archives.

Morris also founded the broadcast and radio show Pastor Robert Morris Ministries. Before founding Gateway, he was a traveling evangelist and began to regularly preach at Shady Grove Church, which became Gateway’s Grand Prairie campus. Morris was also a spiritual advisor for former President Donald Trump.

Allegations about Robert Morris come to light

Robert Morris had previously spoken to Gateway’s congregation about being “sexually immoral,” including a 2014 sermon.

“My rebellion took a form of immorality that I don’t like to talk about much,” he said in the 2014 sermon. “I was very sexually immoral as a teenager. .. I was immoral a lot.”

He added that he would meet girls and wound up being “immoral” in just one night.

Robert Morris never spoke about the sexual abuse alleged by Clemishire until she spoke to Wartburg Watch.

The former pastor became well acquainted with Clemishire’s family and on Christmas Day of 1982, the sexual abuse began, she told the watchdog blog. Morris, who was 21 and married at the time, asked then 12-year-old Clemishire to come into his room that night, she said. He then began to inappropriately touch her and told her, “never tell anyone about this because it will ruin everything,” according to Clemishire.

When The Wartburg Watch published Clemishire’s account of the alleged abuse on June 14, Gateway issued a statement to church staff that same day stating Morris was “open” about a “moral failure” from over 35 years ago and that the board of elders were aware of Morris’ actions. They went on in the statement to say there were no other “moral failures” connected to Morris.

In the same statement, Morris said he was involved in “inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady in a home where I was staying,” including kissing and petting.

Clemishire also disclosed to The Wartburg Watch that when she turned 16, Morris attempted to have sexual intercourse with her. The abuse continued until March 1987, she said.

According to Morris’ statement, he confessed to the elders of Shady Grove and Clemishire’s father. He received counseling and attended a freedom ministry, having “walked in purity and accountability” since the abuse, Morris said.

Gateway’s website says its freedom ministry aims to “undo the works of the devil in the lives of individuals.”

The church said the statement was made to provide a response should an inquiry come up and was not meant to be “proactively” sent out to people, according to screenshots of Gateway’s internal communication shared on social media.

Robert Morris resigns

The church announced the resignation of Morris in a June 18 news release, four days after the sex abuse allegations came to light.

“We are heartbroken and appalled by what has come to light over the past few days, and we express deep sympathy to the victim and her family,” the church’s board of elders said in the release.

Church elders said in the statement they were aware of Morris’ “extramarital relationship, which he discussed many times throughout his ministry,” but they had not previosuly had all the facts including the age of the victim and the length of the abuse.

“For the sake of the victim, we are thankful this situation has been exposed,” the board said.

His resignation included his stepping down from all related ministries, including The Pastor Robert Morris Ministries radio show.

“As a result, all future radio and television broadcast ministry from Pastor Robert Morris Ministries has been cancelled,” the radio show’s website says.

Texas leaders also took part in asking Morris to step down and face the consequences for his actions. Among them were former Southlake mayor John Huffman.

“We are all sinners, saved by grace,” Huffman wrote in a post on X, referencing Morris. “And some sins are so egregious and vile that they disqualify a person from holding an office of trust like a pastorship.”

“Years ago, he ruined a 12 year old girl’s life. She was not a young lady, but a child,” Huffman wrote before Morris’ resignation in June. “He should have spent time in jail, but he didn’t. And to date, despite the news breaking days ago, leadership at Gateway Church has made no public statements, and Pastor Morris remains employed. This is unacceptable.”

An internal investigation begins, Gateway leadership steps down

In the June 18 statement, the board first announced its inception of an internal investigation. The church hired Haynes & Boone LLP law firm to professionally review reports of past abuse “to ensure we have a complete understanding of the events” from 1982 to 1987, the statement says.

In a June 28 update shared on social media, Gateway officials said that the law firm recommended three of the church’s elders to take a leave of absence from the board. James Morris, the church’s newest elder and newly appointed lead pastor, voluntarily stepped down from the board in accordance with the law firm’s recommendation, according to the update.

The recommendation came as the law firm advised against a potential conflict of interest — including elders who were on the church’s board from 2005-2007 — while conducting its investigation.

That time frame includes when Clemishire confronted Robert Morris in 2005 with the possibility of a civil lawsuit over the alleged abuse, asking for $50,000 in reimbursement, The Wartburg Watch reported. Robert Morris’ attorney responded by saying the abuse was Clemishire’s fault, according to a letter obtained by several news outlets. The attorney said he would provide $25,000 as a reimbursement if she signed a non-disclosure agreement, which Clemishire refused, she told NBC News.

The three elders recommended to temporarily step down were Kevin Grove, Steve Dulin and Gayland Lawshe, who were all on Gateway’s board of elders from 2005 to 2007, according to the church’s statement.

While James Morris was set to take the position of senior pastor effective in 2025, he also resigned from that position, a month after his father stepped down from the church.

In a statement issued July 25, Gateway confirmed James, alongside his wife Bridgette, would be stepping down from their roles at the Southlake campus.

The church elders met with the two, who were both pastors, and made the decision “collectively,” according to the statement.

The board said in the statement that James Morris “is a man of integrity” and that he had no knowledge of the “true facts” of the alleged abuse committed by his father.

A week later, on Aug. 1, Gateway announced it had parted ways with one of its founding elders, Dulin. A statement obtained by Star-Telegram media partner WFAA-TV says the Southlake campus leaders met with Dulin and decided to go “in a different direction” with the 63-year-old’s role as an elder and staff member.

Gateway settled 2 lawsuits before the allegations

Court records show Gateway settled two lawsuits, with one alleging child sexual abuse and the other discrimination, in the months before and days after Robert Morris’ resignation.

The suit alleging the sex abuse was filed in 2020 in Tarrant County. Settled in April, the suit claimed Gateway’s leaders knew about abuse that happened at the hands of a member of the church in March 2018, at the child’s home, but did not inform law enforcement or the victim’s parents.

It wasn’t until after the allegations were made public that church leadership spoke with the child’s parents, according to the lawsuit. Church leaders were accused in the suit of retaliation against the mother for going to police, having her removed from ministry positions and encouraging others to ostracize her.

The suit sought between $200,000 and $5 million, but the terms of the settlement were redacted from records.

The second suit, filed in January 2023, was settled in June. In those documents, prosecutors alleged an employee of Gateway’s North Richland Hills campus experienced sexual harassment, a pay cut, a hostile work environment and disparaging comments about her appearance while undergoing treatment for cancer.

She was eventually fired, according to the suit.

The discrimination the employee experienced included applying for positions within the church — such as a “care pastor” — being interviewed, but then being told by church staff they would choose a man for the position instead, the suit says. When she did not earn the care pastor position, pastors explained they believed the church’s congregation would respond better to a man.

The pastor the employee reported to would attempt to physically touch her and ask personal, non-work-related questions, among other behaviors, according to the suit. When she went to other pastors to report the behavior, she was told she just shouldn’t be alone with her superior and she was being insubordinate, the suit states.

The case was dismissed after parties reached an agreement, according to a court document filed June 21. Gateway denied all allegations from the suit alleging discrimination.

Gateway’s temporary leadership

During weekend services from July 27 to July 28, Gateway announced two-well known evangelical leaders to serve as interim pastors.

Max Lucado, a charismatic evangelical author and San Antonio pastor, and Joakim Lundqvist, who leads a megachurch in Sweden, will be leading Gateway, the church told its congregants.

In a weekend service, Lucado apologized for Robert Morris characterizing Clemishire as a “young lady” when referring to the abuse. He said the church is praying for her and that Robert Morris’ actions were unacceptable.

He expanded on James and Bridgette Morris’ depature from the church, saying they would be establishing a new church elsewhere.

Gateway elder Tra Willbanks told the congregation they should “press in” to Gateway instead of leaving the church over the scandal.

“Please do not let your hurt from the last several weeks drive you from Gateway,” he said. “Move toward what God is doing in this place. Press in during this season.”

Willbanks said the church has already taken steps to find a new senior pastor and expects a decision to be made within the next six months.