SOUTHLAKE, Texas — Gateway Church, with more than 100,000 active attendees, is an influential mega-church based in North Texas. But the large church was rocked recently by allegations that its former senior and founding pastor Robert Morris molested a 12-year-old girl in the 1980s.
Shortly after the allegations were widely reported by local and national media Morris resigned, kicking off a string of resignations, protests and additional allegations of sexual abuse on the Gateway Church campus.
New allegations and resignations continue to surface at Gateway Church months after the initial allegations were reported by WFAA. Recent announcements include the cancellation of its annual conference previously scheduled for September.
Here's a full timeline of allegations of abuse related to Gateway Church, resignations and statements from church leaders.
June 16, 2024: Woman says Gateway Church pastor Robert Morris first molested her when she was 12-years-old
Cindy Clemishire accuses Gateway Church pastor Robert Morris of first molesting her on Christmas in 1982, when she was 12 years old. She says she'd told her story for years and tried to sue Morris in 2005, but it did not generate much attention.
In a statement, Gateway Church elders initially said Morris had been "forthright about a moral failure he had over 35 years ago when he was in his twenties and prior to him starting at Gateway Church. He has shared publicly from the pulpit the proper Biblical steps he took in this lengthy restoration process."
"Since the resolution of the 35-year-old matter, there have been no other moral failures," the statement from Gateway Church elders said. "Pastor Robert has walked in purity, and he has placed accountability measures and people in his life. The matter has been properly disclosed to church leadership."
Morris released his own statement, saying "When I was in my early twenties, I was involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady in a home where I was staying. It was kissing and petting and not intercourse, but it was wrong."
He did not preach the Saturday after the allegations were widely published.
June 18, 2024: Robert Morris resigns after sexual abuse allegations
Gateway Church founder Robert Morris resigns. The Gateway Church Board of Elders announced that they accepted Morris' resignation and hired the law firm Haynes and Boone to investigate the allegations.
Clemishire issued a statement, saying: "Though I am grateful that he is no longer a pastor at Gateway, I am disappointed that the Board of Elders allowed him to resign. He should have been terminated."
The board of elders said in a statement that before Clemishire's allegations became public, "the elders did not have all the facts of the inappropriate relationship between Morris and the victim, including her age at the time and the length of the abuse."
“The elders’ prior understanding was that Morris’ 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 statement reads.
Several North Texas lawmakers also issued statements condemning Morris' actions.
June 22, 2024: A group of protesters gather outside of Gateway Church
A group of people gathered at the entrance of the Gateway Church in Southlake in support of Clemishire the same week the allegations were widely reported.
Emily High was a member of the church for 17 years. She told WFAA she would not attend anymore because she felt betrayed by the pastor.
“It's anger, it's all the range of emotions,” said High. “Being a pedophile, a molester, that's not ok.”
While the protest went on outside, Elder Tra Willbanks addressed the situation saying the elders will "do whatever it takes to learn the truth.”
June 28, 2024: Gateway Church's Pastor James Morris and three Elders take leaves of absence
Gateway Church announced that three of its Elders and Pastor James Morris will be taking temporary leaves of absence while an outside law firm investigates allegations against Robert Morris.
In a new statement, the Board of Elders says the law firm recommended that any Elders with a potential conflict of interest take a leave of absence, including anyone who was on the board from 2005 to 2007.
The law firm also recommended Pastor James Morris take a leave of absence from his role as elder as he is the son of the accused former senior pastor Robert Morris.
"Pastor James Morris is Gateway’s newest Elder and was not an Elder between 2005–2007. Pastor James Morris is a man of integrity, and he has clearly stated that he had no knowledge of the true facts of this situation," Gateway Church said in a statement.
July 8, 2024: Gateway was involved in multiple lawsuits before an allegation of child sex abuse surfaced
Gateway Church settled a lawsuit in which at least five church staff members were accused of concealing the sexual assault of a minor by an unnamed Gateway member, according to court records.
That lawsuit was settled about two months before a woman accused Robert Morris of assault, according to court documents.
Another lawsuit against Gateway in 2016 alleged that a minor was assaulted by a boy while attending a Gateway daycare program in 2014 while his parents were attending worship service, court documents show.
The lawsuit was reportedly settled.
Another lawsuit was filed in 2023 by a woman who was hired in 2018 to serve as a temporary administrative assistant at Gateway’s North Richland Hills campus, in which she alleged harassment by a pastor and a hostile work environment, court records show.
The status of this lawsuit is unclear.
July 10, 2024: Lawmakers call for harsher penalties for sex crimes against children
State Rep. Steve Toth, R-The Woodlands, says he’s working on legislation that would increase the penalties for sex crimes against children.
Toth said he thinks at a minimum Morris and the members of the Gateway Church Board of Elders should be sued.
“We want to bring total clarity to the fact that you do this stuff, you cover up, and there’s going to be criminal and civil consequences. The civil consequences can include lawsuits of hundreds of thousands of dollars and wipe you out,” he said.
July 17, 2024: A former pastor at the Gateway Church in Southlake said he believes past church leaders knew of Morris' alleged sexual assault
Stephen LeBlanc, who is now senior pastor of the Sherman Bible Church, said he feels betrayed by Morris and doesn't believe Gateway is taking responsibility for Morris' alleged actions.
He served as an executive pastor at Gateway Church in Southlake for nearly three years starting in 2011.
LeBlanc said he believes there was a cover-up of the truth of what happened "previous to Gateway's inception." But he said Clemishire reached out to the church in the mid-2000s and "it is highly likely that other people saw those emails."
"Integrity is not hard to prove if you have integrity," LeBlanc said. "Just let people see it, demonstrate it. Tell the truth, be transparent."
July 26, 2024: Robert Morris' son resigns from Gateway Church pastor role, leaders say
James Morris, the son of the former Gateway Church pastor Robert Morris, stepped down from his pastor role at the church after previously resigning from his role as an elder. His wife, Bridgette, is also a pastor at the church.
"We love Pastors James and Bridgette and their children - we deeply care about them and sincerely thank them for investing their lives here at Gateway Church," Church elders said in a statement. "They have faithfully and honorably served our congregation and this community through all the years that they have been part of Gateway Church.”
July 31, 2024: Gateway Church announced it's parting ways with founding Elder Steve Dulin
The church announced founding elder Stever Dulin would leave Gateway church. Dulin was already on a leave of absence along with the three other elders.
Gateway elders didn't cite a specific reason for parting ways with Dulin, but said they met with him earlier this week and decided to "go in a different direction" regarding his position as an elder and staff member.
Aug. 15, 2024: Gateway Church cancels major conference
Gateway Church is canceling its annual Gateway Conference, which was set to happen in September.
Church officials said they believed it was best to not hold Gateway Conference as the church is "in the midst of navigating Robert Morris' resignation and the emotions surrounding it."
"We are deeply sorry for the pain this situation caused the survivor, other survivors of abuse, and the Church at large," the church said in a statement.
Aug. 15, 2024: Lawsuit alleges teen sexually assaulted 13-year-old girl at Gateway Church youth group nights
A lawsuit accused a teen member of a Gateway Church youth group of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in allegations that date back to 2017.
“We take any claim of abuse very seriously. We are unable to further comment regarding ongoing litigation at this time,” Gateway church said in a statement.
The defendant was later arrested in a separate case of child sex assault and sentenced in 2022 to four years in prison.
Aug. 19, 2024: Houston offshoot of Gateway Chruch changes its name
A church, formerly known as Gateway Houston announced it was changing its name following a number of resignations and sexual abuse allegations at Gateway Church in Southlake.
In a video announcing the change, church leaders said the church has been considering a name change for a year and a half. It will now be called Newlands Church.
"Over the past year-and-a-half, God has been speaking to us about creating a distinct, localized identity," the video states. "We believe the lord has given us a new name."
Aug. 22, 2024: Gateway Church pastor fired over alleged 'moral issue'
Gateway Church elders announced they fired on one of the church leaders in a video announcement published to YouTube.
Kemtal Glasgow, an executive pastor who oversaw Gateway's church campuses across North Texas, was fired over an alleged "moral issue," according to the statement.
"We were informed last week of a moral issue, which we believe, as elders, disqualifies him from serving in the role that he had at Gateway," church elder Tra Willbanks said
Willbanks did not disclose the alleged incident that led to his firing.
Nov. 2, 2024: Church leader shares a summary of the internal investigation
After a four-month internal investigation into alleged sexual abuse claims against founder and senior pastor Robert Morris, Gateway church has removed multiple elders.
During a Saturday afternoon service, church elder Tra Willbanks gave a summary of the investigation to church congregants saying that all but three of the church’s elders either knew about Morris' encounter with Clemishire or were privy to the information and “failed to inquire further.”
Willbanks didn't specifically name the elders who were removed from the church.
Gateway had hired an outside law firm, Haynes and Boone, to conduct the internal investigation into the accusations. Willbanks said Morris had declined to meet with Haynes Boone during their investigation.
Willbanks also said that the church is cooperating with an ongoing criminal investigation.
"I can share that neither the church nor its current leadership are subjects of this criminal investigation. These past four and half months have been a very difficult and challenging time for our church," Willbanks said.
Willbanks went on to say the investigation revealed no other incidents of sexual abuse by Morris.
