SOUTHLAKE, Texas — Gateway Church announced that three of its Elders and Pastor James Morris will be taking temporary leaves of absence while an outside law firm conducts an investigation into allegations involving the church's founder Robert Morris and child sex abuse accusations.
Earlier this month, Cindy Clemishire accused the former senior pastor of molesting her when she was 12 years old in the mid-1980s. Shortly after these allegations came to light, Robert Morris resigned and Gateway Church accepted his resignation.
Since his resignation, the church has faced a lot of public scrutiny. A group of protestors gathered outside of the church and expressed their anger with the Elders as Clemishire has stated that they were made aware of the abuse in 2005, but chose to do nothing about it.
The Board of Elders initially released a statement saying they regretfully did not have all the facts of the inappropriate relationship between Robert Morris and the victim, including her age at the time and the length of the abuse.
Since these events have unfolded, Gateway Church has hired an outside law firm, Haynes and Boone, to conduct an internal investigation into the accusations.
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.
"Three of our current Elders are impacted by the law firm’s recommendation," Gateway Church said in a statement. "These three Elders did not serve on the Gateway Church staff in 2005, only on the Board of Elders during the time period of 2005–2007, but they are wholly committed to doing what is best for Gateway Church."
The three Elders affected were Kevin Grove, Steve Dulin and Gayland Lawshe, according to the statement.
Additionally, Gateway Church says the law firm recommended Pastor James Morris take a leave of absence 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.
Gateway Church did not specify how long these leaves of absence would last but mentioned the four Elders would be continuing their work as staff members at the church.