SOUTHLAKE, Texas — One of the remaining elders at Gateway Church says the megachurch plans to cut staff amid a steep drop in donations.
Kenneth Fambro, one of three remaining elders at Gateway, said tithing, or voluntary donations from church members, is down 35 to 40% in a video shared to staff and posted on social media by the church watchdog blog Watchkeep.
“We have in fact seen our tithes reduce between 35 and 40%. As a result, we really need to go and start looking at the ministry itself and looking into some staff reductions,” Fambro says in the video.
A Gateway Church spokesperson declined further comment on the video but confirmed its authenticity.
Fambro acknowledged in the video that previous staff reductions at the church “were not handled well in the past.”
“We really are trying to look at leadership differently and express leadership differently in doing so,” Fambro said. “My heart goes out to everyone who’s processing this right now.”
Fambro’s announcement comes about five months after the church’s founder and former lead pastor Robert Morris stepped down after being accused of sexually assaulting Cindy Clemishire in the 1980s when she was 12 years old. Several other church officials, including Morris’ son, James, also left the church following the allegations.
Morris admitted he was "involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady” after the allegations were made public, though he did not make reference to the girl's age.
After a four-month internal investigation by a law firm into the allegations against Morris, Gateway Church removed several elders earlier this month.
A church elder in a Nov. 2 announcement 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.”
Gateway also faces a class-action lawsuit accusing four current and former church leaders of fraud.
The lawsuit alleges Morris falsely promised the congregation that 15% of its tithes would go toward global mission work. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit claim they never witnessed Gateway use the full amount of funds on its global ministries.
