Robert Morris, who founded and led
Gateway Church for nearly 25 years in the affluent Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Southlake, Texas, resigned after the scandal came to light in June. His exit sent thousands of evangelicals into a season of struggle that has lasted months.
Last week, a pastor who oversaw all of Gateway’s campuses departed amid an undisclosed “moral issue,” becoming the latest in a series of changes for the church: The cancellation of its
annual conference. The departure of Morris’ successor. The renaming of its Houston campus and an exodus of worshippers.
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Clemishire, 54, told
CNN affiliate WFAA Morris
molested her in 1982
when she was 12 years old. It started on Christmas Day and it continued until she told her parents in 1987, she said.
Shortly after the allegations surfaced, Morris admitted to having “inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady” in the 1980s. In its initial response, Gateway Church said the pastor had been “open and forthright about a moral failure” that took place when he was in his 20s and working at another church, and had a two-year “restoration process,” according to statements obtained by WFAA.
It wasn’t until days later that Morris resigned from his role. In a statement announcing the resignation, the Board of Elders of Gateway Church said the group did not have all the facts about Morris’ extramarital relationship, the victim’s age and length of the abuse.
The board said Morris discussed it many times as something that happened before founding the congregation,
but he did not mention that it was with a child.
