Gateway Church reaches agreement in child abuse cover-up case

The Dallas megachurch Gateway Church recently reached a settlement in a lawsuit in which several church leaders were accused of covering up the sexual abuse of a girl who attended the church.

The lawsuit was settled in April, just months before Gateway Church founder Robert Morris resigned amid high-profile allegations that he sexually abused then-12-year-old Cindy Clemishire in 1982.

The original lawsuit, filed in 2020 in Tarrant County, Texas, alleges that five pastors and a youth leader knew that a church member had assaulted the girl in 2018, when she was not yet 12 years old. When the lawsuit was settled this spring, she was not yet 18.

However, the leaders concealed this from the victim’s mother and failed to report it to local authorities, the lawsuit says.

The church leaders “jointly and independently made concerted efforts to cover up the allegations of sexual assault” in order to “undermine the allegations and avoid criminal investigations,” the lawsuit says.

The girl and her mother are seeking damages ranging from $200,000 to $5 million from the Gateway Church, the pastors and several other individuals, including Kathryn Edwards, Doug Vaughn and youth director Logan Edwards. The lawsuit names Samantha Golden, Sion Alford, Kelly Jones, Rebecca Wilson and Mondoe Davis as the ordained pastors involved.

In April, the lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount. The church and pastors denied any liability and agreed to the settlement “only to buy peace,” the document says.

The girl’s share of the compensation has been transferred to the court so that she can withdraw it when she turns 18, the document said.

Lawsuit: Gateway pastors “covered up” sexual abuse

According to the original complaint, the girl was sexually abused by an unnamed person in 2018.

The girl and her mother were both members of Gateway and regularly attended various church services and events, the original lawsuit states.

On March 14, 2018, the girl was attacked in her home by an unnamed church member, the lawsuit says. Sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 is one of the most serious crimes under Texas law.

Days later, youth director Logan Edwards learned of the attack in conversations with the attacker and other youth at Gateway, the lawsuit states.

Logan Edwards then passed this information on to the named pastors and individuals at Gateway, the lawsuit states.

Although they were all aware of the alleged assault, “none filed a formal complaint with the necessary child protective services or law enforcement agencies, nor did they even alert (the girl’s) mother to the alleged assault,” the lawsuit states.

Instead, all of the Gateway pastors and the other defendants spoke with the alleged perpetrator and his parents several times, the lawsuit says.

When the girl’s mother finally learned what had happened to her daughter, she filed a report with Haltom City police, the lawsuit states.

When the criminal investigation began, the pastors allegedly attempted to discredit the girl and her mother. They “launched a concerted campaign to cover up, misrepresent and discredit the allegations of assault,” the lawsuit says.

The pastors also encouraged other members of Gateway to ostracize the mother and had her removed from various church positions. The girl and her mother experienced “tremendous shame and embarrassment as well as emotional distress,” the lawsuit says.

In addition, by concealing the pastors’ statements, important evidence was “wasted and devalued,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit alleges that the church and the priests had a duty to provide adequate care for the girl, but failed to fulfill that duty by keeping the matter secret.

Gateway founder accused of sexual abuse

News of the lawsuit comes at a time when Gateway is in the midst of a scandal involving its founder, Morris.

In June, Cindy Clemishire alleged that Morris began sexually abusing her on Christmas night 1982, when she was 12 years old, and that the abuse continued until she was 16.

A few days after these allegations came to light, Morris resigned from his top position in the church.

Since then, Gateway leaders have claimed they do not know the age of Morris’ victim or the duration of her abuse. The Roys Report (TRR) previously reported. Gateway’s Board of Elders said it believed Morris had an extramarital affair with “a young lady.”

However, Clemishire said in a statement that she confronted Morris about the abuse in an email in 2005. Clemishire pointed out that former Gateway elder Tom Lane responded to her email and “admitted that the sexual abuse began on December 25, 1982, when I was 12 years old.”

Gateway has hired the law firm Haynes and Boone to investigate the allegations.

Earlier this month, four elders of the Gateway Church, including Robert Morris’ son, temporarily resigned from their positions in the megachurch. TRR reported. Their action is based on the law firm’s recommendation that any elder with a potential conflict of interest should temporarily step aside.

Morris founded Gateway Church in 2000. At last count, more than 100,000 people attended church each weekend at nine locations and online.

Freelance journalist Liz Lykins writes for WORLD Magazine, Christianity Today, Ministry Watch, and other publications.