Gateway Church congregation shaken after Robert Morris accused of sexually abusing a child

SOUTHLAKE — It’s been a difficult week for the congregation of Gateway Church’s nine locations across North Texas after its founding pastor, Robert Morris, was accused of sexually abusing a child in the 1980s.

He left the church earlier this week.

The Saturday service at Gateway Church in Southlake was packed.

The congregation is still shocked by the news that its founding pastor was accused of sexually abusing a young girl beginning in 1982 when she was just 12 years old. A church elder began Saturday’s service with an emotional message to the congregation.

“As an elder, I did not know the truth and frankly, my wife and I, like many of you, are shocked, devastated and in grief,” said Gateway Church elder Tra Willbanks. “I want to express my personal condolences to Cindy Clemishire. I cannot imagine carrying such a burden for so many years and I want to tell you, Cindy, I am so sorry.”

Morris’ accuser, Cindy Clemishire, says the abuse continued until 1987. Morris was a traveling evangelist at the time and was very close to the accuser’s family.

In a statement to the Christian Post, Morris admitted to “inappropriate sexual behavior.” A statement from church elders posted on social media said the allegations came to light 35 years ago and that Morris subsequently withdrew from the church for two years to receive therapy.

“Abuse in any form cannot be tolerated and we as elders have a responsibility to do whatever is necessary to find out the truth,” Willbanks said.

Outside Saturday’s service, protesters held signs supporting Morris’ accuser and calling on the church to protect children. Some of them got into heated arguments with church members.

“When I heard that this pastor had gotten away with abusing a child, now has $100 million and has followers in the church, I felt that the voiceless need to be given a voice,” said protester Lori Arnold.

The demonstrators are also demanding that the church leadership be held accountable.

“To find out which of the elders or their leadership really knew about this, it would be nice to put Pastor Morris in jail,” Arnold said.

But longtime church members like Lou Comunale say it was important for them to be here today to hear what church leaders had to say.

“I think he hit the mark. I think he didn’t hide behind the shame. There was a certain shame that it brought upon the church. But we went beyond that and we didn’t just look at one man, we looked at Jesus Christ and this church will prosper because it confessed its sins,” Comunale said.

The church said it had hired an outside law firm to conduct an independent investigation into the allegations.