Texas pastor resigns over child sex abuse allegations – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

The pastor of a North Texas megachurch resigned Tuesday amid allegations he sexually abused a 12-year-old girl in the 1980s.

The leadership of Southlake-based Gateway Church told NBC News it has accepted the resignation of senior pastor Robert Morris, who led one of the largest evangelical churches for more than two decades.

The Gateway Church said it hired the law firm Haynes and Boone to conduct an independent investigation after leaders there learned more details about what Morris had described for years as an “inappropriate relationship.”

Last week, Cindy Clemishire, now 54, revealed in a post on the church watchdog website The Wartburg Watch that she was 12 years old when Morris first sexually abused her in 1982. The alleged abuse continued for more than four years, Clemishire told NBC 5 on Monday.

“Part of the timing of the current situation is that the discussion on these issues has been much more open over the last decade,” Clemishire said Monday. “And people are tired of seeing children suffer.”

“I think it is very painful for people in the church to know that such a big name, such a big leader, is responsible for this and has deceived the people.”

In a statement, the Gateway Church said it is working to fully understand the events that occurred between 1982 and 1987.

“Unfortunately, prior to Friday, June 14, the Elders did not have all the facts regarding the inappropriate relationship between Morris and the victim, including her age at the time and the duration of the abuse,” the statement said.

“The elders previously assumed that Morris’ extramarital relationship, which he had often discussed during his tenure, involved a ‘young lady’ and not the abuse of a 12-year-old child.”

Clemishire said in a statement to NBC-5 on Tuesday that she was grateful Morris was no longer a pastor, but felt he was fired and was not allowed to resign.

“I’ve been looking for this for years. My family and I have gone to the leaders of very well-known churches and big-name churches with this information in the hope that someone would hold him accountable and remove him from the leadership of his churches,” Clemishire said.

Attempts by NBC-5 to reach Morris by phone and email for comment have so far gone unanswered.