The pastor of the Southlake megachurch, Robert Morris, is accused of sexual abuse in the 1980s

Robert Morris, the senior pastor of Gateway Church in Southlake, one of the largest churches in the country, was accused by a woman of sexually abusing her between the ages of 12 and 16.

The Oklahoma woman, now 50, said Morris abused her multiple times in the 1980s. The allegations, first published Friday in the religious watchdog blog Wartburg Watch, said the abuse took place between 1982 and 1987 in Oklahoma and Texas.The Christian Post published an article about the allegations on Saturday.

No criminal charges have been filed against Morris. Morris did not respond to emails and phone calls seeking comment Saturday. Gateway Church officials said Saturday they were aware of the allegations but declined to comment when asked for comment. The Dallas Morning NewsLawrence Swicegood, who is listed on the church website as the executive director of Gateway Media, responded by email to The news Late on Saturday, it said: “At this time, we are not giving any interviews or making any further statements.”

Morris did not preach at the Saturday afternoon service on the Southlake campus, and the allegations were not addressed by pastors during the service. Several attendees either declined comment or said they were unaware of the allegations.

A statement that Gateway church elders reportedly sent to church staff and posted on X said Morris “spoke openly and honestly about a moral failing he committed over 35 years ago.” According to the statement, Morris’ recovery process was closely monitored by the elders and included professional counseling.

“There have been no further moral lapses since the resolution of this 35-year-old matter,” the statement said. “Pastor Robert is a chaste person and has held actions and people accountable in his life. The matter was duly reported to church leadership.”

The statement also quoted Morris as saying he had engaged in “inappropriate sexual conduct” toward a “young lady.”

In a telephone conversation with The news On Saturday, Cindy Clemishire, Morris’s accuser, said she first met Morris in 1981 when he was an itinerant preacher and began preaching at her family’s church. The news She does not normally name victims of sexual abuse, but Clemishire has agreed to have her name published.

Clemishire said Morris and his family, which included his wife and young son, became very close to her family. When he flew to Tulsa to preach at her church on Christmas Day 1982, “he was like a member of the family.” She said Morris spent the night at her home because he was preaching the next morning.

Clemishire said Morris told her to come to his room because he wanted to talk to her. She said he told her to lie down on the bed.

“I remember exactly what I was wearing and how the pajamas felt. They were light pink and consisted of a little top with bloomers, and I wore underwear and bloomers and the little top and a robe that buttoned up over it,” she said.

After speaking to him for a few minutes, Morris began touching her inappropriately, according to Clemishire. Morris told her not to tell anyone because it would “ruin everything,” Clemishire said.

Clemishire said she was 12 when the abuse began.

“I remember he just wanted to talk,” Clemishire said. “And then he started touching my stomach, then my breasts, and then he went under my pants and told me I couldn’t tell anyone because it would ruin everything.”

Clemishire said the abuse lasted about four and a half years, with Morris finding ways to be alone with her, such as while shopping. She said she first came forward about the abuse in March 1987, when she told a family friend, who urged her to come forward and went with her to tell her parents. At the time, Morris was pastor at Shady Grove, a church in Grand Prairie that later became Gateway’s campus in Grand Prairie.

Clemishire said her father called the senior pastor at Shady Grove and demanded that Morris be removed from the pastorate. According to Clemishire, Morris left the church for two years and began a “restoration” before returning in 1989.

Morris said in the statement that the conduct only involved “kissing and caressing, but not sexual intercourse” and said it was wrong.

Morris said in the statement that he returned to the ministry with the “full blessing” of Clemishire’s father. He and his wife met with her and her family to ask for forgiveness, which Morris said happened.

Clemishire said this was only partly true.

“Of course we want to forgive, we are called to do that,” Clemishire said. “But he never received the blessing of anyone in my family to return to ministry. We don’t believe that someone who has done something like that should be a boss to anyone in any industry, but especially in the church.”

Clemishire said she does not believe Morris is truly remorseful as he downplays the alleged abuse.

“I don’t think it’s remorse when someone calls a 12-year-old a young lady and tries to dismiss what happened as just petting,” Clemishire said. “I don’t think that’s remorse. There’s no child in the world that anyone should do that to. It’s just unacceptable. There’s no excuse for it.”

In 2005, Clemishire said, she decided to file a civil suit against Morris because the statute of limitations had expired to bring criminal charges against him. Clemishire said she demanded $50,000 to cover the cost of her consultation, and in response, Morris’s lawyer accused her of “targeting Morris’ sexual advances” and offered her $25,000 if she signed a nondisclosure agreement, which she refused.

In addition to his pastoral duties at Gateway, Morris is a well-known televangelist and politically active. During Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, Morris was appointed to his “evangelical advisory board.” Trump visited Gateway’s Dallas campus in June 2020 for a panel discussion on race relations and the economy.

Gateway’s Southlake campus was founded by Morris in 2000 and has since expanded to nine campuses throughout the DFW Metroplex, as well as online services. According to Gateway’s website, the church has about 100,000 attendees each weekend.