Texas megachurch pastor Robert Morris resigns after ‘inappropriate sexual conduct’ with 12-year-old

SOUTHLAKE – Robert Morris, founder and pastor of the Gateway Church in North Texas, resigned from his post on Tuesday after Allegations of sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl in the 1980s came to light recently.

On Tuesday, the board of elders of Gateway Church, a multi-site megachurch in Southlake, released a statement saying it had accepted Morris’ resignation and would thoroughly review the report of past abuse “to ensure we fully understand the events.”

Morris is alleged to have had a sexual relationship with a minor between 1982 and 1987, when he was working as a traveling evangelist in his early 20s. On June 14, Cindy Clemshirewhose parents were friends with Morris, publicly accused the pastor of repeatedly abusing her during this time.

In their statement, the elders claim they did not have all the facts surrounding the alleged sexual assault, such as Clemishire’s age at the time and the duration of the abuse.

“The elders had previously assumed that Morris’ extramarital relationship, which he had often mentioned during his tenure, was with ‘a young lady’ and not the abuse of a 12-year-old child,” the statement said. “We are deeply dismayed and appalled by what has come to light in recent days, and we extend our deepest sympathies to the victim and her family. On behalf of the victim, we are grateful that this situation has been exposed. We know that many have been affected by this, we understand that you are suffering, and we are very sorry. We pray that in time healing will occur for all those affected.”

Clemishire said she had mixed thoughts and feelings about Morris’s resignation and believed she was not the only victim.

“While I am grateful that he is no longer pastor at Gateway, I am disappointed that the Board of Elders allowed him to resign,” Clemishire wrote in a statement Tuesday. “He should have been terminated.”

Clemishire rebuked the church elders for knowing about and acknowledging her allegations of sexual abuse, but knowingly “adopting the false narrative that Robert Morris wanted them to believe.”

Morris founded the church’s first location in Southlake in 2000. The evangelical church, one of the largest in the United States, has grown to nine locations in North Texas.

The allegations against Morris were first reported Friday by The Wartburg Watch, a North Carolina-based church watchdog blog, and then The Christian Post picked up the story on Saturday.

In a statement to The Christian Post, Morris admitted to “inappropriate sexual conduct.”

“When I was in my early twenties, I was involved in inappropriate sexual conduct with a young lady at a home where I lived,” he said. “It was kissing and petting and not sexual intercourse, but it was wrong. This behavior occurred several times over the next few years.”

In a sermon Morris gave ten years ago, he spoke about his sexual immorality as a teenager.

“I learned to lie and manipulate because I also experienced rejection. I didn’t want to be rejected,” Morris said in 2014. “So I looked for the girls who were the most vulnerable. And I learned to recognize that.”

Church elders said a law firm had been hired to conduct the review.