Robert Morris Ministries cancels future broadcasts

By Leonardo BlairSenior Reporter Thursday, 04 July 2024

After allegations came to light last month that Gateway Church founder Robert Morris sexually abused Cindy Clemishire for several years in the 1980s, beginning when she was 12 years old, Pastor Robert Morris Ministries has now canceled “all future radio and television broadcasts.”

“The elders of Gateway Church learned that Pastor Roberts’ moral failure more than forty years ago involved a minor. We are deeply saddened and pained for this woman who carried this burden of abuse for decades,” the Gateway Church Board of Elders and the overseers of Pastor Robert Morris Ministries said in a joint statement posted Wednesday on the Robert Morris Ministries website.

“Pastor Robert’s sin and lack of transparency with the elders and church leadership have disqualified him from continuing to serve as senior pastor of Gateway Church and as leader of Pastor Robert Morris Ministries. As a result, all future Pastor Robert Morris Ministries radio and television broadcasts have been canceled,” the mission leaders continued.

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Pastor Robert Morris Ministries’ response comes about two weeks after Texas-based Daystar Television Network, one of the largest Christian television networks in the world, also removed all programs featuring Morris after he resigned from his position at Gateway Church on June 18 following the Clemishire allegations.

Clemishire, 54, reported last month that the megachurch founder began sexually abusing her on Dec. 25, 1982, when she was just 12 years old. She says the abuse continued for four and a half years before it was discovered, but he was later allowed to return to pastoral ministry.

When questioned by the Christian Post about the allegations, Morris simply confessed to engaging in “inappropriate sexual conduct with a young lady” more than 35 years ago and said he had repented and been reinstated as a priest.

“In March 1987, this situation was brought to light and I confessed and repented. I submitted myself to the elders of Shady Grove Church and the young lady’s father. They asked me to resign from the ministry and accept counseling and freedom ministry, which I did. Since that time, I have led a purity and responsibility in this area,” Morris said.

However, Clemishire insisted to CP that she was no longer a young lady when Morris abused her.

“I was 12 years old. I was a little girl. A very innocent little girl. And he was brought into our home. He and his wife Debbie and their young son Josh trusted the church that my father helped found and preached there. Then they started preparing us all for what I didn’t understand as an adult for decades,” she said.

“This went on for many years. He says there was no sexual intercourse, but he touched every part of my body and inserted his fingers inside me, which I now understand is a form of rape by instrumental intervention. I was an innocent 12-year-old little girl who knew nothing about sexual behavior.”

In their June 18 resignation announcement, Gateway Church elders said they had hired the law firm of Haynes & Boone, LLP, to “conduct an independent, thorough and professional review of the report of past abuse to ensure that we fully understand the events of 1982-1987.”

Despite the removal of Morris’ video and audio content from Pastor Robert Morris Ministries’ website, staff said the broadcasts have helped many people around the world for decades.

“We are grateful for how God has used Gateway Church and Pastor Robert Morris Ministries for decades to help so many people around the world. Countless people have come to Christ, grown in faith, and been helped in times of need. We are truly humbled by what God has done through these ministries,” they said in their statement.

“Our prayer for you who have watched our television programs, listened to Worship & the Word on the radio, and supported this work with your prayers and gifts is found in the Scriptures. Numbers 6:24-26: ‘The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord smile upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord show favor toward you and give you peace.'”