Robert Morris, founder of Gateway Church, accused of sexual abuse

(NewsNation) – A blog post Friday shared the account of a woman who says she was sexually abused as a child by Robert Morris, pastor of one of the nation’s largest churches and a former spiritual adviser to former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Speaking to The Wartburg Watch, Cindy Clemishire, now 50, said she and her family met Morris, founder of the Texas-based Gateway Church, at a youth revival in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1981. He was a 20-year-old traveling evangelist at the time and Clemishire was 11.

Morris, who began preaching regularly at her church, often stayed at the Clemishire home, The Wartburg Watch reported, and became a friend of the family.

However, The Wartburg Watch writes that this changed when Morris spent Christmas at her family home the following year, when Clemishire was 12 years old. Morris allegedly asked Clemishire to come into his bedroom, where he touched her stomach and breasts and “reached under her panties,” according to The Wartburg Watch. Morris, Clemishire told the website, warned her “not to tell anyone about this because it would ruin everything.”

According to Wartburg Watch, Morris repeated this behavior in Oklahoma and Texas until March 1987. When she turned 16, Clemishire claimed, Morris, then pastor at what is now the Gateway Church campus in Grand Prairie, took her out in his car and “attempted to have sexual intercourse,” the article said.

Clemishire later told a friend and she encouraged her to go to her parents.

“I was 12 years old. I was a little girl. A very innocent little girl. And he was brought into our house,” Clemishire told The Christian Post, adding that it took her decades to understand what had happened to her.

When Clemishire’s father learned of this, he called the church’s senior pastor to report Morris and demand his resignation, The Wartburg Watch wrote.

In a statement to the Christian Post, Morris admitted to “engaging in inappropriate sexual conduct toward a young lady in a home where I was staying.”

“It was kissing and petting and not sexual intercourse, but it was wrong. This behavior occurred several times over the next few years,” Morris said in the statement.

Morris said the situation was “brought to light, confessed and repented of” in 1987, and he “submitted” to the elders of Shady Grove Church and Clemishire’s father.

“They asked me to step down from the ministry and accept counseling and freedom ministry, which I did. Since then, I have been leading purity and responsibility in that field,” Morris added. The Christian Post writes that Morris said he returned to the ministry in March 1989, claiming it was “with the blessing of the survivor’s father and the elders of his church.”

In an interview with The Dallas Morning News, Clemishire disagreed with this point.

“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.”

Representatives of the Gateway Church declined to comment to The Dallas Morning News. The CEO of Gateway Media told the newspaper that they are “not giving interviews or making additional statements at this time.”

Every weekend, more than 100,000 people attend Gateway Church, which describes itself on its website as “Bible-based, evangelistic” and “empowered by the Holy Spirit.”

During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump appointed Morris as one of the members of his Evangelical Executive Advisory Board.

“The board’s leaders were not asked to endorse Mr. Trump, which was a condition of their participation in the board,” a press release announcing the board said. “Rather, the formation of the board demonstrates that Donald J. Trump supports the various issues important to evangelicals and other Christians and that he desires to be able to draw on the wise counsel of these leaders when needed.”

As the Dallas Morning News wrote, Trump visited the Gateway Church campus in Dallas in 2020 during a trip that included a fundraising dinner.

Morris, Gateway’s website says, will step down as the church’s senior pastor in spring 2025, but will remain a “keynote speaker” on weekends. His son, James Morris, is expected to take his place as senior pastor.