Pastor Of A Megachurch In Texas Steps Down After A Woman Claims He Molested Her Sexually In The 1980s

After a lady claimed that Megachurch had repeatedly sexually assaulted her during the 1980s, starting when she was twelve, the pastor announced his resignation. Robert Morris, the senior pastor and founder of Gateway Church, announced his retirement on Tuesday.

The church’s board of elders accepted his resignation. In order to ensure that they “have a complete understanding of the events” that occurred between 1982 and 1987, the board announced that it has engaged a law firm to perform an independent assessment.

The accusations were first published on The Wartburg Watch, a blog that monitors religion, on Friday. Morris’ accuser, Cindy Clemishire, stated in a Saturday interview with The Dallas Morning News that she first got to know Morris in 1981 when he was a traveling preacher and started giving sermons at her family’s church in Oklahoma. Morris, his wife, and their small kid, she claimed, grew close to her family.

Abused For Half Years

She claimed that in 1982, while he was a guest at her home, he invited her to visit his room. According to Clemishire, 54, he told her to lie on his bed before unlawfully groping her. She claimed that for the next four and a half years or so, the abuse persisted. When someone reports they have been sexually assaulted, the Associated Press usually doesn’t publish their name.

Morris, 62, revealed in a statement to The Christian Post that he was “involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady in a home where I was staying” when he was in his early 20s in response to questions about the claims made by the journal. He claimed in the statement, “It was kissing and petting and not intercourse, but it was wrong.”

“Over the next few years, this behavior occurred multiple times.” “They did not have all of the facts of the inappropriate relationship between Morris and the victim, including her age at the time and the length of the abuse,” the board stated prior to Friday. They explained that their interpretation of the “extramarital relationship,” which Morris had frequently addressed during his ministry.

Morris started the church, which is headquartered in the Southlake suburb of Dallas, in 2000. It claims to have over 100,000 weekly attendees and several venues in the area. The founding pastor, Morris, has been involved in politics. He was a member of the evangelical advisory group of the former president Donald Trump.

In 2020, the church invited Trump to speak on racial relations and the economy on its Dallas campus. When a request for comment was made via email to Morris at the church on Tuesday, he did not immediately reply.