Gateway Church’s Robert Morris has been accused of sex abuse in the 1980s: What to know

Robert Morris is the senior pastor at Gateway Church in Southlake, one of many largest church buildings within the nation, and has been accused by a girl of sexually abusing her from when she was 12 years previous till she was 16.

The Oklahoma girl, now in her 50s, mentioned Morris abused her on a number of events from 1982 to 1987. The allegations, first publicized Friday within the non secular watchdog weblog Wartburg Watch, mentioned the abuse occurred in Oklahoma and Texas between 1982 and 1987. The Christian Submit revealed a narrative Saturday in regards to the allegations.

Cindy Clemishire, Morris’ accuser, mentioned Morris was already married with a toddler when their households met in 1981. The Dallas Morning Information doesn’t sometimes title victims of sexual abuse, however Clemishire has allowed her title to be revealed.

Morris has not been criminally charged. Lawrence Swicegood, who’s listed on the church web site as govt director of Gateway Media, replied by electronic mail to The Information late Saturday and mentioned, “Right now we’re not granting interviews or offering extra statements.”

A press release reportedly despatched to church workers by elders of Gateway posted to X mentioned Morris “has been open and forthright a couple of ethical failure he had over 35 years in the past.” Based on the assertion, Morris’ restoration course of was intently administered by elders and included skilled counseling.

Listed here are 5 issues to find out about pastor Robert Morris following the sexual abuse allegations and the megachurch he based:

Robert Morris based Gateway Church in his lounge in 2000

Gateway Church is a nondenominational church that’s “Bible-based, evangelistic, Spirit-empowered,” in accordance with its web site. Robert Morris based Gateway in 2000 in the lounge of Southlake house with simply 30 folks.

Three years later, Gateway opened a 64,000-square-foot facility with a 600-seat auditorium in Southlake. A couple of years later, Gateway broke floor on its present Southlake campus, which contains a 4,000-seat auditorium.

In 2016, Gateway added a campus in Dallas close to Hillcrest Street and Churchill Manner. It additionally operates campuses in Frisco, Grand Prairie, Fort Value, North Richland Hills, Justin and Prosper and counts greater than 100,000 energetic attendees, in accordance with its web site.

Morris is an writer, hosts a radio program and a TV program.

Morris has written quite a few books together with The Blessed Life; Why Preserve Praying; Dream to Future; The God I By no means Knew; Actually Free and his newest Grace, Interval.

He additionally hosts a radio program, Worship & the Phrase with Pastor Robert, that airs in additional than 6,800 cities, in accordance with its web site. His tv present, Pastor Robert Morris Ministries, airs on Trinity Broadcasting Community and Daystar and reaches 190 nations in accordance with its web site. In Dallas-Fort Value, it airs on KDFW-TV (Channel 4) at 9:30 on Sundays, in accordance with its web site.

Morris has political ties

Through the 2016 presidential marketing campaign, Morris was named to Donald Trump’s evangelical advisory board. In 2020, Trump visited Gateway Church at its Dallas campus as a part of a visit that included a fundraising dinner. Trump and senior administration officers spoke on the church about a number of points, together with the George Floyd protests, the coronavirus pandemic and the racial disparities they uncovered.

The presidential go to introduced the nationwide highlight to the church.

On the time, Morris informed The Information he lately started to speak to ministers of various ethnicities, “and to listen to the tales of those valuable women and men of God of the racism and prejudice that they confronted and that their households have confronted, their dad and mom, their grandparents, it’ll break your coronary heart.”

Gateway Church hosted a big blood drive after Morris acquired transfusions

In 2018, Morris acquired seven items of blood when he needed to have a number of emergency surgical procedures, The Information reported.

In response, Gateway Church partnered with Carter BloodCare to host group blood drives at six of Gateways campuses within the Dallas-Fort Value space.

“If the hospital didn’t have blood prepared to provide him,” his son, Pastor Josh Morris, informed the congregation in 2018, “there’s no query he would have died.”

Morris has already deliberate to step down as senior pastor.

Morris has been married to his spouse Debbie for greater than 44 years, in accordance with the church web site. They’ve a daughter, two sons and 9 grandchildren.

Based on the church’s web site, Morris appointed his son, James, as his successor in February 2022. Later that 12 months, the church elders permitted James Morris taking on as senior pastor in spring 2025. The web site states Robert Morris would stay the first speaker on the weekends.