Megachurch Pastor Robert Morris of Gateway Church Responds to Accusations of Child Sexual Abuse “It Was Kissing and Petting”
Robert Morris is the senior pastor of Gateway Church, the largest church in America, which has more than 100,000 people spread across several campuses. He has been accused of years-long child sexual abuse of a twelve year old girl, according to an article from Wartburg Watch, which has spoken to the alleged victim.
Cindy Clemishire says she was eleven years old when she met Robert Morris, who at the time was a married twenty-year-old evangelist. He started to preach at her home church and eventually became friends with the family, including going on trips together. According to Cindy, that all changed on 12/25/1982, Christmas night, when:
The Morris family came to visit and spend some time there. Cindy sat in the back seat of the car with Robert. He asked her to visit him in his room that night. She shared a room with her sister. Cindy, an innocent twelve-year-old girl, movingly described what she was wearing. She was wearing pink pajamas with bloomer pants. She wore underwear underneath. She had a snap-up robe on. I laughed. I used to dress for bed similarly.
She thought nothing of visiting a family friend in their bedroom. He told her to lie down on her back and touched her stomach. He told her to close her eyes. Then he touched her breasts and felt under her panties. He warned her:Never tell anyone about this because it will ruin everything.
She returned to her bedroom and didn’t tell her sister what happened.
Robert Morris repeated this behavior until March 1987. This would happen in Texas and Oklahoma, and the family would stay at the Morris home in Texas. Her father donated money to Robert’s ministry, not realizing what was happening to his daughter.
This sexual contact and molestations continued until she was sixteen, while he was pastor at Shady Grove Church, which ultimately became Gateway Church-Grand Prairie Campus.
Cindy eventually confided in a friend who reported it to her father. In response, her father issued a threat to Morris, demanding that he step down from the ministry he would report the abuse to law enforcement. The family friendship imploded and Morris complied, stepping away from ministry for two years. However, he eventually returned and became head of the biggest church in the country.
Morris has previously detailed his rebellious roots, where he would routinely engage in sexual sin as a teenager, explicitly targeting girls he viewed as vulnerable. In his book From Dream to Destiny, he claims he stepped back from the ministry and took a regular job when he was 25, the time he was exposed, due to “pride.”
Wartburg further shares:
Cindy sought a financial settlement to help reimburse her for her counseling, but she wouldn’t sign an NDA. In 2005, she obtained an attorney to file a civil lawsuit. Robert Morris’s attorney responded by implying that they believed it was her fault because she was “flirtatious.” She asked for $50,000 (which was not much in my estimation.) They responded that they would give her $25,000 if she signed an NDA. She refused, so she can now tell her side of the story.
After being recently confronted about it, the Elders of Gateway Church have release a statement to staffers in case they get proactively asked about it, saying that Morris had a “moral failure” 35 years ago, and was “involved in an inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady” and that “it was kissing and petting and not intercourse.”
However, according to Cindy, she was not a “young lady” but rather a CHILD, and the alleged child sexual abuse lasted 4.5 years. This is a not just an instantly and eternally disqualifying sin, but this is a CRIME, and cursed is anyone who helped cover it up.
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Absolutely disgusting. That any elder could possibly believe Morris is Biblically qualified to teach is unthinkable. Morris should have been arrested and tagged a sex criminal.
The shaking in the church is not going to stop; it’s going to get intense. Things that have been hidden are being exposed. If pastors, elders, church boards, and members do not respond appropriately, the Glory nof God will depart from their church and Ichabod will be written over the door.
Yes to you all God is shaking down these evil men and women in there churches, not Gods. Read and shared Jude1:3-23! We are in the End times. Praying for true revival and true repentance. Falsehoods are all around let us all preach Gods truth in Love the only true hope that exists.
This pastor and elders are deceptive and part of a coverup. You can’t find any information about Robert Morris prior to Gateway. I wonder why……
There must be accountability from the Elders, Church and Congregation. Totally disgusting how these people are covering for him and his wife is a huge part of the problem.
Heads should roll. This includes everyone who knew about this and didn’t do anything about it.
Comments by the woman/victim say she was digitally penetrated by Morris as a child – an act that constitutes rape in many states. That church as well as the victim’s parents erred in not providing this information to the police.
The woman said she was 16 and Morris 25 when he attempted to have intercourse with her in his car, shortly before her family found out what was happening.
He obviously had a long-term plan to groom her for sex from the age of about 12 until she was physically, though not mentally, mature at age 16. This wasn’t something he did in a moment of weakness, which of course is still unexcusable, but premeditated and predatory. People like that don’t typically do this sort of thing just one time. He should be investigated for other such crimes. I would be surprised if she was his only victim.
When will the church learn that size, numbers, money, power, and popularily is NOT an indication of the calling or blessing of God upon a ministry?
Yes, in fact, rather than a good sign, it is usually the opposite (Matthew 7:13-14)