Gateway’s Church Service Yesterday Was a Sad, Half-Empty Affair
Yesterday’s Sunday service at Gateway church’s Southlake campus was a sad affair, marked by low attendance, a recorded message, and several families walking out halfway through the apology.
Unlike Saturday’s service, which featured a packed church listening to Gateway Elder Tra Willbanks addressing the congregation and apologizing to them and Cindy Cleminshire following allegations of Robert Morris, all the while protesters gathered outside, Sunday’s atmosphere was completely different.
The 11:00 am service was half empty. It featured live music and then a brief message from Plano Campus pastor Jelani Lewis, who shared, according to the Fort Worth Star Telegram:
“I’m so sorry. I know that many of us are coming today and we’re all in different places. Some of us have come in today and we’re heartbroken. Some of us have come in today and we’re angry. Some of us have come in today and we’re not sure what to feel and then some of us have never been more hopeful.”
Rather than have a message from a pastor or elder present in the room, the church instead played the aforementioned video by Willabanks, seen below, resulting in many people walking out halfway throug, and then a recorded sermon from Joakim Lundqvist, the lead pastor of Life Church in Uppsala, Sweden, filled out the rest of the service.
Lewis concluding by inviting members to sign up for a chance to talk to a pastor about their feelings about the situation.
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First off, what did the Elders know and when did they know it? Were the elders aware of Morris’s past ? If so what were they told?
You see the answers to these questions just lead to more questions.
You need a 3rd party to investigate for sure so good move here.
Yet you accepted Morris’s resignation? He should have been terminated upon the elders learning that he sexually assaulted a 12 yr old child
Over the course of 4.5 yrs if they were informed of that prior to Morris’s exit for the church.
I’m sure there are more victims, sexual predators like Morris start early in life not at 20 years of age.
I’m sure more will come of this, sadly…..
One elder (Tom Lane, who served as Gateway’s Executive Pastor – essentially #2 behind Morris) knew everything, including that Cindy was 12.
Having had a friend who served as the admin to the Board of Directors of a major publicly traded company, she explained the company had a protocol for all types of communications the Board might receive (as an example, any threats of terrorism would go straight to Security). Likely, Gateway had a similar setup, and it was probably that any communication alleging sexual misconduct from Morris would go straight to Lane, who would “run interference” for Morris.
Also, under labor law, once a person resigns from a company, that person cannot then be fired. Gateway could have rights regarding final salary and future benefits, but probably Morris (who started the church) probably set things up to where the elders can’t legally do anything other than to prohibit him from coming back in the future.
The big concern is that Morris named his youngest son, James, as his successor. Of course, even though James has not been accused of any wrongdoing, the concern is that Morris will actually control things behind the scenes if James takes over as planned. The elders already approved that succession plan a year ago; whether they can revoke their approval I do not know.
The reason the elders and church have lawyered up is the undisputable fact that the victim approached them in 2015 with the truth while seeking restitution for years of counseling. This church has known the facts for at least 9 years and covered them up.
Cindy first contacted them in 2005. Then again in 2007. There is another report where another member saw where Cindy mentioned the events on a 2009 posting at Oprah’s blog message board and notified the church of what she saw (two elders met with this member and gave her the impression that Cindy was a young woman – not a child – and that the matter “popped up from time to time” but was long ago settled).
Even worse.
Having attended Gateway services in the past (not a member, nor ever have been), this is their normal setup.
Their only live sermon is at the 4PM service on Saturday at the Southlake main campus. The other branch campuses which meet at 4PM have a simulcast from Southlake. All other services feature a tape from the 4PM Southlake service.
The only exception is that, at all campuses, the music is live.
As such, the 4PM service would be their most attended.
What a sad state of the church……
Shutter the church
The Pastor and elders have failed the church for too long. There is no redemption for this organization