Gateway Church Changes Name in Light of Robert Morris Scandal

Gateway Church’s Houston branch has decided to change its name following the recent child sex abuse scandal by founding pastor Robert Morris at their main Southlake campus, distancing itself from the stain of his deviltry.

Gateway Church in Houston was planted in 2020 and led by Elaine and Ethan Fisher, Robert Morris’s daughter and son-in-law. They shared on their Facebook page that they’re now becoming “Newlands Church, severing ties with their old namesake,” and that the next chapter is about obedience and stepping out in faith to be who God has called us to be.

Insisting that the name change has been in the works for the last year and a half, an accompanying video offers that their initial intention for the church was ” full of the legacy and heritage of those who have gone before us” but that “God has been speaking to us about creating a distinct, localized identity.”