Allegations of child sexual abuse have surfaced on a blog dedicated to the stories of Christian survivors. This time, the man involved has gone on to lead one of the largest megachurches in the United States.
Robert Morris, who founded and led Gateway Church for nearly 25 years in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Southlake, Texas, resigned after the scandal broke in June. His departure plunged thousands of evangelicals into a months-long season of mourning.
Last week, a pastor who oversaw all of Gateway’s campuses left amid an undisclosed “morality issue,” the latest in a series of changes for the church: the cancellation of its annual conference, the departure of Morris’s successor, the renaming of its Houston campus and an exodus of congregants.
At each weekend service, congregants continue to face reminders of the scandal, with interim or guest pastors beginning their sermons by saying “I’m sorry,” talking about grief or finding hope in difficult times. They’ve noticed that people who have sat and prayed around them for years are once again not showing up for worship.
The church has seen a 17% to 19% drop in attendance at weekend services, a church spokesperson told CNN .
Turnover at the church could have far-reaching effects. Gateway Church draws about 100,000 people to its weekend services and has more than 560 employees at nine locations in Texas and two others in Missouri and Wyoming, according to the church.
It is considered one of the largest megachurches in the United States, which are congregations with an average weekly worship attendance of 2,000 people or more. There are nearly 1,800 megachurches in the United States, according to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research.
Morris’s standing as a public figure goes beyond the size of his former congregation. In 2016, he served on former President Donald Trump’s Evangelical Executive Advisory Board, the campaign announced in a press release at the time.
Trump also held a roundtable discussion at Gateway’s Dallas campus in 2020 and Morris led a prayer before the event.
“I didn’t know the truth,” says elder about Morris abuse
The congregation’s “difficult” and “difficult” season — as interim pastor Max Lucado called it in a sermon last weekend — began in June, when Cindy Clemishire’s account of abuse was published on The Wartburg Watch, a church watchdog blog.
Clemishire, 54, told the CNN WFAA that Morris molested her in 1982, when she was 12. It started on Christmas Day and continued until she told her parents in 1987, she said.
Soon after the allegations surfaced, Morris admitted to engaging in “inappropriate sexual behavior with a young woman” in the 1980s. In its initial response, Gateway Church said the pastor had been “open and forthcoming about a moral failure” that occurred when he was in his 20s and working at another church, and had a two-year “restoration process,” according to statements obtained by WFAA.
It was only days later that Morris resigned from his position. In a statement announcing the resignation, the Gateway Church Board of Elders said the group did not have all the facts about Morris’s extramarital relationship, the victim’s age and the duration of the abuse.
The board said Morris discussed this many times as something that happened before he founded the congregation, but he did not mention that it was with a child.
“As an elder, I didn’t know the truth. And frankly, like many of you, my wife and I are shocked, devastated and hurting,” Tra Willbanks, one of the megachurch’s elders, told the congregation at a June service.
For about 10 minutes, he wept as he spoke about Morris’s resignation from behind a lectern at center stage. “I can’t imagine carrying a burden like that for so many years, and I want to tell you, Cindy. I’m so sorry,” he added.
The church has since said it has hired a law firm to “review the report of past abuse” so it can understand “the facts.” Clemishire alleges that at least one church leader knew about the abuse in 2005, she said in a statement to CNN .
If there are other victims, Clemishire said he encourages them to come forward.
“I believe wholeheartedly and sadly that I am not the only victim. I encourage anyone who has been sexually victimized by a leader at Gateway Church to take a bold step and say something. Now is the time. Please know that you will be supported and will not walk this journey alone,” Clemishire said in her statement.
Morris’ successor resigns
At least three other pastors have left Gateway Church since Morris’ resignation, triggering more uncertainty about the future.
Morris’ son James Morris, who was slated to become senior pastor next year, and his wife Bridgette resigned a month after the scandal.
They agreed to step down from their current roles and step down “from leadership of Gateway going forward,” the church said in a July 27 statement. He was asked to take a leave of absence while the law firm conducted its review.
When the couple addressed the congregation one last time during the service, they held hands after taking the stage. The younger Morris chose to focus his message on the joy and love he felt at church, while his wife choked up before speaking about grief.
“The Lord is giving us a vision for the future, but we are sorry, we are sorry (for) not being here with you,” Bridgette Morris said.
With their departure, the couple chose to allow Gateway to “have a fresh start,” said Willbanks, who introduced them at the service.
Three current elders who served on the board from 2005 to 2007 have been placed on leave while the law firm’s review is conducted, the church said.
The men are following a recommendation made by the law firm and said they were “unaware of the true facts of this situation,” according to a June 28 statement from the church.
Another pastor leaves, Houston church cuts ties
Another pastor, Kemtal Glasgow, was fired for an unspecified “moral issue,” the church announced last week. Glasgow’s role was to oversee all Gateway campuses.
“We were made aware last week of a moral issue that we believe, as elders, disqualifies him from serving in the role he held at Gateway,” Willbanks said in a video statement.
“We love his family, we love his wife and his children, and we want to be there for them during this difficult time and help them find the restoration and healing that they need as a family,” he added.
Gateway Church spokesman Lawrence Swicegood acknowledged that the church asked Glasgow to resign because of his “moral failure,” he told CNN on Wednesday. “To be clear, this decision regarding Kemtal had nothing to do with the departure of Robert Morris nor related to those circumstances.”
Morris’ son-in-law said his church cut ties with him earlier this summer, and recently announced the rebranding of his congregation from Gateway Church Houston to Newlands Church.
Senior pastor Ethan Fisher, who is married to Morris’ daughter Elaine, said his church has been supported by Gateway since its launch in 2020 but operates as a “stand-alone church, both financially and legally.”
“I believe that during this season, as a church, God is once again calling us to something new, and I simply want to follow,” Fisher told the congregation.
What’s next?
Church members are divided on whether to continue attending. Lou Comunale, a longtime church member, told the CNN KTVT who attended a service in June and saw that leaders are not “hiding behind shame.”
“I think he was spot on. I think he didn’t hide behind the shame… that it brought to the church, but we went beyond that and we’re not just looking at a man, we’re looking at Jesus Christ and this church is going to thrive because they confessed,” Comunale said of Willbanks addressing the congregation.
In the week since the allegations emerged, several people staged a protest outside the church while Sunday service was in progress. They held signs in support of Clemishire, carrying messages that read “Justice for Cindy,” “She was 12,” and “They knew.”
For Emily High, the 17 years she spent as a church member were cut short because she felt betrayed, she said.
“It’s anger, it’s the whole range of emotions,” High told WFAA. “Being a pedophile, a molester, that’s not OK.”
As the search for a new pastor is ongoing, the two interim pastors have been sharing weekend duties.
Pastor Joakim Lundqvist, a megachurch leader in Sweden, shared how his own congregation has faced and overcome several crises. Lucado, an author and church leader in San Antonio, Texas, encouraged the Gateway community to think about what comes next.
“I am confident that this season, which is an uphill climb to the windy season, will result in a second wind, a new season, a time when the church will be better for it, and stronger on the other side of it,” Lucado said last weekend.
They hope to help worshipers heal and stay united.
This content was originally published in Texas megachurch faces exodus of believers after sexual abuse scandal on CNN Brasil.
Source: CNN Brasil
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