Pastor Robert Morris applauds during a roundtable discussion at Gateway Church in Dallas on June 11, 2020. After abusing her for three times, Morris resigned.
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Decades-old child molestation accusations have brought down a pastor who founded one of America’s largest megachurches and served as an evangelical adviser to former President Donald Trump.
Texas pastor Robert Morris recently resigned from Dallas’ Gateway Church after admitting to “sexual misconduct” with a 12-year-old girl in the 1980s. The allegations were originally published on June 14 by The Wartburg Watch, a blog dedicated to investigating abuse and other issues in the church. The blog shared the account of Cindy Clemishire, who accused Morris of molesting her for years, beginning when she was 12 years old.
Now, the Church Presbyterian Church is scrambling to respond to Clemmie County’s claims. It addressed the congregation during last weekend’s church service and said in a separate statement that it had A series of measures were taken to deal with the consequences.
Here’s what we know so far.
Who was Robert Morris, founder of Gateway Church?
Morris, 62, Famous for founding Gateway Church in 2000. 100,000 active believers, with nine campuses in Texas and multiple campuses in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and St. Louis.
Morris further rose to prominence in 2016 after then-candidate Trump appointed him as his spiritual adviser and member of the Evangelical Advisory Council. Trump, where Trump mentioned Morris and another Gateway Church member, Steve Dooling. Known as “a great man with a great reputation”.
The Trump campaign did not respond to NPR’s request for comment. But since Clemmy County came forward, a Trump campaign spokesman told the New York Times that Morris had played no role in Trump’s re-election campaign.
Morris resigned from his position at Gateway on June 18 after pleading guilty to mistreating Clemmie County. He has not been charged with any crime.
Morris did not respond to NPR’s request for comment.
The Rev. Robert Morris, left, and senior pastor of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Maryland, after President Donald Trump delivered remarks during a roundtable discussion titled “Transitioning to Greatness: Restoration, Reconstruction, and Renewal.” Bishop Harry Jackson (right) applauds.
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What are the details of the charges?
In her account, which she told the Wartburg Observer, Morris’ abuse of Clemihill began in 1982, when she was 12 and Morris was 21. The families were friends, and Morris, his wife, Debbie, and young son would stay with Clemihill’s family and travel with them.
Clemmie County said the abuse began on Christmas night 1982 and continued for more than four years, occurring in Texas and Oklahoma. That night, Clemmie County claims Morris touched her breasts and under her panties. As she grows older, He attempted to have sex with her.
Clemihill said the abuse ended when she told her parents when she was 16. Her father demanded that Morris resign from the cabinet or he would report the abuse to law enforcement.
Morris retired from ministry in 1987 but returned two years later.
According to National Public Radio’s KERA News, Morris admitted to the accusation of “sexual misconduct” in a statement shared on social media shortly after the report was published. Gateway Church elders said in a statement Morris “has been open and forthright about his moral failings of more than 35 years ago,” admitting Morris has said he had several sexual encounters with a “young woman” when he was in his 20s. and “repented.”
This statement It is also said that Morris left the ministry for two years in the 1980s to undergo psychological counseling.
In recent days, current Gateway leadership and at least one former leader have claimed they were unaware of the full scope of the sexual abuse, the specifics or the age of Clemmie County at the time.
But in a follow-up to the Wartburg Observer’s initial report, Clemmie County said that then-Gateway Church elder She became aware of the allegations as early as 2005, when she sent an email directly to Morris’ Gateway email address. She told the publication: “Former Gateway elder Tom Lane received and responded to my email acknowledging that the sexual abuse began on December 25, 1982, when I was 12 years old.”
But she said the church’s leadership at the time ultimately believed the “false narrative” Morris gave them.
Lane recently posted on social media that he had “no knowledge of the extent and specific circumstances of the sexual abuse she experienced” before Clemishier made her statement on June 14, or that she was 12 when the abuse began. age.
Two years later in 2007 Clemmie County’s email to the church, her then-attorney Gentner Drummond sent a letter to Morris “with the hope that he would help reimburse me for the thousands of dollars I had expended in counseling as a result of this abuse. His attorney acknowledged the dates as well and then attempted to blame me for the abuse,” she wrote on the blog.
Her current attorney, Boz Tchividjian, told NPR that “Cindy and her attorneys did try to settle the civil claims against Morris in 2007, but he would only [do] So if she signed a confidentiality agreement. She refused and left the settlement.
Clemihill, through her attorney, declined to be interviewed.
Tchividjian told NPR they are “currently evaluating options,” but it’s unclear what limitations may be imposed on criminal prosecution statutes of limitations in Oklahoma and Texas.
What are church leaders saying and doing now?
Tra Willbanks, one of the megachurch’s elders, addressed the Gateway congregation over the weekend and denied knowledge of Morris’ previous abuse. The father of six daughters said: “What happened is very disturbing. I’m going through the same range of emotions as you are. As an elder, I don’t know the truth. Frankly, like many of you , my wife and I were shocked, shocked and saddened.
In the same speech, he expressed “sympathy” for Clemmie County.
Following Morris’ resignation on June 18, Gateway Church Presbytery released a new lengthy statement on its website confirming Morris’ departure They wrote, announcing that they had hired the law firm Haynes & Boone to conduct an independent investigation into the case “in order to understand the facts.”
“Gateway Church is committed to protecting people – first and foremost, children and the most vulnerable. Abuse will not be tolerated,” the board wrote.
They said they did not have “all the facts” before the Wartburg Observer first reported on the Clemmie County experience on June 14.
“The Board of Elders is deeply committed to acting with integrity and seeking the truth. Having this investigation conducted by an independent and impartial outside law firm is best practice. The review has begun and the Board of Elders is committed to its full cooperation,” the Gateway elders wrote.
Tchividjian, the Clemmie County attorney, criticized Gateway’s leadership for changing when and what version of information they knew about Morris’ allegations.
“Just a few weeks ago, Gateway Church leadership publicly claimed that Robert Morris” had been transparent with them and that the senior pastor had “no other moral failings.” Now they claim he wasn’t transparent with them, when in fact he lied, Tchividjian wrote in an email to NPR.
Chivigjian said his client had been sharing her story for years and “even alerted some ministries and churches. No one took any action.”
A representative for Gateway pointed NPR to Willbanks’ June 22 statement.
