FORT WORTH, Texas (RNS) — Robert Morris, former senior pastor of the prominent nondenominational Gateway Church headquartered in Southlake, Texas, resigned two weeks ago after Cindy Clemishire accused him of molesting her for four years, beginning when she was 12. The case has prompted calls for reforms not only in the church but at the state Capitol.
“These actions demand public exposure, should never be tolerated, and any person who harms a child should and must be held accountable,” said Texas state Rep. Nate Schatzline, a Fort Worth Republican whose district neighbors Southlake, on Monday (July 1). “I will continue to speak the truth regardless of who it affects, and I will continue to advocate for legislation that protects children from abuse.”
State Rep. Jeff Leach, a conservative Christian who chairs the powerful Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee, told the political newsletter Quorum Report that he plans to hold hearings and consider all remedies, including changing statutes of limitation in such cases.
RELATED: Robert Morris’ Son, 3 Others Taking Temporary Leave From Gateway Church’s Elder Board
“The Texas Legislature must improve our laws protecting and ensuring justice for victims of childhood sexual abuse, including substantially strengthening our criminal and civil statutes of limitation,” Leach said in a statement. “We should be leading in this area. As the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a longtime advocate for victims and their families, I intend to continue to do just that.”
While not as well-known as Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in nearby Dallas, Morris, 62, became a political force as well as a spiritual leader in North Texas after founding Gateway in Southlake in 2000. Last year, Lifeway Research in conjunction with the Hartford Institute for Religion Research listed the church as the ninth largest in the United States, and one of the fastest growing, with about 25,000 worshippers attending every Sunday on 10 campuses in Texas and Wyoming.
Morris was a member of Donald Trump’s evangelical advisory board during his 2016 presidential campaign, and in 2021 Morris was part of an initiative to energize conservatives ahead of Trump’s 2024 run for president. Trump visited the church in 2020, during his failed reelection bid. In 2017, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott enlisted Morris to support his push for a bill restricting access to bathrooms for transgender children.
Morris publicly acknowledged his involvement with a young woman two days after Clemishire made her accusations. “When I was in my early 20s, I was involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady in a home where I was staying,” Morris told The Christian Post after the allegations were first reported by The Wartburg Watch, a website focused on abuse in the church. He said he had confessed and repented of the sin in 1987. Gateway acknowledged in a statement that he confessed to “a moral failure he had over 35 years ago,” but church leaders said they had no idea the person involved was a child.
RELATED: Gateway Church Learned of Robert Morris’ Crime in 2005, Says Abuse Survivor Cindy Clemishire
Clemishire has disputed that claim, saying that a church leader responded to an email she sent in 2005 informing them of her age. A transcript later came to light in which Morris discussed making a payment to Clemishire in restitution.
