Gateway Church leadership has more questions to answer in the wake of the resignation of senior pastor and founder Robert Morris amid allegations that he sexually abused a 12-year-old girl in the 1980s.
In a recent article, The Roys Report pointed out that Gateway Church’s Prison Ministries Campus Pastor, Stephen Wilson, is a known convicted sex offender.
Editor’s note: This article contains information about child sex abuse and assault that some readers might find disturbing and/or triggering.
According to an article written by Outreach Magazine’s Jonathan Sprowl in 2019, Wilson was a former middle school teacher and coach who was found guilty in 2002 of attempting “indecency with a child” after he had an “inappropriate relationship with one of his high school students.”
Wilson was arrested on July 30, 2002, and charged with a third-degree felony. He served time in prison and had to register as a sex offender for 10 years. He also forfeited his teaching license.
RELATED: Robert Morris Resigns as Gateway Church’s Senior Pastor Following Sexual Abuse Allegations
A local news article from 2002 indicated that Wilson was charged with “three counts of indecency with a child.” Two of the counts involved Wilson touching of the girl’s breasts and genitals, records show. The third count, according to the Assistant District Attorney Jay Lapham, involved “his causing her to touch his genitals.”
Wilson told Outreach Magazine that although he grew up in church, he only possessed “head knowledge” and didn’t actually submit his life to Christ until he was in prison.
While in prison, Wilson witnessed fellow inmates “holding hands and praying in a circle.” Wilson said what he saw “blew [him] away.”
“I’d never thought about those things happening in prison,” he said. “So I just said, ‘Okay, God, I get it. When I get out, I’m going to come back and reach those guys just like that.’”
Following his release from prison, Wilson obtained his M.A. in Discipleship Ministries from Liberty University. He started his G3 Prison Ministries non-profit in 2008. The ministry later partnered with Gateway’s Global Ministry in 2011. According to the church’s website, Wilson joined Gateway Church’s staff in 2019 for the purposes of developing and implementing an “internal prison ministry at Gateway.”
