Update:
5:00 p.m., June 19, 2024: This story was updated to reflect that Daystar Television Network said it is removing programming by Robert Morris.
Gateway Church’s Robert Morris has been accused of sex abuse in the 1980s: What to know
Oklahoma woman says the abuse started Christmas Day 1982 when she was 12 years old
Robert Morris is the senior pastor at Gateway Church in Southlake, one of the largest churches in the country, and has been accused by a woman of sexually abusing her from when she was 12 years old until she was 16.
Morris, 62, has resigned, Gateway Church announced in a news release Tuesday.
The Oklahoma woman, now in her 50s, said Morris abused her on multiple occasions from 1982 to 1987. The allegations, first publicized Friday in the religious watchdog blog Wartburg Watch, said the abuse happened in Oklahoma and Texas between 1982 and 1987. The Christian Post published a story June 15, 2024, about the allegations.
Cindy Clemishire, Morris’ accuser, said Morris was already married with a child when their families met in 1981. The Dallas Morning News does not typically name victims of sexual abuse, but Clemishire has allowed her name to be published.
Morris has not been criminally charged, and the statute of limitations for both a criminal and civil case may have passed.
A statement reportedly sent to church staff by elders of Gateway posted to X said Morris “has been open and forthright about a moral failure he had over 35 years ago.” According to the statement, Morris’ restoration process was closely administered by elders and included professional counseling.
Church leaders later said they were not aware of Clemishire’s age at the time.
On June 21, Gateway Church leadership, in an email addressed, its congregation for the first time, calling for prayer and characterizing the accusations as “deeply disturbing.” At the service the next day, elder Tra Willbanks addressed the controversy in front of congregants and asked them to pray for Morris and his accuser.
Here are five things to know about pastor Robert Morris following the sexual abuse allegations and the megachurch he founded:
Robert Morris founded Gateway Church in his living room in 2000
Gateway Church is a nondenominational church that is “Bible-based, evangelistic, Spirit-empowered,” according to its website. Robert Morris founded Gateway in 2000 in the living room of Southlake home with just 30 people.
Three years later, Gateway opened a 64,000-square-foot facility with a 600-seat auditorium in Southlake. A few years later, Gateway broke ground on its current Southlake campus, which features a 4,000-seat auditorium.
In 2016, Gateway added a campus in Dallas near Hillcrest Road and Churchill Way. It also operates campuses in Frisco, Grand Prairie, Fort Worth, North Richland Hills, Justin and Prosper and counts more than 100,000 active attendees, according to its website.
Morris is an author, hosts a radio program and a TV program.
Morris has written numerous books including The Blessed Life; Why Keep Praying; Dream to Destiny; The God I Never Knew; Truly Free and his latest Grace, Period.
He also hosts a radio program, Worship & the Word with Pastor Robert, that airs in more than 6,800 cities, according to its website. His television show, Pastor Robert Morris Ministries, airs on Trinity Broadcasting Network and Daystar and reaches 190 countries according to its website. In Dallas-Fort Worth, it airs on KDFW-TV (Channel 4) at 9:30 on Sundays, according to its website.
Daystar, in a statement posted on social media Tuesday, said it would remove all of Morris’ programming from its broadcast schedule in light of the allegations and the statement by Gateway Church.
“Daystar unequivocally condemns the actions described in these allegations and remains committed to upholding Biblical values as outlined in the Word of God,” the statement said.
Following Morris’ resignation, mention of him on Gateway’s website was removed, and his social media pages appear to have been taken down. His books were also removed from the bookstore inside Gateway’s Southlake campus.
Morris has political ties
Morris has been politically active.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Morris was named to Donald Trump’s evangelical advisory board. In 2020, Trump visited Gateway Church at its Dallas campus as part of a trip that included a fundraising dinner. Trump and senior administration officials spoke at the church about several issues, including the George Floyd protests, the coronavirus pandemic and the racial disparities they exposed.
The presidential visit brought the national spotlight to the church.
At the time, Morris told The News he recently began to talk to ministers of different ethnicities, “and to hear the stories of these precious men and women of God of the racism and prejudice that they faced and that their families have faced, their parents, their grandparents, it will break your heart.”
After the allegations from the 1980s surfaced, multiple North Texas politicians condemned Morris’ alleged actions and any attempt at a cover-up and said Morris should have spent time in prison and removed from ministry.
“Jesus forgives every sinner who calls upon His name,” but said Morris should never have been allowed to serve in ministry due to his actions, John Huffman, the former mayor of Southlake, said in a statement posted on X.
State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, said in a text message that legislators must improve laws to ensure justice for victims of child sexual abuse.
Gateway Church hosted a large blood drive after Morris received transfusions
In 2018, Morris received seven units of blood when he had to have several emergency surgeries, The News reported.
In response, Gateway Church partnered with Carter BloodCare to host community blood drives at six of Gateways campuses in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
“If the hospital didn’t have blood ready to give him,” his son, Pastor Josh Morris, told the congregation in 2018, “there’s no question he would have died.”
Morris has already planned to step down as senior pastor.
Morris has been married to his wife Debbie for more than 44 years, according to the church website. They have a daughter, two sons and nine grandchildren.
According to the church’s website, Morris appointed his son, James, as his successor in February 2022. Later that year, the church elders approved James Morris taking over as senior pastor in spring 2025. The website states Robert Morris would remain the primary speaker on the weekends.
