On June 14, Cindy Clemishire accused Robert Morris, the founder of Gateway Church, a major Southlake megachurch, of abusing her starting when she was 12.
Clemishire, 54, went public with her story in a blog post by the Christian watchdog website The Wartburg Watch. Four days later, Morris resigned. The megachurch he founded has 100,000 members and nine D-FW campuses, according to the church.
The Dallas Morning News has attempted to reach Morris at multiple phone numbers and mailed letters requiring a signature to four addresses listed for Morris in public records but has not heard back.
Here are five things to know about Clemishire’s allegations of abuse and how Morris and his church have responded to it.
Morris was a friend of Clemishire’s family
Clemishire described Morris as a family friend in interviews with The News and said he would often stay with her family in Hominy, Okla., when he came to preach at the church the Clemishires attended.
On Christmas Day 1982, Clemishire’s family picked up Morris from the airport so he could stay with them for a few days. While they were unloading luggage from the car, she says, Morris told her: “Before you go to sleep, come in my room; I want to talk to you.” That was the night four and a half years of abuse began, Clemishire says.
Morris responded to Clemishire’s story
Robert Morris has provided one public statement on Clemishire’s story, in the same The Christian Post article published the day after Clemishire came forward.
“When I was in my early twenties, I was involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady in a home where I was staying,” Morris said in that statement. “It was kissing and petting and not intercourse, but it was wrong. This behavior happened on several occasions over the next few years.”
Clemishire previously asked Morris to pay her a financial settlement
Clemishire told The News she reached out to Morris in 2007, seeking $50,000 to cover the cost of years of therapy. She says his attorneys responded by offering her $25,000 if she signed a non-disclosure agreement, which she was not willing to do.
Earlier this month, she testified at a meeting of the Texas House Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence about nondisclosure agreements in situations involving the abuse of a child.
Morris’ lawyer said Clemishire ‘initiated inappropriate behavior’
In 2007 email communications obtained by The News, Morris’ attorney J. Shelby Sharpe corroborated Clemishire’s account that Morris began to conduct “inappropriate behavior” – “kissing and petting” – with her in 1982, when she was 12.
Sharpe also wrote: “It was your client who initiated inappropriate behavior by coming into my client’s bedroom.”
When reached for comment, Sharpe shared a statement with The News through an employee. “It was only informational for the attorney, that’s all that letter was. He never accused a child, nor would he ever,” the employee said.
Gateway Church hired a law firm to conduct an investigation
On June 21, Gateway Church announced it had hired the law firm Haynes and Boone to conduct an investigation into Clemishire’s allegations and what church leaders knew about them. That firm encouraged Gateway to put four of its elders on leave, the church said on June 28.
In July, two of those elders — Morris’ son James, and founding elder Steve Dulin — left the church. The firm’s investigation remains ongoing.
Adrian Ashford covers faith and religion in North Texas for The Dallas Morning News through a partnership with Report for America.
