The founder of a Texas megachurch allegedly sexually abused a 12-year-old girl and several individuals knew but failed to intervene, a private investigation determined.
Gateway Church in Southlake, near Fort Worth, engaged the law firm Haynes & Boone to conduct an investigation into allegations that founder Robert Morris had a sexual relationship with a 12-year-old girl in the 1980s. The investigation claims that the relationship did occur and others were aware, but did not ask additional questions.
Four church elders, Kevin Grove, Thomas Miller, Jeremy Carrasco and Gayland Lawshe, were removed after the investigation concluded.
“We must be honest with ourselves and acknowledge that our culture allowed this truth to be buried for too long,” Tra Willbanks, another elder at Gateway Church, said during a worship service on Saturday.
Robert Morris, founder of Gateway Church, allegedly sexually abused a 12-year-old girl, according to a private investigation. The inquiry also accuses several individuals of failing to intervene, despite knowing about the alleged abuse.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File and Google Maps
Willbanks also called it a “massive governance and accountability failure.”
“When a church becomes centered around one pastor alone, it’s lost its way,” Willbanks said. “And unfortunately, we have come to the realization over the last several months that at some point in the past, the culture at Gateway became one where power was centralized and the leader at the top was surrounded by people who wanted to protect him, some of them at all costs.”
Morris allegedly abused the juvenile between 1982 and 1987, when he was a traveling evangelist in his early 20s.
Cindy Clemshire accused the pastor of repeatedly molesting her during that time.
“There was one group who knew without a doubt that Cindy was 12 when the abuse began, and there was a second group who knew of allegations of sexual abuse by Robert Morris, who had enough information that they should have led should have led them to ask more questions and inquire further, but they did not,” Willbanks said.
Clemshire told CBS News Texas that Morris and his wife were friends with her parents and would frequently stay at their home.
“He said, ‘You can never tell anyone because it will ruin everything,'” Clemshire told the outler.
Robert Morris resigned as head of Gateway Church in June. Morris’ son, James Morris, and his wife, Bridget, also stepped down from leadership roles in the church last summer.
Gateway Church was founded in 2000 and is now one of the largest congregations in the nation, with an attendance of over 25,000. Its main campus spans 64 acres.
The evangelical church had its first service on Easter in 2000 at the Hilton Hotel in Grapevine. About 180 people attended the service.
The church settled two lawsuits this year alleging sexual abuse and harassment. In April, Gateway Church settled a 2020 lawsuit filed by the family of a child who claimed that five pastors concealed sexual abuse she received from a youth leader in 2018.
In June, the church settled a 2023 lawsuit filed by a woman who alleged she was sexually harassed by a pastor, then fired from her position as his administrative assistant.
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