Robert Morris admits 'moral failure' after allegations of sexual abuse of 12-year-old

A blog chronicling the alleged sexual abuse of a woman when she was 12 by Gateway Church pastor Robert Morris has prompted the Texas-based megachurch to acknowledge a decades-old “moral failure.” However, in a statement to staff, the church did not state the woman's age at the time of the “inappropriate sexual behavior”, referring to her simply as a “young woman.”

Gateway Church was founded in 2000 by Morris and has more than 100,000 people in attendance each weekend at its nine locations and online.

Friday morning, The Wartburg Watch published an article alleging that Pastor Morris sexually abused Cindy Clemishire, a 54-year-old grandmother of three from Oklahoma, beginning in 1982, when she was 12 years old. .

Yesterday, around 4 p.m., Senior Pastor Thomas Miller sent a statement from Gateway elders to church staff via the Slack messaging platform, according to sources close to the church. These sources also provided The Roys Report (TRR) with a screenshot of Miller's message and the elders' statement.

In the statement, Morris admitted that “in my early 20s, I was involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young woman in a home where I was staying.” Morris described the behavior as “fondling, not sexual intercourse” and said it happened “repeatedly over the next few years”.

He added: “Since that time, I have walked in purity and responsibility in this area. »

According to Clemishire, who spoke with RTR and gave us permission to use her name, Morris' abuse began when she was 12, on Christmas Eve 1982.

A charismatic young traveling evangelist, Morris was invited to organize a youth revival in her northeastern Oklahoma hometown and quickly became friends with Clemishire's parents.

“He and his wife, Debbie, were family friends and often stayed at our house when he preached at my father's church,” Clemishire said, revealing how the alleged abuse continued until he was 16 years old. “We even took trips together.”

Clemishire noted that she was “not a 'young lady,'” as Gateway's statement said. “I was a child. I was an innocent little girl.

At the time of the alleged abuse, Morris was between 21 and 25 years old. He also served as pastor of Shady Grove Church, which is now the campus of Gateway Church-Grand Prairie.

Clemishire said she was sharing a room with her older sister at the time. But during his visit, Morris allegedly slept in the girls' bedroom, while Clemishire and her sister slept in another room.

On Christmas Eve, Morris allegedly asked Clemishire to come to his room and spend some time talking. During that visit, Clemishire said Morris sexually assaulted her.

“It was so innocent,” the woman said. “I wore pink pajamas with bloomers over my underwear and a snap bathrobe.”

The accuser described her childhood in Oklahoma in the 1970s and 1980s as picture perfect within a loving family.

“He told me, 'Don't tell anyone because it will ruin everything,'” Clemishire said.

“It didn’t ruin anything for him, but it ruined everything for me,” she added. “It was always in the background.”

Clemishire said she was 17 when she told her parents about the years of abuse that progressed from inappropriate touching to instrumental rape.

“Years later, when my father found out what had happened, he told the senior pastor at Shady Grove Church that if Morris did not leave the ministry, he would report him to the police,” Clemishire said .

After years of counseling, the woman contacted a top criminal defense attorney to file a civil suit against Morris.

The statute of limitations for authorities to pursue criminal charges have long expired.

“I just wanted someone to pay for the years of counseling I took,” she said.

Clemishire said Gateway offered her $25,000 if she signed a nondisclosure agreement, which she refused.

“I didn’t want money,” she said RTR. “I wanted him to pay for the advice I followed.”

In Morris' statement, he said he “confessed and repented” of his actions and resigned from his ministerial post for two years in March 1987. He said he also received advice and that he returned to the ministry two years later with the blessing of the “young woman’s” father.

However, Clemishire said his father did not “bless Morris' return to ministry.”

“We are asked to forgive – but that does not mean my father has given his blessing. He wanted to kill him,” Clemishire said.

RTR reached out to Gateway spokesperson Lawrence Swicegood for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

In his message to Gateway staff, Pastor Miller said he was sending the elders' statement “to give staff an answer if anyone inquires, not as something to proactively send to people.”

The email further instructed staff to direct congregants who wish to “talk more about anything” to a campus pastor, and to direct media to Lawrence Swicegood.

Statement from Gateway Church – June 14, 2024

Sheila Stogsdill is a freelance print and digital journalist, primarily covering crime issues for KSN/KODE.