Robert Morris, the founder and senior pastor of Gateway Church in Southlake, is accused of sexually abusing a woman for four years, starting when she was 12 years old, the religious watchdog blog Wartburg Watch reported.
Morris, a spiritual adviser to Donald Trump and leader of one of the country’s largest churches, is accused of abusing the woman several times in the 1980s, The Christian Post reported on Saturday. She said the abuse occurred in Oklahoma and Texas from 1982 to 1987, when Morris was in his 20s. The woman is now in her fifties.
A blog post from The Wartburg Watch identified the woman as Cindy Clemishire. The writer said Clemishire specifically described the alleged abuse, down to the clothing she was wearing when the abuse occurred.
Morris acknowledged in a 2014 sermon that he was “sexually immoral” as a teenager.
“We went out and met girls and overnight I became immoral,” Morris said in the sermon. “There was a curse in my life that made immorality easy for me.”
In a statement from the nondenominational megachurch this week — screenshots of which are circulating on social media — Morris said he “engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with a young lady at a home where I was staying.”
Some screenshots of the statement shared on social media contain directions not to “proactively” release the statement to the media or public.
“This statement is intended to give you an answer if someone asks, and not as something you can proactively send to people.”
Morris said the contact he had with the underage girl was wrong, but there was no sexual intercourse.
“It was kissing and petting and not intercourse, but it was wrong. This behavior occurred several times over the next few years,” Morris said in the statement.
The Star-Telegram called and left messages several times Sunday but was unable to reach a pastor or spokesperson at the church’s Southlake campus, which has about 100,000 members in Texas and the U.S.
Morris did not immediately respond to an email from the Star-Telegram seeking comment.
In Gateway’s statement, the church said Morris “has been open and frank about a moral failure he had more than 35 years ago” and that “there have been no other moral failures.”
Morris said in the statement that “the situation” came to light in 1987 and that “there was an admission and remorse about it.”
“I submitted myself to the elders of Shady Grove Church and to the father of the young lady,” Morris said, referring to the father of the then 16-year-old girl. “They asked me to get out of the ministry and get counseling and freedom ministry. Since that time I have walked in this area in purity and responsibility.”
In the statement, Morris said he returned to the ministry in 1989 “with the full blessing of the elders and her father.”
On its website, Gateway Church describes its freedom ministry as religious guidance to “undo the works of the devil in the lives of individuals,” including exorcism.
Clemishire told a Wartburg Watch blog writer that she met Morris at a youth revival in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1981, the post said.
“He often stayed at her house and sometimes brought his wife Debbie and their son Josh,” the blog said. “Robert and Debbie Morris quickly became family friends, and Cindy considered them safe and friendly. Their families often traveled together.”
According to The Wartburg Watch, he abused Celmishire when Morris stayed at their home.
The Gateway Church statement said leaders were aware of the alleged abuse and that Morris has since “placed accountability measures and people in his life.”
