The woman who said she was sexually abused as a child by Robert Morris, former lead pastor of Gateway Church, has mixed feelings about his dismissal from the church.
She’s glad he’s no longer the pastor of the North Texas megachurch he founded, but doesn’t like the way he left.
“While I am grateful that he is no longer pastor at Gateway, I am disappointed that the board of elders has allowed him to resign,” Cindy Clemishire wrote in a statement released by her attorney Boz Tchividjian. “He should have been fired.”
Clemishire, who told religious watchdog blog The Wartburg Watch that Morris abused her from age 12 to 16 from 1982 to 1987 after he was arrested, says she does not believe she is the only victim.
Morris resigned Tuesday after calls for his resignation from the ministry by elected leaders alarmed by his actions. He admitted in a statement from the church that the abuse had occurred.
Morris called Clemishire a “young lady” in his statement and said he kissed and touched her, but there was no sexual intercourse. The church’s board of elders said they were not aware of the details of the abuse and that Morris had spoken in the past about an affair he had, without disclosing that the “affair” was actually the sexual abuse of an was a child.
Clemishire said in her statement that she had previously reported her abuse to church officials. She emailed Morris and received a response from a church elder in 2005, acknowledging receipt of her email, she said. She also said a former attorney who represented her contacted Morris in 2007 to request reimbursement for the years of counseling she endured because of the abuse.
“His attorney also acknowledged the dates and then tried to blame me for the abuse,” Clemishire wrote in her statement. “At the very least, both the Gateway pastor and at least one elder had specifically reported that I was being sexually abused beginning when I was twelve years old. Gateway had the information, but deliberately decided to embrace the false narrative that Robert Morris wanted them to believe.”
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Morris said in the Gateway Church statement that after the abuse was discovered in 1987, he was removed from ministry by Shady Grove Church, where he worked at the time, and entered the “freedom ministry.”
On its website, Gateway Church describes its own freedom ministry as religious guidance to “undo the works of the devil in the lives of individuals,” including exorcism.
Morris said he spoke with church elders and Clemishire’s father and returned to ministry in 1989 with their “blessing.”
Gateway Church started in 2000 with 180 members in a Grapevine hotel and has grown to more than 39,000 active members at its home campus in Southlake and at satellite churches in Dallas-Fort Worth, from North Richland Hills to Grand Prairie to Frisco.
The church’s elders said in the statement Tuesday that they are grateful that the abuse has come to light, “for the sake of the victim.”
“We know how many people have been affected by this, we understand your pain and we are very sorry,” the board said in its press release. “It is our prayer that healing can eventually take place for all those affected.”
Morris’ resignation came after elected leaders across Texas called on him to resign and said he must face the consequences of his actions.
John Huffman, former mayor of Southlake, apparently took issue with Morris’ characterization of Clemishire at the time as a “young lady.”
“Years ago he destroyed the life of a twelve-year-old girl. She was not a young lady, but a child,” Huffman wrote in a post on X on Tuesday morning. “He should have spent time in jail, but he didn’t.”
In times of great and sudden disasters, many of us feel completely helpless to put our thoughts into words. I have had many conversations and seen many messages online, with friends and neighbors at a loss for words because of the news coming out of Gateway Church.
Yet the…
— John Huffman (@JohnRHuffman) June 18, 2024
Gateway Church said it has retained Haynes & Boone, a Fort Worth law firm, to conduct an independent investigation into abuse between 1982 and 1987.
A spokesperson for Haynes & Boone confirmed to the Star-Telegram that the firm has been hired to conduct the investigation, but did not release any other information.
Clemishire quoted her lawyer in her statement Thursday, saying the investigation is not sufficient. According to its website, Haynes & Boone is involved in crisis management. That worries Tchividjian, who is also unhappy with the decision to limit the investigation to the time when Clemishire was abused. He said the investigation should cover Morris’ entire tenure at Gateway Church.
Clemishire urged all other victims to speak out.
“I encourage anyone who has been sexually victimized by a leader at Gateway Church to take the courageous step forward and speak up. Now is the time,” she wrote.
She said anyone who comes forward will receive support.
“I hope and pray that the leadership of Gateway Church will echo this encouragement, knowing that this can be an opportunity to find the truth while providing relief and reparation to the victims,” she wrote.
Clemishire said she is heartbroken for the congregation who trusted Morris and encouraged them to keep their faith despite his actions.
