What we know about the results of an investigation into the founder of Gateway Church

Gateway Church announced Saturday that it has hired a law firm to conduct an internal investigation into its company founder Robert Morris’ alleged sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl had finished his report.

In response to the Haynes Boone report’s findings, the church said Saturday it was making significant changes, including removing some of its top leaders and updating its governance structure.

The Dallas Morning News has attempted to reach Morris at multiple phone numbers and has sent letters to four addresses listed for him in public records, but has not heard back.

Here’s what we know so far about the law firm’s report and how Gateway Church is responding.

Gateway removes four elders, saying they had information about Morris’ allegations

During the service, church elder Tra Willbanks said that all but three of the church’s elders knew before Saturday that former senior pastor Robert Morris had had sexual contact with a 12-year-old, or had received some information about the situation and “weren’t there managed to provide further information. ”

“We have decided to draw a very bright line here, based on Biblical and moral values and the values of our church family, and we can report to you that as of today, no individual in either group is an elder, employed by or working at Gateway Church,” Willbanks said as he drew applause from the audience at the megachurch’s Southlake campus.

Haynes Boone delivered a report to a subcommittee of elders, including Willbanks, Kenneth Fambro and Dane Minor, Willbanks said.

Elders Thomas Miller, Gayland Lawshe, Kevin Grove and Jeremy Carrasco were not visible on Gateway’s senior page on the church’s website as of Saturday afternoon.

Gateway is cooperating with a criminal investigation

Willbanks said the church is cooperating with a criminal investigation. “I can share that neither the church nor its current leadership are the subject of this criminal investigation,” he said.

The church would not say which law enforcement agency is handling the investigation.

Gateway is reviewing its governance structure

The church will review its bylaws and governance structure, Willbanks said. In the past, the church was governed by a group of elders, consisting of both church employees in other positions and people with full-time jobs elsewhere. Going forward, all voting members of Gateway’s board of directors will be non-staff employees, Willbanks said.

“We need to bring this level of independence and objectivity to our elders, and that has been lacking in recent years,” he said.

Willbanks said the staff will no longer serve as elders, with the exception of the church’s future senior pastor and possibly an executive pastor. Willbanks said both positions would be non-voting elders.

“The truth is that the events of the last few months have shown that there has been a major lack of governance and accountability here at Gateway Church,” Willbanks said at the end of his remarks. “It was a failure of culture, and we must be honest with ourselves and recognize that our culture allowed this truth to remain hidden for too long.”

Gateway condemns founder Robert Morris

During Saturday’s service, Willbanks condemned Morris in the strongest words the church has yet used.

He said Gateway’s culture had become centralized around Morris, allowing the truth to remain hidden for years.

“If a church focuses solely on one pastor, it has lost its way,” Willbanks said. “Unfortunately, in recent months we have come to realize that at some point in the past the culture at Gateway became one in which power was centralized and the leader at the top was surrounded by people who wanted to protect him, some of them at all costs.”

Willbanks said that on the day Cindy Clemishire came forward with allegations that Morris had abused her in the 1980s, Morris ordered church officials to release a statement with the intention of minimizing its claims.

He said elders could independently verify elements of Clemishire’s story and asked for a meeting with Morris. but Morris resigned without meeting the elders.

“To date, there have been six individuals who have declined to meet with Haynes and Boone in person, including Robert Morris,” Willbanks said.

Morris founded Gateway Church in 2000. In nearly 25 years, the Southlake-based megachurch grew to 100,000 members and nine D-FW campuses, the church said.

Morris was an advisor to former President Donald Trump and wrote the influential book The blessed life and hosted a TV show that aired in more than 190 countries, according to an archived version of Morris’ website.