Sunday silence: Gateway Church does not tell the congregation a......

Gateway Church did not respond to allegations of past abuse – or “moral failure” – by its senior pastor, Robert Morris, when it gathered to worship this weekend, just days after a woman who said he molested her starting when she was 12 in the 1980s shared his account online.

The Southlake, Texas-based megachurch made a last-minute change so its executive pastor, Kemtal Glasgow, could take the stage in place of guest speaker Albert Tate, who was scheduled to be part of the series of been from Gateway and which itself was placed. on leave last year from his church in California for inappropriate text messages.

Glasgow, who said he was on his way to church when he received the call he would answer that day, preached about patience, listening and waiting on the Lord. His message was spread across Gateway’s 10 campuses, which attract about 25,000 people in person each week. He did not mention Morris or any abuse allegations.

Morris, 62, founded Gateway in 2000 and grew into one of the largest megachurches in the United States. He also has a worldwide audience, through his programs on Christian television and radio. Morris previously served as religious advisor to President Trump and advisor to Mark Driscoll’s new church.

Non-denominational and charismatic, Gateway is a leading producer of evangelical worship music, with singer Kari Jobe having served as its former worship leader. Gateway Worship’s music was streamed over 300 million times last year alone. On Sunday, the congregation opened with one of its own hits, singing “Praise the Lord.”

Southlake campus pastor Lorena Valle also did not address the scandal when she spoke to the congregation. A recording of Sunday’s service was posted on the church’s YouTube channel. Comments have been disabled.

Gateway acknowledged the accusations in a media statement, including The Christian Post, saying the Church was aware of the allegations. The elders wrote that Morris had “been open and frank about a moral failure he experienced more than 35 years ago, when he was in his 20s and before he founded Gateway Church.”

The statement came after an Oklahoma woman, Cindy Clemishire, shared her story Friday on The Wartburg Watch. She said on the blog that Morris stayed with his family in Tulsa while working as an evangelist and youth preacher in his early 20s and that he invited her into his room and touched her under her clothes and underwear when she was 12 years old.

Clemishire said the behavior continued for four years and escalated to an attempt to have sex in his car when she was 16. Morris was married at the time and had one child.

In a statement to THE Christian message, Morris said: “When I was in my early 20s, I was involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young woman in a house where I lived. It was kissing and caressing, not sexual intercourse, but it was wrong. This behavior occurred several times over the next few years.

According to Morris, he confessed and repented in 1987, while on staff at Shady Grove Church, which later became part of Gateway. Gateway said Morris had undergone a two-year restoration process, including “professional counseling and advice from the Ministry of Liberty”, and that since the implementation of accountability measures, there have been no “no other moral failure” in his life.

Clemishire said her father was angry with Morris when she told him about the situation and asked the young pastor to leave his ministry. According to her story in The Wartburg Watch, she said she then filed for a settlement in 2005 to help cover counseling fees, but turned down the offer from Morris’ lawyer because it included an NDA .

A former Gateway pastor has spoken out on X to urge the Church to look beyond Morris’ alleged behavior and address broader abuses committed by Christian leaders.

“This cycle has a much broader view than just ‘moral failures’ and the ‘restoration’ debate. It is a cycle of uncontrollable power dynamics and manipulation,” wrote Bob Hamp, a licensed therapist who served as executive pastor of pastoral care at Gateway more than a decade ago. “It’s a cycle about the belief systems of the Church and culture that allow us to support violent people.”

Morris did not share a response with his congregation or on social media; he has not posted since the Clemishire story was published. CT has reached out to Gateway and Morris for additional comment.

The Church did not indicate that Morris would be subject to additional review or disciplinary action as a result of Clemishire’s disclosure. The elders believed that “the matter had been properly disclosed to the leaders of the Church” and considered it resolved.

The allegations are similar to recent accusations against Mike Bickle, founder of the Kansas City International House of Prayer. Earlier this year, a woman alleged that Bickle began abusing her in the 1980s, when she was 14. The ministry severed ties with Bickle at the end of 2023 and has since closed its doors.

In many places, the statute of limitations prevents criminal charges from continuing when victims disclose decades-old abuse, but more states, such as Louisiana and Washington, are changing their laws to allow victims of abuse children to file civil suits.

Experts say victims of sexual abuse often feel guilty and may not consider themselves victims until years later. Young women and girls have always risked being accused of tempting ministers; Clemishire says she was “forgiven” by Morris’ wife after the story came to light.

However, children cannot consent to sexual activity. And there is another power dynamic when clergy are involved. More and more experts view relationships once considered “affairs” as nonconsensual and abusive.

The way we talk about pastor abuse is significant, according to Hamp, the former Gateway pastor.

“Take these three dynamics: the special leader, the mishandling of sin, and the minimizing labels loaded with inaccurate implications, and the entire culture will fight over who was wrong and who should be forgiven and, in doing so, leave the dangerous dynamics in place. And it will happen again. And it will happen again. And it will happen again,” he said.

“Paul clearly says that predators must be excluded from the Church. It does not distinguish between who should and should not be based on their position or popularity.