SOUTHLAKE (TX)
The Roys Report [Chicago IL]
July 3, 2024
By Sheila Stogsdill
Four Gateway Church elders, including Robert Morris’s son, have temporarily stepped down from their positions with the Dallas megachurch.
Gateway Church founder Robert Morris resigned from the church’s top position on June 18, following Cindy Clemishire’s bombshell allegations she was sexually abused by Morris in 1982 when she was 12 years old.
Kevin Grove, Steve Dulin, Gayland Lawshe, and Pastor James Morris volunteered to take a temporary leave of absence, according to a June 28 statement on Gateway Church’s website.
The move follows the recommendation by Haynes & Boone, the law firm investigating the Morris allegations, that any elder with a potential conflict of interest step down temporarily. The recommendation applies to any elder related to Morris and elders who were on the Board from 2005 to 2007.
This is the time period when Clemishire says she reached out to Robert Morris and at least one Gateway elder about the alleged abuse, which Clemishire says began when she was only 12 years old.
As previously reported by The Roys Report (TRR), a 2005 telephone transcript obtained by media shows Robert Morris asked Clemishire how much money it would take to buy her silence. According to Clemishire, Gateway offered her $25,000 around this time to compensate her for years of counseling, but she refused.
Elders Grove, Dulin, and Lawshe were on the board from 2005—2007, but claim “they had no knowledge of the true facts of this situation,” the statement says.
James Morris, Gateway associate senior pastor, was not an elder from 2005— 2007 but is Robert Morris’s son and was set to assume the church’s top leadership position in 2025.
James Morris agreed to step down “to demonstrate his commitment to a truly independent and unbiased inquiry,” the statement says.
After Robert Morris’ resignation two weeks ago, Gateway’s elders released a statement, saying the elders believed Morris’ extramarital relationship, which he had discussed many times, was with “a young lady” and not a 12-year-old child.
News of Morris’ sexual misconduct reportedly first surfaced in 1987, when Morris was serving at Shady Grove Church, now Gateway Church-Grand Prairie Campus, and as an evangelist for James Robison’s ministry. Morris resigned from ministry at that time, but how long he remained out of ministry is disputed.
Morris claims he took a two-year hiatus from ministry from 1987—1989. However, a newspaper clipping shows that during the time of Morris’ alleged hiatus, he was holding revival services in Mississippi.