DALLAS (TX)
Chron [Houston TX]
October 11, 2024
By Eric Killelea
Nearly 25% of members have left the North Texas church since its former senior pastor Robert Morris resigned after being accused of child sexual abuse.
Lawrence Swicegood, the lead spokesman for the Gateway Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro, said this week that Texas-based law firm Haynes and Boone is wrapping up its investigation into abuse allegations made public in June against former senior pastor Robert Morris.
“The inquiry by Haynes Boone will not be concluded until mid October early November,” Swicegood told me in response to questions via email.
His remarks came as current and former Gateway members accuse the church’s leaders of being non-transparent when it comes to the investigation and financial responsibilities. Despite rumors to the contrary, Haynes and Boone spokesman Jacob Bourne on Thursday confirmed the firm is “still conducting its independent investigation, which the firm was retained to perform” this year.
Many Gateway members were reportedly shocked when Clemishire told The Watchburg Watch that she was sexually abused by Morris beginning in 1982, when she was just 12 years old and he was a married pastor. Morris then admitted to The Christian Post that he had an “inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady.”
In the aftermath, Gateway leaders have since distanced themselves from Morris, saying the former faith adviser to former President Donald Trump had disclosed a “moral failure to elders and yet claimed they thought he was having an affair with an adult. Elders and pastors including Morris’ son James have stepped down from their posts amid the investigation.
Former church members have estimated that about half of the 100,000 members have stopped attending services at the multi-site megachurch. But last week, Lawrence told me in email the church’s attendance dropped 22-to-24 percent since late June.
Swicegood’s comments come on the heels of a rush of Gateway-related news describing how the church settled one sex abuse case only to face another lawsuit involving accusations of abuse by a youth group member; the church’s efforts to rebrand itself and the legacy of the Morris family.
This month, a group of Gateway members filed a class-action lawsuit alleging the church and disgraced leading pastor and elders mishandled millions of dollars in tithes given to them for foreign missionary work. According to the suit, Morris and other elders allegedly told the congregation that 15 percent, or about $15 million of all tithed donations, would go to missions and Jewish ministry partners. However, a CPA contracted to work for the church said it only gave about $3 million to missions per year.
In the meantime, Valentina Hansen, who volunteered for Gateway for three years, has accused church leaders of revoking her membership last month after she posted a series of social media messages demanding an investigation into the church’s finances and child sexual assault reporting practices.
Hansen recently told me she’s been “trying to bring lightness to darkness” in holding accountable Gateway leaders. In doing so, she met with church elder Tra Willbanks and campus pastor Lorena Valle in late August to discuss such matters but felt dismissed in the process.
In a letter dated Sept. 6, Gateway elders told Hansen they made “the difficult decision to dismiss you” from the church after she allegedly “violated Biblical requirements by continuing to sow discord and conflict.” The elders cited Titus 3:10 in the New Testament: “Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them.”
The following day, Hansen, a 47-year-old federal law enforcement official for a public health sector under the U.S. Department of Justice—she’s not an FBI agent, despite online rumors—allegedly faced a wall of armed security guards when trying to enter the megachurch for a Saturday evening service and was effectively told she wasn’t allowed on the property anymore. The incident has since received coverage from Christian blogs and news sites and even international outlets.
When asked about Hansen’s claims, Swicegood said the church elders revoked her membership “because of her disruptive actions and continued practice stances” against the church. He confirmed that Hansen met with a church pastor and elder and said she “chose not to believe the accurate and factual answers” and “went on her social media account seeking to discredit the facts she was given.”
Hansen, who has garnered support from other Gateway members for her efforts to hold pastors and elders accountable, considers the ongoing Haynes and Boone investigation to be biased in favor of the church. “It’s all PR,” she said.
Religion Reporter
Eric Killelea is a religion reporter for Chron, based in Houston, writing about the impact of faith and culture on people in Texas. Previously, he covered Elon Musk, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity for the San Antonio Express-News. He has written extensively about criminal justice, oil and gas, mining and politics in Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota and Montana.