SOUTHLAKE, Texas — After a four-month internal investigation into alleged sexual abuse claims against founder and senior pastor Robert Morris, Gateway church has removed multiple elders, a church leader announced Saturday.
In June, Cindy Clemishire accused Morris of molesting her when she was 12 years old in the mid-1980s. Shortly after these allegations came to light Morris resigned from the church.
During a Saturday afternoon service, church elder Tra Willbanks gave a summary of the investigation to church congregants saying that all but three of the church’s elders either knew about Morris' encounter with Clemishire or were privy to the information and “failed to inquire further.”
"We now know that there were elders and employees at Gateway who knew before June 14, 2024, that Cindy was 12 at the time of the abuse. Both groups are fundamentally wrong and simply cannot and will not be tolerated at Gateway Church," Willbanks said.
Willbanks didn't specifically name the elders who were removed from the church.
“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 serves as an elder, is employed by, or works at Gateway Church. They have been removed,” Willbanks said.
On Gateway’s website, pictures of Elders Kevin Grove, Thomas Miller, Jeremy Carrasco and Gayland Lawshe, were no longer displayed on the elder's page as of Saturday evening.
Gateway hired an outside law firm, Haynes and Boone, to conduct the internal investigation into the accusations. The law firm had also recommended that any Elders with a potential conflict of interest take a leave of absence, including anyone who was on the board from 2005 to 2007.
Willbanks said Morris had declined to meet with Haynes Boone during their investigation.
While providing a summary of the report Willbanks also said that the church is cooperating with an ongoing criminal investigation.
"I can share that neither the church nor its current leadership are subjects of this criminal investigation. These past four and half months have been a very difficult and challenging time for our church," Willbanks said.
Willbanks also said the investigation revealed no other incidents of sexual abuse by Morris.
“To our knowledge, there are no other victims of Robert Morris other than Cindy Clemishire,” Willbanks said.
Clemishire accused Morris of first molesting her on Christmas in 1982 when she was 12 years old. She says she'd told her story for years and tried to sue Morris in 2005, but it did not generate much attention.
Clemishire's attorney is Boz Tchividjian, evangelist Billy Graham's grandson. He has litigated hundreds of sex abuse cases. Clemishire and Tchividjian both said they hope her case will prompt lawmakers to consider extending or eliminating the statute of limitations for sex crimes committed against children.
Since Morris' resignation, the church has faced a lot of public scrutiny and several staff members have parted ways with the church. In September, James Morris, the son of Robert Morris announced the name of his new church, two months after resigning from Gateway.