EGN NEWS DESK
(CP) The Board of Elders of Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, introduced Tuesday that the megachurch’s founder, Robert Morris, has resigned, they usually have retained a regulation agency to research a declare made by a lady who alleges Morris sexually abused her over a number of years within the Nineteen Eighties starting when she was 12.
“Today, June 18, the Board of Elders of Gateway Church accepted the resignation of Robert Morris, the senior pastor. In addition, the Board has retained the regulation agency of Haynes & Boone, LLP, to conduct an unbiased, thorough, {and professional} evaluation of the report of previous abuse to make sure we’ve got a whole understanding of the occasions from 1982-1987,” the board stated in a press release to The Christian Post.
Morris’ resignation comes after the lady, 54-year-old grandmother Cindy Clemishire, claimed that the megachurch pastor started sexually abusing her on Dec. 25, 1982, and continued with the abuse for four-and-a-half years after that.
Without naming Clemishire, Morris admitted to CP in an earlier assertion that he had engaged in “inappropriate sexual behaviour with a younger girl” whereas he was a pastor in his early 20s.
“When I used to be in my early twenties, I used to be concerned in inappropriate sexual habits with a younger girl in a house the place I used to be staying. It was kissing and petting and never intercourse, however it was incorrect. This habits occurred on a number of events over the following few years,” Morris stated.
“In March of 1987, this example was dropped at mild, and it was confessed and repented of. I submitted myself to the Elders of Shady Grove Church and the younger girl’s father. They requested me to step out of ministry and obtain counseling and freedom ministry, which I did. Since that point, I’ve walked in purity and accountability on this space,” Morris added.
Elders at Gateway Church additionally advised CP that Morris was clear with them about his previous they usually believed he had been biblically restored to ministry. In their newest assertion, nevertheless, the elders stated Morris didn’t reveal that he had abused a 12 12 months outdated.
“Regretfully, previous to Friday, June 14, the elders didn’t have all of the details of the inappropriate relationship between Morris and the sufferer, together with her age on the time and the size of the abuse. The elders’ prior understanding was that Morris’s extramarital relationship, which he had mentioned many occasions all through his ministry, was with ‘a younger girl’ and never abuse of a 12-year-old little one,” the elders defined.
“Even although it occurred a few years earlier than Gateway was established, as leaders of the church, we remorse that we didn’t have the data that we now have. We are heartbroken and appalled by what has come to mild over the previous few days, and we specific our deep sympathy to the sufferer and her household,” the elders stated.
“For the sake of the sufferer, we’re grateful this example has been uncovered. We know many have been affected by this, we perceive that you’re hurting, and we’re very sorry. It is our prayer that, in time, therapeutic for all these affected can happen.”
© The Christian Post
