Texas megachurch removes elders, staffers for silence on sex abuse

The multi-campus Gateway Church in Texas removed several elders from leadership as the result of an independent investigation into the sexual misconduct of former senior pastor Robert Morris, church elder Tra Willbanks said over the weekend. The law firm Haynes and Boone started investigating Morris after he resigned in June amid child sexual abuse allegations. Cindy Clemishire, now an adult, publicly alleged that Morris started sexually molesting her at the age of 12 and continued for several years.

The law firm collected over 700 gigabytes of data, reviewed thousands of pages of documents, and interviewed more than two dozen individuals, Willbanks said. Investigators found that multiple elders and employees knew of the abuse allegations before June and remained silent. Some even knew the victim was a child and still remained silent, Willbanks said. Those who knew of the abuse before June have been removed from leadership and church employ, he confirmed. No other abuse by Morris has been uncovered by investigators and the church is taking steps to guard against future leadership failures, Willbanks added. The elder did not share the number of elders and employees removed.

Willbanks denounced the abuse committed by Morris and attributed the lack of accountability to an unhealthy church culture. People wanted to protect Morris at all costs because he was an integral part of Gateway’s culture, and that allowed the truth to be buried for far too long, Willbanks said. The church is facing several pending or threatened lawsuits and continued to fully cooperate with the ongoing criminal investigation, the elder said. Gateway is also rejecting all financial demands Morris has made, he added.

What kind of changes are being made? Gateway is undergoing an internal review and is redrafting several governance policies, according to Willbanks. The church has already abolished the office of apostolic elder and paid staff may no longer serve as an elder, he said. Senior and executive pastors will serve on the elder board in a nonvoting capacity, Willbanks added. Voting members of the board should not be employed by the church and should not report to a senior pastor, he explained.

Dig deeper: Read Stephen Kloosterman’s report for more about the abuse allegations from earlier this year.