Texas megachurch fires elders from leadership following abuse investigation

A Texas megachurch has removed four church elders from its leadership after the organization hired a law firm to conduct a private investigation into sexual abuse allegations against its founder.

On Saturday, November 2, Gateway Church elder Tra Willbanks announced the removal of elders during a service in Southlake in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

According to media outlets NBCDFW and ABC affiliate WFAA, Willbanks informed the community about the investigation this weekend. The investigation was conducted by law firm Haynes Boone after allegations surfaced earlier this year against Gateway senior pastor and founder Robert Morris.

Morris has admitted that he engaged in “inappropriate sexual conduct” with a “young lady” in the 1980s after a woman named Cindy Clemishire previously alleged to WFAA that he abused her from 1982 to 1987. Morris did not admit to abusing Clemishire, but resigned from the WFAA church.

Willbanks said three of the four elders removed from the church either knew about Morris' incident with the alleged victim or “failed to investigate further.”

“We now know that there were elders and staff at Gateway who knew, prior to June 14, 2024, that Cindy was 12 years old at the time of the abuse. “Both groups are fundamentally wrong and simply cannot and will not be tolerated at Gateway Church,” Willbanks told the congregation, according to the outlets.

“We have decided to draw a very clear line here based on biblical and moral values ​​and the values ​​of our church family, and we can report to you that to date no one serves as an elder in either group or is employed by… or works at Gateway Church. They have been removed,” Willbanks added, which was met with applause from the congregation, NBCDFW said, before adding that the church was cooperating with a criminal investigation.

“To our knowledge there are no other victims of Robert Morris other than Cindy Clemishire,” he added.

Willbanks also reportedly said the church was cooperating with an ongoing criminal investigation.

Although Willbanks did not specifically name the elders removed from the church, both media outlets reported that the names of elders Kevin Grove, Thomas Miller, Jeremy Carrasco and Gayland Lawshe had been removed from Gateway's website.

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An earlier statement from the church in June clarified that three elders who served on Gateway's board of elders from 2005 to 2007 – Grove, Dulin and Lawshe – took voluntary and temporary leaves of absence from the board following the law firm's investigation.

“These three elders … are men of integrity who have served Gateway Church with distinction, and each of these three elders has clearly stated that they had no knowledge of the true facts of this situation,” the statement reads in part.

Clemishire's attorney, Boz Tchividjian, previously told NPR that in 2007, in addition to the ongoing investigation, Clemishire tried to settle a civil lawsuit against Morris related to the alleged abuse, but she ultimately withdrew because he wanted her to sign a nondisclosure agreement .

According to the church's website, Morris founded Gateway Church in 2000. The church now has multiple locations across the country.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453 or visit www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available around the clock in more than 170 languages.