Allegations Against Gateway Church Founder Lead to Defamation Lawsuit
Cindy Clemishire has made headlines with her legal action against the Gateway Church and its founder, Robert Morris. The lawsuit, demanding over $1 million, accuses the church and Morris of defaming Clemishire by misrepresenting her abuse as a consensual relationship.
Filed in Tarrant County, the suit involves Clemishire and her father, Jerry Lee Clemishire, as plaintiffs. It claims that Morris and the church’s leadership mislabeled the sexual abuse as a consensual encounter, despite Clemishire being a child at the time.
Clemishire alleges that public comments made by Morris and church executives, including Lawrence Swicegood, were “knowingly false” and intended to downplay the severity of the abuse, which reportedly began when Clemishire was 12 years old.
In March 2025, Morris faced indictment on several counts of child sexual abuse. The accusations relate to activities that allegedly took place over four-and-a-half years, starting in December 1982, while Morris was a traveling evangelist.
A significant development came when Gateway Church decided to remove multiple elders after an internal investigation discovered that most were aware of the situation yet failed to act. Some even knew of Clemishire’s age at the time but didn’t pursue the matter 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,” stated Gateway Elder Tra Willbanks.
Documents filed by Morris’ legal team suggest that Gateway’s leadership had known about his “highly inappropriate relationship” with Clemishire for over a decade. Despite this, Morris did not disclose the full extent of his actions to the congregation.
Morris wrote a statement in 2011 about an incident that allegedly occurred just before Clemishire’s 13th birthday. “In my early 20’s I was traveling and speaking in churches… Their daughter came and got in bed with me and there was kissing and petting,” he reportedly noted. He admitted to knowing she was underage, calling his actions “completely inexcusable.”
Despite being advised against publicizing the statement to protect privacy, Morris mentioned that he was “shocked” by the girl’s age as she “appeared much older.”
Gateway Church has refrained from commenting on the lawsuit but has criticized Morris’ continued characterization of the events. A church spokesperson stated, “There seems to be nothing that Robert won’t say or do to blame everyone else but himself.”
For further details, please refer to the full statements and legal documents available from sources such as WFAA and The Dallas Morning News. You can also read more about Morris’ indictment here.
This article was originally written by www.christianpost.com
