Morris faces indictment on charges of lewd acts involving a child, claiming that Gateway Church is exploiting this situation to void financial commitments amidst ongoing legal disputes.
DALLAS — In a recent court document submitted by his lawyers, former pastor Robert Morris, founder of Gateway Church in Southlake, acknowledges that his decades-old involvement with a 12-year-old girl was “highly inappropriate,” contending that the church was aware of it for years and is now leveraging it to break financial agreements.
In the motion filed in Tarrant County district court on May 30, Morris requests a judge to deny Gateway Church’s request to suspend arbitration and instead push for the case to proceed through Christian arbitration, per his employment contracts.
Morris left the megachurch in June 2024 after Cindy Clemishire accused him of molestation on Christmas in 1982 in Hominy, Oklahoma, at the age of 12. In March, an Oklahoma grand jury indicted Morris on five counts relating to lewd acts with a child.
“Pastor Morris acknowledges that he had a highly inappropriate relationship with CC [Clemishire] during the 1980s, and he is currently facing the criminal ramifications of that relationship in an Oklahoma court,” the filing states.
The court document claims that Gateway’s leadership was aware of these allegations as far back as 2005, discussing them in elder meetings, emails, and consultations with legal advisers. Morris presented evidence indicating that elders referred to the matter as a “closed issue” following what they termed a “restoration period” in the late 1980s.
After Morris’ resignation, several staff members, including his son, James, departed from the church. James Morris has subsequently launched a new church. Following an internal investigation conducted by the church that resulted in the dismissal of several Gateway elders, the church announced it would add four new elders.
“If Gateway claims it acted decisively to rid itself of everyone who knew of Pastor Morris’s inappropriate relationship, why does it still retain the law firm that was also aware of this situation and is now acting aggressively against Morris in its lawsuit,” stated Morris’ attorney, Bill Mateja, in a statement to WFAA.
“Furthermore, why does Gateway perpetuate the false claim that Pastor Morris wasn’t transparent with church leadership when it openly acknowledges dismissing the many leaders and staff who were aware of his highly inappropriate relationship,” added Mateja.
“There is nothing new in this filing and it simply represents the latest unfortunate effort by Robert Morris to shift blame away from himself onto others for his criminal actions,” Gateway stated on Friday.
Gateway further asserted, “We have consistently stated that there were Elders and employees at Gateway who knew of this issue before it became public, yet chose not to take action or inquire further. This was fundamentally wrong, and the church Elders took decisive action, with none of these individuals remaining a part of Gateway Church today. More importantly, Robert Morris, in his own filing, continues to refer to his actions as an ‘inappropriate relationship’ instead of acknowledging it for what it truly was – a grave crime against a child. It appears there is nothing that Robert won’t say or do to shift blame onto others.”
Earlier in the month, Gateway Church contended in court documents that Morris is attempting to compel Gateway to pay him over $1 million in deferred compensation along with retirement benefits estimated between $600,000 and $800,000. The church argues that due to the accusations and criminal charges against Morris, his contract has been rendered invalid, relieving the church of payment obligations.
Morris has additionally filed a motion on Friday aiming to disqualify the church’s long-time attorney, David Middlebrook, from the current legal team, citing a significant conflict of interest.
The motion claims that Middlebrook and his firm, The Church Lawyers, provided personal legal counsel to Morris for years, including matters related to Clemishire, as per the allegations.
According to court documents, Morris states that Middlebrook offered legal guidance during various significant events over the past two decades, including a 2007 legal threat and a series of anonymous accusatory emails in 2011. The motion asserts that Morris disclosed private information to Middlebrook, making it unethical and inappropriate for the attorney to now represent Gateway in opposition to him.
The document also claims that Gateway is using the allegations as justification to withhold Morris’s severance benefits as outlined in his contract.
Middlebrook has yet to respond publicly to the motion.