Cindy Clemishire, the woman who alleges she was sexually abused by Gateway Church founder Robert Morris in the 1980s, beginning when she was just 12, has filed a defamation lawsuit against the Southlake, Texas, church and Morris seeking over $1 million.
The lawsuit names Clemishire, 55, and her father, Jerry Lee Clemishire, as plaintiffs, WFAA reports. The filing alleges that Morris and Gateway Church leaders mischaracterized the abuse she suffered as a consensual “relationship” with a “young lady” instead of the sexual assault of a child.
It further alleges that when public media reports emerged in 2024 about the abuse Morris, Gateway’s board of elders and media executive Lawrence Swicegood made “knowingly false” statements to minimize what happened.
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Morris was indicted in March on five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child by a multi-county grand jury in Oklahoma in connection to his actions against Clemishire. She reported that Morris began sexually abusing her on Dec. 25, 1982, when she was 12, and continued with the abuse for four-and-a-half years after that. At the time, Morris was serving as a traveling evangelist.
Gateway Church, which Morris founded in 2000, removed multiple elders last November after a four-month investigation found that all but three church elders had some knowledge about Morris’ encounter with Clemishire and “failed to inquire further.” Some allegedly knew before allegations became public that Clemishire was a child when the abuse occurred.
“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,” Gateway Elder Tra Willbanks said during a November service. “Both groups are fundamentally wrong and simply cannot and will not be tolerated at Gateway Church.”
In court documents filed by Morris’ attorneys in Tarrant County District Court earlier this month, he alleges that Gateway’s elders were made aware more than a decade ago of his “highly inappropriate relationship” with Clemishire, according to The Dallas Morning News.
The filing includes a statement that Morris, who resigned last June, was supposed to read to Gateway members from the pulpit in 2011 after he received an email from an anonymous account. The email was also sent to all Gateway elders and media outlets, including The Dallas Morning News.
“In my early 20’s I was traveling and speaking in churches and I was staying in a home of one of the members of the church where I was speaking. Their daughter came and got in bed with me and there was kissing and petting. I have been told that it was about 2 weeks before her 13th birthday,” Morris reportedly said the statement, which he ultimately did not share with the congregation.
“Although I knew she was underage, I was shocked to hear this because she appeared much older. My behavior was completely inexcusable and I am 100% at fault.”
A counsel for Gateway Church at the time allegedly advised against making the statement public due to “invasion of privacy laws” that would “publicly embarrass” Clemishire.
Gateway Church spokesperson told The Christian Post that “nothing in this filing is new,” saying it “represents just the latest sad attempt by Robert Morris to deflect blame away from himself to others for his criminal actions.”
“We have consistently and publicly said that there were Elders and employees at Gateway who knew about this issue before it became public, and either didn’t take action or didn’t inquire further. That was fundamentally wrong, the church Elders took decisive action, and none of those individuals are a part of Gateway Church today,” the spokesperson added.
“Worse, Robert Morris, in his own filing, continues to call his actions an ‘inappropriate relationship’ instead of saying what it truly was — a terrible crime against a child. There seems to be nothing that Robert won’t say or do to blame everyone else but himself.”
Gateway Church has declined public comment on Clemishire’s defamation lawsuit despite being contacted by media outlets.
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