New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, dismissed two more pastors for failures in their handling of knowledge related to Texas megachurch founder Robert Morris’ alleged sexual abuse of Cindy Clemishire in Oklahoma beginning when she was 12 in the 1980s.
In a frequently asked questions document distributed to congregants after the worship service on Sunday, members of the megachurch’s board of elders revealed that they had asked executive pastors Lance Coles and Brian Newberg to resign.
The announcement comes a week after the board of elders announced that they asked their senior pastor, Brady Boyd, to resign for misleading the church about his knowledge of Morris’ alleged abuse of Clemishire.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.
The New Life Elders reiterated that when Boyd was announced as a finalist in the senior pastor search in 2007, both Coles and Newberg served on the search committee. That committee received a report from Clemishire’s sister about the alleged abuse.
“Brian and Lance raised some concerns about Robert Morris becoming involved with New Life. When Brady dismissed their concerns and appointed Robert Morris to be an overseer and began inviting Morris to preach, Brian and Lance had a responsibility to bring their concerns — and the reasons behind them — directly to the board of elders,” the elders stated. “They did not do so then or afterward, so we likewise requested that Brian and Lance resign. They have submitted their letters of resignation and will depart after a transition period.”
New Life Church stated that Coles and Newberg were the only members of a total of nine individuals on that search committee who were still on staff at the church. New Life Church’s governance structure has undergone changes and is now led by a board of elders, established in 2008. All the current elders were nominated by Boyd and were elected in or after 2011.
The elders noted that both pastors have expressed regret for their inaction and asked for the church’s forgiveness.
“Since we first approached Brian and Lance last week, their repentant, sorrowful, and humble attitudes have been strongly evident. They have submitted to the authority of the elders and to the church,” the elders explained.
“They have both expressed how deeply they regret not doing more to prevent Robert Morris from becoming involved with our church. We believe they would never intentionally do anything harmful to New Life church. They are devastated, and so are we.”
“Brian and Lance have asked for and received our forgiveness. They plan to do everything they can to ensure a smooth transition of immense institutional knowledge that together comprises more than 70 years of service to the church. We hope they will remain members for many years to come, and we know they would appreciate your prayers,” the elders added.
The church expressed a hope to reconcile with Boyd at some point but noted that “at this time, Brady has not apologized nor is he repentant for what we think constituted lying to New Life Church, or for failing to disclose to the elders whatever knowledge he had about Robert Morris before asking Morris to serve as overseer and to preach at our church.”
Boyd reportedly told elders that he did not know that Cindy Clemishire was 12 years old when Morris allegedly began abusing her and did not know this when he worked under Morris at Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas. Boyd allegedly further stated that if he had known about the abuse or learned about it later, he would not have invited Morris to become an overseer or preach at New Life Church.
“When Brady spoke about this on Sunday, June 8, 2025, he stated several times that he did not know, prior to 2024, Ms. Clemishire was 12 when Morris molested her,” New Life Church elders explained.
“Shortly after his message, the elders were presented with information from 2011 demonstrating that Brady was party to at least 20 emails relating to Ms. Clemishires’ abuse, that he interacted extensively with those emails, and that many of the emails stated in the subject line the allegation that Ms. Clemishire was 12 at the time. Brady failed to disclose this to the board of elders.”
Although Boyd also claimed on June 8 that the search committee did not inform him about Clemishire’s allegations in 2007, “meeting notes and email records confirmed that the search committee met with Brady specifically to discuss the accusations made by Ms. Clemishire’s sister and then dialogued with him for weeks about the issue.”
“In the days that followed, we carefully reviewed the emails and other new evidence that surfaced. We also spent many hours meeting with Brady, listening to his perspective, and doing our best to reconcile the facts. As much as we hoped it would all make sense, in the end, it simply didn’t,” the elders said.
“All seven elders — the elders that Brady himself invited to hold him accountable — agreed that trust was broken, and that we did not think he could continue as senior pastor of New Life Church. We requested he resign, and he did.”
Clemishire, now 55, recently filed a defamation lawsuit against Gateway Church and Morris, seeking over $1 million.
The lawsuit names Clemishire and her father, Jerry Lee Clemishire, as plaintiffs. The filing alleges that Morris and Gateway Church leaders mischaracterized the abuse Clemishire 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.
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 with 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 4.5 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.
Contact: leonardo.blair@christianpost.com Follow Leonardo Blair on Twitter: @leoblair Follow Leonardo Blair on Facebook: LeoBlairChristianPost
