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(NewsNation) — A blog published an account Friday by a woman who says she was sexually abused as a child by Robert Morris, a senior pastor at one of the largest churches in the country and a former spiritual adviser for former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Speaking to the The Wartburg Watch, Cindy Clemishire, now in her 50s, said she and her family met Morris, founder of the Texas-based Gateway Church, at a youth revival in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1981. At the time, he was a 20-year-old traveling evangelist, and Clemishire was 11.
Morris, who began to regularly preach at her church, would often stay at Clemishire’s home, The Wartburg Watch reported, and became a family friend.
However, The Wartburg Watch writes that this changed while Morris was staying at her family’s house for Christmas the next year, when Clemishire was 12. Morris allegedly told Clemishire to come to his bedroom, where he proceeded to touch her stomach, breasts, and “felt under her panties,” according to The Wartburg Watch. Morris, Clemishire told the website, warned her to “never tell anyone about this because it will ruin everything.”
The Wartburg Watch alleges Morris repeated this behavior until March 1987, in both Oklahoma and Texas. When she turned 16, Clemishire alleged, Morris, then a pastor at what is now Gateway Church’s Grand Prairie Campus, would take her out in his car and “attempt to have sexual intercourse,” the article said.
Clemishire later told a friend, and that friend encouraged her to go to her parents.
“I was 12 years old. I was a little girl. A very innocent little girl. And he was brought into our home,” Clemishire told the Christian Post, adding that it has taken decades to wrap her brain around what happened to her.
When he found out, Clemishire’s father called the head pastor of the church to report Morris, The Wartburg Watch wrote, and demand he step down.
In a statement to the Christian Post, Morris admitted to being “involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady in a home where I was staying.”
“It was kissing and petting and not intercourse, but it was wrong. This behavior happened on several occasions over the next few years,” Morris said in the statement.
Morris said the situation was “brought to light, and it was confessed and repented of” in 1987, and he “submitted” himself to the elders of Shady Grove Church and Clemishire’s father.
“They asked me to step out of ministry and receive counseling and freedom ministry, which I did. Since that time, I have walked in purity and accountability in this area,” Morris added. The Christian Post writes that Morris said he returned to ministry in March of 1989, claiming that it was “with the blessing of the survivor’s father and the elders of his church.”
Clemishire, in an interview with The Dallas Morning News, pushed back on this.
“Of course we want to forgive, we’re called to forgive,” Clemishire said. “But he’s never had anyone’s blessing in my family to be back in the ministry. We don’t believe anyone that’s done anything like this should be an overseer to anyone in any industry, but especially in the church.”
Gateway Church officials declined comment to The Dallas Morning News, with the executive director of Gateway Media telling the newspaper it is not currently “granting interviews or providing additional statements.”
Each weekend, more than 100,000 people attend Gateway Church, which calls itself “Bible-based, evangelistic,” and “Spirit-empowered” on its website.
During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump named Morris as one of the members of his Evangelical Executive Advisory Board.
“The leaders on the executive board were not asked to endorse Mr. Trump as a prerequisite for participating on the board,” a news release announcing the board said. “Rather, the formation of the board represents Donald J. Trump’s endorsement of those diverse issues important to Evangelicals and other Christians, and his desire to have access to the wise counsel of such leaders as needed.”
Trump visited Gateway Church’s Dallas campus in 2020, The Dallas Morning News wrote, during a trip that included a fundraising dinner.
Morris, Gateway’s website says, will step down as the church’s senior pastor in spring of 2025, though he will remain a “primary speaker” on weekends. His son, James Morris, is set to take his place as senior pastor.