The Christian Post's top 10 news stories of 2025 (part 1)
10. Gateway Church founder Robert Morris convicted of child sex abuse of Cindy Clemishire
Less than a year after he resigned over allegations he sexually abused Cindy Clemishire during multiple years in the 1980s, beginning when she was 12, founding pastor of Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, Robert Morris, was indicted and convicted on those charges in 2025.
In March, Morris was indicted on five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child by a multi-county grand jury in Oklahoma. He would formally surrender and enter a not-guilty plea in court just days after the indictment.
On Oct. 2, however, Morris pleaded guilty to the charges in exchange for a 10-year suspended prison sentence with the condition that he serve the first six months of that time in a county jail. He is currently in custody at the Osage County Jail in Oklahoma.
"He simply accepted responsibility for his crime from the mid-1980s and pled guilty. He pled guilty because he wanted to accept responsibility for his conduct. While he believes that he long since accepted responsibility in the eyes of God — and that Gateway Church was a manifestation of that acceptance — he readily accepted responsibility in the eyes of the law by virtue of his guilty plea," Morris' lawyer, Bill Mateja, said in a statement to The Christian Post.
"He also pled guilty for the sake of finality. Not only did he want to bring this legal matter to a quick end for his own sake and that of his family, he brought it to a quick end for the sake of Ms. Clemishire and her family and he sincerely hopes that his plea and jail sentence coupled with probation brings Ms. Clemishire and her family the finality that they might need."
While the criminal case was underway, Morris was also engaged in several other legal fights stemming from his time at Gateway Church. This includes a bitter pay dispute with the Texas megachurch in which he is seeking $1 million upfront plus hundreds of thousands more annually in retirement compensation.
Morris is also named in a defamation lawsuit filed by the now 55-year-old Cindy Clemishire and her father, Jerry Lee Clemishire, seeking compensation of more than $1 million. 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.
Texas' Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas has halted all trial court proceedings in that defamation case until a petition for a mandamus review is resolved.
The petition for mandamus review was filed on Nov. 14 by attorneys for Gateway Church and their independent elders John D. "Tra" Willbanks, Kenneth W. Fambro II and Dane Minor. It came after Dallas County District Court Judge Emily Tobolowsky rejected a motion from the church and elders to dismiss the Clemishires' lawsuit, citing the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine, which holds that courts lack jurisdiction over matters of religion.
Ron Breaux, a partner at Haynes Boone and counsel for Gateway Church, insisted in a statement to CP after proceedings in the case were stayed that Gateway Church should not be part of the Clemishires' defamation lawsuit.
"As we've stated from the beginning, no one in Gateway's current leadership had knowledge of its former pastor's criminal behavior, and they have endeavored to lead the church with integrity and accountability during a difficult time,” Breaux said. “These actions — guided by faith, prayer and a steadfast commitment to the church community — are protected by the First Amendment from secular second-guessing."
