Texas Megachurch Pastor Resigns After Admitting to Inappropriate Sexual Behavior with 12-Year-Old in the 1980s

Dallas megachurch pastor Robert Morris has resigned after admitting to inappropriate sexual behavior with a young girl in the 1980s, following an accusation that he molested her when she was 12 years old. The Gateway Church board of elders accepted his resignation, stating they had hired a law firm to conduct an independent review to fully understand the events from 1982 to 1987.

The accuser, Cindy Cemishire, previously told WFAA that Morris began abusing her on Christmas Day in 1982 when she was 12. The pair had met when he was a traveling preacher and began preaching at her family’s church in Oklahoma. She said Morris and his wife and young son became close to her family and that he was staying at her house in 1982 when he asked her to come to his room. He told her to lay on his bed and then began touching her inappropriately.

In a previous statement, Morris admitted to inappropriate sexual behavior but insisted he did not have intercourse with the young girl. “When I was in my early twenties, I was 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,” he said.

The board said they did not have all the facts of the inappropriate relationship between Morris and the victim, including her age at the time and the length of the abuse. Their understanding of the “extramarital relationship” Morris had discussed many times throughout his ministry was not that it was abuse of a 12-year-old child.

Morris said the family forgave him when the situation was brought to light, at which point he began receiving counseling. “In March of 1987, this situation was brought to light, and it was confessed and repented of. I submitted myself to the Elders of Shady Grove Church and the young lady’s father,” he said. “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.”

Clemishire told WFAA that though her family forgave him, they never supported his continued ministry.

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