The woman, whose report of abuse by Gateway Church Founder Robert Morris led to his arrest on child sex charges, today urged Texas lawmakers to approve a bill nullifying nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) for child sex abuse.
Speaking through tears, Cindy Clemishire, 55, recounted that for decades, Morris made her feel like she had done something wrong. Meanwhile, Morris became the pastor of one of the biggest megachurches in the country.
“My life seemed to attract more shame, while Robert’s attracted fame,” Clemishire testified at a hearing of the Texas House Committee on Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence, which is considering House Bill 748, known as Trey’s Law. If enacted, the bill would render NDAs for child sex abuse void and unenforceable in Texas.
Clemishire testified that 18 years ago, Morris’ lawyer tried to get her to sign an NDA. But because she refused, “my abuser is finally being held accountable for the horrific crimes he committed against me as a child.”
Last week, Morris was indicted by an Oklahoma grand jury on five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child, as previously reportado por El Informe Roys (TRR).
Your tax-deductible gift supports our mission of reporting the truth and restoring the church. Donate $50 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you can elect to receive “Days of Fire and Glory: The Rise and Fall of a Charismatic Community” by Julia Duin, haga clic aquí.
Following Clemishire’s testimony and that of two other women, the House committee voted unanimously to forward the bill to the Texas House.
The bill is named for Trey Carlock, a victim of sexual abuse at Christian-based Kanakuk Kamp in southwest Missouri.
To date, more than 200 reports of sex abuse by 65 perpetrators at Kanakuk have been made. These include allegations of abuse by past counselors, staff, and directors.
Carlock, who took his own life in 2019 at age 28, was never able to share his story publicly due to the NDA he signed years prior with the Christian camp ministry.
Carlock’s sister, Elizabeth Carlock Phillips, spoke on behalf of the family at the hearing.
“My brother had many layers to his journey of injustice,” said Phillips. “. . . Trey endured a decade of grooming and child sexual abuse by (Kanakuk’s) popular director, Pete Newman, followed by a retraumatizing civil litigation process that ended with a restrictive NDA.”
She added: “Sadly, a lot of truth dies with people because of NDAs, and that only protects bad actors, which is contrary to public interest.”
Attorney and recently-elected State Rep. Mitch Little, who represented alleged abuse victims of former megachurch pastor Bill hybels, called sexual abuse “soul murder.”
Little recounted that church leaders often want to settle an abuse claim by silencing the victim, which just perpetuates abuse.
“There’s a nondisclosure agreement,” said Little. “Then that pastor, teacher, or volunteer moves on to another church, and they continue their acts of abuse. So, the incomplete flow of information in our society about who the abusers are and what they have done perpetuates the abuse.”
Pastor found fame, victim shamed
Last June, after Clemishire went public with her story, Morris resigned from Dallas-based Iglesia de entrada, a multi-site megachurch with nine campuses in Texas and one in Wyoming.
In the hearing, Clemishire recounted how her sexual abuse began in 1982, when Morris was staying at her family’s home. It continued for several years before Clemishire finally told her parents what was happening.
“The first time (Morris) made the premeditated decision to violate and defile my purity, he told me, and I quote, ‘You can never tell anyone because it will ruin everything,’” she said. “This abuse continued over and over and over until I finally told someone in 1987 at the age of 17.”
As a result of Clemishire’s report, Morris reportedly stepped down from ministry for two years. But the abuse remained private until Clemishire spoke publicly about the abuse last summer.
At today’s hearing, Clemishire recounted the decades of her life spent in counseling with Morris’ meteoric rise as a conference speaker, TV personality, and founder of Gateway Church.
Later in the hearing, she added: “I was 35 the first time I truly accepted and believed that he abused me, that it was criminal, and I understood what grooming was. And that changed the course of my journey to more healing.”
Clemishire recalled how, in 2007, her attorney. Gentner Drummond—today, the Attorney General of Oklahoma—approached Morris to cover the cost of Clemishire’s past and future counseling.
Her proposal of a $50,000 settlement was rebuffed in a letter that accused 12-year-old Clemishire “of pursuing Robert, making Robert sound like the victim,” she said. Morris’ lawyer than offered Clemishire $25,000 if she’d sign an NDA, which she refused.
“I am able to sit here at the age of 55 and share my story and be the voice for so many people who don’t have the courage to come forward, in hopes that I can help them,” she said.
Bill to receive vote in full Texas House
State Rep. Ann Johnson expressed gratitude to Clemishire and others who testified at the hearing, calling it an “overwhelming moment” to consider years of abuse unaddressed.
“It is daunting that it has taken literally decades and generations of silence and suffering to finally get (to) this conversation,” she said.
Johnson added that she felt “relief” at the bill righting these wrongs but also frustration. “What is frustrating (is) it seems that a contractual provision of an NDA has been used by individuals to protect their bottom line. That’s the complete opposite of ‘see something, say something.’”
Chairman Leach, lead sponsor of the bill, emphasized that Trey’s Law is narrowly focused on the issue of sexual abuse and does not apply to all settlements.
He also noted that the law “fully supports” a victim who may choose not to not disclose his or her story. “There is no pressure or guilt or shame that should be felt by any of those victims whatsoever,” Leach said.
The sister of Trey Carlock, Elizabeth Phillips, told TRR, “The Kanakuk survivor community is grateful (for) this bill that will protect victims’ voices and end the abuse of NDAs.
Josh Shepherd is production editor at The Roys Report and a journalist who escribe sobre fe, cultura y políticas públicas para varios medios outlets. He and his family live in central Florida.
Spanish 
English 
16 Responses
Go Cindy Go! You are a hero to so many!
I wonder what effect this would have on all the current NDAs that are protecting abusers. Texas is a hotbed of these scandals. Daystar anyone?
It makes them unenforceable and therefore, for all practical reasons, void.
I never trusted Robert Morris as well as many other celebrity pastors, especially the megachurch ones. I do not put any crimes past Morris, including financial ones. All Christians agree that crimes of this nature against children are grevious beyond words, and deserve serious punishment.
With that said, let’s not forget Pastor “Bubba” Copeland, an Alabama mayor, who put a bullet in his head after a muckraker exposed his lousy habit of cross dressing online and at home. A sick fellow, no doubt. Let the courts (and jail) handle Morris. Doubt if he (or his family) can ever show their faces again in public.
This is such good news for so many victims, and such bad news for perpetrators and their crony networks that protect them.
The “church” should never use NDA’s because they violates scripture, and are antithetical to the ideals of the Body of Christ. NDA’s are a worldly technique for keeping people quiet when wrong has been done. NDA’s are a tool for heavy handed leadership to protect themselves, and to conceal the truth. Let’s count the ways NDA’s violate scripture. 1. Let your yes be yes, and your no be no. (Matthew 5:37) 2. If NDA’s are violated that would lead Christians into court (I Corinthians 6:1-2) 3. We all know that the main purpose of NDA’s, whether stated or not, is to protect the church and its leaders from accusations. Well, if the pastors are above reproach, not to mention the other qualifications, there would be no need to silence anyone. The light of the truth is our friend, not our enemy. https://www.churchandculture.org/blog/2022/9/12/should-a-church-use-ndas
NDA’s are signed to keep extortion from happening. Once both parties agree on the settled amount, the situation is considered over. NDA’s keep the victim from continuing to extort money from the payee. If you don’t like the NDA, don’t agree to it, as Cindy has done in this instance. If victims aren’t happy with the terms, then don’t sign them.
NDA’s are to prevent extortion? In the context of scandalous abuse I believe NDA’s are to prevent truth telling by requiring that secrets be kept. A child’s innocence cannot be bought back with money of course but it is not, as the one witness pointed out, in the public interest that the identity of predators remain unknown.
NDAs are used by these organizations so that they can hide what they did and dupe the broader public into believing that they are moral organizations when they are not. Victims generally have no choice. They can sign the NDA and get a settlement that gives them money to pay for their expenses when they are too traumatized to work or they can, after years of the other side delaying, go to a full trial where the defence lawyers retraumatize them on cross examination.
I hope a law is passed, but I do not have a lot of faith in lawmakers these days.
Only the demonic world keeps Child abuse and other crimes, sin, “undercover” with such “no disclosure mandates”—- Even when Yahshua met an adult woman at a well who had had 5 husbands and was currently with a live-in, He told her “all that I ever did” she proclaimed as she excitedly and hopefully went and told the men of the village to come and see this man – “Could He be the Messiah” she asked. They arrived, and they knew. Healing comes through LIGHT transparency in all of the dark places of our lives and those lives of Little Vulnerable Children. “And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on Him for the saying of the woman, which testified: He told me all that I ever did.” John 4:39
“Light: Be!” And there was Light.” Genesis 1:3
Yahshua, Thank You for disclosing ALL that we ever do, and healing us. We adore You. We trust You to complete the work that You have begun in each one of us. You are beautiful beyond description and Your Name: Blessed.
So PROUD of Every Single Whistleblower & Victim COURAGEOUS Enough to SPEAK TRUTH into such EVIL DARKNESS being UNCOVERED — May each experience HEALING & LIBERTY from the lies of the enemy — & May our LORD GOD be merciful to any of these wicked predators who truly repent.
Paul Ryan,
What has gone on and is still going on in these churches proves that they are NOT church at all,
but corporations that are determined to make money by any means. When they are caught out in crimes,
the elders and leaders work to cover up the crimes as if nothing had happened. It appears there is no accountability at all.
As I understand it, an NDA is null & void if used to cover up a crime or criminal act.
At least Among The Heathen.
Based on what was stated in this committee meeting, that is not the case. The young man who killed himself after being abused at Kanakuk felt unable to even talk about his abuse in therapy because another survivor from the same organization shared about his abuse in therapy after signing an NDA and was sued by Kanakuk for violating his NDA by telling a therapist that he was abused. (Note: I believe the therapist reported this to the authorities as a mandated reporter.)
They felt the need in the law, in addition to saying that the abuse survivor could tell any third party they want, stated that they could tell the police and that they could discuss their abuse during legal proceedings. These things are only included because they are not possible now.
It’s evil to hide the truth. How can any of this smoke and mirrors trickery be justified? God help us.