A $1 million lawsuit just filed in Dallas County District Court alleges Gateway Church, a one-time evangelical megachurch, covered up the rape and sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl by its founder, Robert Morris.
The 63-year-old Morris is under criminal indictment in Oklahoma on five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child, and is set to stand trial there later this year. El Informe Roys (TRR) esta semana reportado that pastors Brady Boyd and Jimmy Evans knew that Morris’s victim Cindy Clemishire was 12 years old at the time the abuse began.
Neither Boyd nor Evans were named in the lawsuit. Clemishire’s attorney Alex Yaffe, told TRR, “We have sued those most directly responsible based on the evidence currently available. However, our investigation remains active, and we are continuing to assess all possible avenues for accountability—including the potential involvement of Jimmy Evans and Brady Boyd.”*
The action—brought by Cindy Clemishire and her father, Jerry Lee Clemishire—currently names Morris, his wife Deborah, Gateway Church, and more than a dozen current and former church elders and media directors as defendants.
En un comunicado a TRR, Cindy Clemishire said accountability from Gateway and its leadership is a key lawsuit goal.
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“For almost 40 years, Robert Morris and the leadership at Gateway have tried to blame me and put this in a flippant light of a relationship instead of what it was—a brutal crime against a 12-year-old child,” Clemishire said in the statement. “My childhood and the woman I would have become died that day in 1982. The person who abused me and the people who blatantly covered it up deserve to be held accountable. My hope is that bringing awareness to my case will help other victims and survivors feel hope, because the person who did this to me — and the people who enabled him and covered it up for decades — are being held accountable.
The plaintiffs accuse Morris of sexually assaulting Cindy repeatedly from 1982 to 1987, beginning when she was just 12 years old. The suit alleges that Morris—an itinerant evangelist at the time— would tell Cindy she “can’t ever tell anyone what just happened or it will ruin everything,” and that his assaults included “rape by instrumentation.” The abuse, the suit states, occurred in both Texas and Oklahoma.
The Clemishires contend that after Cindy confided in a friend in 1987, Jerry Clemishire demanded Morris’s removal from ministry. Morris then claimed to step down for a “restoration” process. The demanda judicial argues this was a lie and part of a larger cover-up involving church leaders who later helped Morris build Gateway Church into a megachurch with over 100,000 attendees at its peak.
The suit claims that Deborah Morris, Robert’s wife and a prominent women’s ministry leader at Gateway, knew about the abuse “at least since 1987” and called Cindy at age 17 to say she “forgave” her. The implication was the abuse was the teenager’s fault.
In 2005 and again in 2011, the filing says, Gateway Church elders and media executives received multiple emails detailing the abuse and identifying Cindy as a minor at the time. One email from Gateway elder Tom Lane acknowledged Cindy’s age at the time of the abuse.
Despite this, the lawsuit says, Morris continued preaching sermons condemning sexual immorality while concealing his past. In 2014, he gave a sermon in which he said, “I looked for girls that did not have a good relationship with their father. I learned how to spot that.” In a podcast as recently as 2023, Morris described children as being “12 and under.”
The suit further alleges that Gateway’s public statements in June 2024, including those by its elders and communications chief Lawrence Swicegood, falsely minimized Morris’s abuse as a “moral failure” involving a “young lady.” Morris himself described the abuse as “kissing and petting and not intercourse,” and suggested the 12-year-old seduced him.
On or around June 18, 2024, Gateway elders told the congregation, “We regret that we did not have the information that we now have,” a statement the plaintiffs say is knowingly false and defamatory. In July 2024, the church walked back its earlier comments, saying, “You were a child, not a young lady… This was sexual abuse of a child.”
The lawsuit accuses all named defendants of libel, slander, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, and unjust enrichment. It cites sermons, books, TV shows, and other public platforms through which Morris allegedly profited from his story of redemption while continuing to defame his victim.
“Defendants obtained a benefit from Plaintiff by fraudulently utilizing the rape of Plaintiff for their own financial gain,” the suit states, adding that they should be ordered to “disgorge their ill-gotten gains.”
The Clemishires are seeking actual and exemplary damages exceeding $1 million, along with restitution and a jury trial. Their attorneys argue that the false narrative not only caused lasting harm but also allowed Morris and Gateway to build an empire on deception.
Morris resigned from Gateway a year ago and the church has since removed several elders and acknowledged a criminal investigation is underway.
Daniel Floyd, senior pastor of Lifepoint Church in Fredericksburg, Virginia, will become Gateway’s leader in August, both congregations disclosed at the end of May.
*The statement by Attorney Yaffe was received after publication and then added to the article.
Mark A. Kellner is a reporter based in Mesquite, Nevada. He most recently covered statewide elections for the Correo de Nueva York and was for three years the Faith & Family Reporter for el tiempo de washington. Mark is a graduate of the University of the Cumberlands and also attended Boston University’s College of Communication.
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14 Responses
Only ONE million?!?! I assure any apologists/naysayers prone to comment that the victim is only in this for money, that were I in a position to sue for such a horrible offense, I would be suing for A LOT MORE than this!! These greedy predators deserve to be exposed, to pay their victim a LOT more than $1 million, and to ALL go to jail.
I was thinking the same thing David. One million dollars is a pittance to these hucksters and, excepting the bad publicity, a mere slap on the wrist.
U R exactly right. I thought this to myself when I read the headline. I said, you’ve got to be kidding…only one million $ after all the torment, stress, upheaval this poor child had to endure. If I were one of the jurors, I would suggest $10 million for starters. Put ALL those who help Morris cover up his evilness.throw him and them in prison and throw away the keys 🔑. That’s where they all belong for violating a child. Wretched shame to a baby girl.
God is in the business of healing in every aspect and He has and will continue to help Cindy.
Blessings to you…
The actual reading of the lawsuit appears to say she is suing for “more than” $1 million.
Thank you for exposing this church and leadership. As so many church leaders including the church boards and elders have been complicit in requiring accountability of it’s pastors who have exercised spiritual abuse to parishioners/victims of various types of abuse, with sexual abuse being the most egregious, but also of other types of spiritual abuse. Pastors have far too long had their sins covered up by church boards, not following the Biblical mandate for pastor qualifications. Pastors often incessantly preach “church unity” and “everyone sins and is due grace” to silence anyone attempting to require accountability of leadership. The Matthew 18:15-20 mandate is used a a tool of manipulation to silence anyone raising any concerns of the coverup and silencing of exposing sins that make them unfit for service in God’s Kingdom. I don’t remember Jesus using this verse when He confronted those abusing His Father’s House in the temple, turning over the money changer’s tables??? This lawsuit is long overdue. There are dozens of stories of past and present individuals who experienced these terrible abuses. It seems God is doing as He said He would in His Word, exposing sin in the camp.
Makes.sense to me.
Remaining silent/playing dumb allowed all people to benefit rather in a variety of ways be it money, influence, etc…Common sense alone tells you if Morris has been able to aquire an empire worth 100 million then certainly those who kept quiet have benefited from his financial coattails?
IMHO this church needs to disband, sell off it’s assets and donate them to a well respected sexual abuse ministry then just disappear into the evangelical ether.
Oh Cindy, Cindy, Cindy PTL, Hallelujah, you go girl…..justice will be served in these matters.
These people doing this evil stuff while leveraging Jesus’ name for power and control have no idea what the consequences will be for such actions. All we ever see is what other humans do which has been for a long time nothing at all effective. While that looks like it may be changing recently to more severe consequences, if you believe what Jesus actually said about people acting in this way, that He described as goats, such actions buy you a fast track down to hell. “What does it gain a man to gain the whole world (temporarily) and lose your very soul (permanently?)”
Along that vein, I was shown a single cell in hell that I would describe as being reserved for a goat, for someone who thinks they will go to heaven, only Jesus, in His own words, does not know them. That happened the year my oldest brother died. I decided to share that experience on YouTube recently as it was the most real thing I have ever experienced, being in that cell. Click on my name if you want to read/hear it. These godless leaders making excuses for their literal crimes are earning a great punishment that never, ever ends.
Didn’t the plaintiff, according to early news reports, ask defendant years ago to pay $50,000 for her counseling expenses, and Morris refused? Now he may be required to pay $1 million plus plaintiff’s legal fees.
Sue them for all their worth. The only way churches will fear the Lord once again is if there are massive consequences for doing the work of Satan in Jesus name.
Oh Good! Our tithe at work! Gateway Church will be using the money people have given for the work of Christ, to pay for this lawsuit settlement. You really think we are winning the World for Christ, these are False Teachers GREEDY FOR GAIN! Flee from this and pursue RIGHTEOUSNESS Paul says!!!
You have to read the lawsuit. The Cleminshire’s are asking for over One Million, and asking that the jury set the amount.
Praying for Cindy & family, & attorney’s! Get justice for Cindy & her families! Get 100,000 million from these criminals, low life liars, worth millions, from fleecing the people! They failed to report the rape & yrs of sexual assault of Cindy! They are guilty of not following the law & allowing a pedophile to be protected/covered up rather than report & expose! Go get em Cindy, you represent yourself, & others that didn’t get a voice or justice here on earth! I am with you! Love, sister in Christ,
May Christ be with you Cindy. I appreciate your tenacity and seeking Justice and Accountability. In my EXTREMELY humble opinion, a million is a slap on the wrist when over 100 million dollars was shared with many individuals. May the Lord’s peace rest on your Team.