Mercy Culture Pastor Landon Schott visited disgraced pastor Robert Morris in jail on Tuesday and emerged talking about new beginnings and restoration.

Schott posted on Facebook Tuesday night that God told Schott that he’s forgiven Morris. Last October, Morris, the 64-year-old founder of Dallas’s Gateway Church, pleaded guilty for molesting Cindy Clemishire beginning when she was 12. Morris is serving six months in an Oklahoma county jail.

Schott, whose megachurch is based 300 miles away in Fort Worth, said he “had the honor” to meet with Morris.

“I do not believe we can preach mercy at our altars if that same mercy is not available to those who once stood behind them,” Schott wrote.

Morris’s release from jail is set for early April, right before Easter, which Schott’s said is spiritually significant.

“The week we celebrate the Lamb. The blood. The cross. The resurrection. You cannot script that,” Schott wrote. “Even in this situation, the gospel is being preached. Atonement. Forgiveness. Resurrection. New beginnings.”

Schott’s post raises questions about whether Schott plans to re-platform Morris without clear repentance, said Katherine Leach, a Gateway Church member. Leach is part of a class action suit that alleges the church claimed to give 15% of members’ tithes to global missions, but didn’t do so. She has also criticized Gateway for its lack of transparency.

“Schott wants to visit Morris in jail? Go for it. Smile, take your selfie, then challenge him to publicly (and personally) repent to Cindy and her family and ask for forgiveness,” wrote Leach on Facebook. “But don’t platform a ped*phile while ignoring the survivor, then try to blur the lines around mercy and judgement.”

Last May, Schott re-platformed disgraced evangelist and talk show host Michael Brown. Last April, a third-party investigation commissioned by the board of Brown’s Line of Fire ministry concluded Brown had engaged in “sexually abusive misconduct” with a secretary.

Schott gave Brown a hero’s welcome with confetti and applause at Mercy Culture. Schott explained his actions by saying he doesn’t want to participate in “cancel culture.”

Schott’s wife, Heather, also a pastor at Mercy Culture, invited Brown on her podcast for Brown’s first public interview since the investigation. On the podcast, Brown claimed many of the sexual misconduct allegations against him were “lies” and part of a “plot.” Heather said that the accusations against Brown were “gossip” and “witchcraft words.”

Landon Schott has hosted Brown on his podcast multiple times in the last few months.

Morris founded Gateway Church in 2000, growing it into one of America’s largest megachurches with 25,000 attendees. In June 2024, Clemishire publicly accused Morris of abusing her as a child. In October he admitted to five felony counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child as part of a plea deal that includes paying $270,000 in restitution. Once out, he’ll have to register as a sex offender.

‘Healthy, faithful, and steady’

Schott called his visit to see Morris in jail Tuesday “personal” in his Facebook post. He wrote that Morris was a big part of Schott’s founding of Mercy Culture.

“I am grateful for the role he played in my life,” Schott wrote.

Schott said God told him to get Robert Morris’s blessing, which led to Schott doing a one-year internship at Gateway.

“The elders laid hands on Heather and me and prayed over Mercy Culture before it was ever public,” Schott wrote.

Years later, Schott said he asked God why wanted him to learn from Gateway. He said God told him, “To save your future.” Schott explained that what he learned from Gateway was instrumental for how Schott would lead Mercy Culture.

“There were principles, structures, and guardrails I needed to see up close,” Schott wrote. “Things I believe will help keep Mercy Culture healthy, faithful, and steady for generations. God was protecting something I could not yet see.”

However, Gateway Church has been under fire for how Morris — and those who knew of his sexual misconduct — handled the crimes. In 2005, Clemishire sought money from Morris to pay for therapy for her trauma. Morris threatened her with criminal prosecution for trying to get “money under a threat of exposure.”

When she hired a lawyer, Morris offered her $25,000 in exchange for a nondisclosure agreement, which she refused.

The Roys Report (TRR) previously reported that multiple former elders at Gateway and several prominent Christian leaders knew about Morris’ abuse of Clemishire for decades. Meanwhile, Morris still led and preached at Gateway.

On Facebook on Feb. 4, Katherine Leach reacted with disbelief of Schott’s praise of Gateway’s structures.

“Covering up CSA?” Leach wrote. “Covering for convicted ped*philes? Silencing victims with NDAs? Shunning and expelling whistleblowers? Actions that led to serious criminal, civil, and RICO class action lawsuits for abuse and fraud?”

She urged people at the church to “run for your lives.”

Schott’s Mercy Culture has not been free from controversy. Last year, the church clashed with neighbors over Mercy Culture’s proposed building of a facility for sex trafficking victims. Schott called the neighbors evil and said they are “witches” and “warlocks” for opposing the project.

Schott wrote on Feb. 3 that God told him on the day that Morris pleaded guilty that God had forgiven Morris. But Schott kept that information quiet until this week. Schott compared God’s grace toward Morris with how God covered David, Moses and Samson.

“Failure does not get the final word in a surrendered life,” Schott wrote. “I believe in repentance. I believe in redemption. I believe God restores what the enemy tries to ruin.”

Reactions

Morris has never asked for Clemishire’s forgiveness, Clemishire told TRR. And she questions whether he’s repented for his crimes. When she and her sister read their victim-impact statements in court, she said, Morris didn’t look at either of them.

“I believe in redemption but (Schott) is acting like Robert repented,” Clemishire said.

Even with repentance, Morris should NEVER be restored to ministry, Clemishire texted to TRR in all caps. “No pedophile should be in any pulpit!” she added.

She is also concerned for people who’ve followed Morris’s ministry in the past and may not see how they’re deceived.

“It’s about millions of people who listen to Robert online, that want to believe in Robert, that are following a man and not Jesus,” she said. “It makes my stomach a little sick, personally, to think that people still can’t see it.”

Many of the 400 commenters on Schott’s post did, in fact, praise Schott for his statements about Morris. Toby Mitchell, a pastor at Access Church Spokane, was one of them.

“This is amazing!” wrote Mitchell. “Your heart is so from the Lord. Thank you for being such a beautiful example!!!”

But long-time Gateway Church member Brooke Ladd pointed out that if Clemishire hadn’t gone public with her story, Morris would’ve never come to justice.

“His entire ministry began with pride and dishonesty,” Ladd wrote. “I would humbly ask you to stop platforming him in any way. His progress and salvation is between him and God now.”

Amber Denae, who came forward with allegations of Michael Brown’s misconduct, also questioned Schott’s view on the gospel.

“To speak of mercy while erasing the cries of the innocent is not gospel, it is performance,” she wrote on Schott’s post. “Jesus never shielded the powerful from consequence. He turned over tables, not to protect religious leaders, but to defend the vulnerable. The blood of Jesus does not absolve perpetrators without repentance, restitution and truth.”

Update 2/5/26: A quote from Clemishire has been corrected and expanded. 

Rebecca Hopkins is a journalist based in Colorado.