A federal court has granted a motion to drop claims against Gateway Church former executive global pastor Kevin Grove from a lawsuit over alleged fraud, according to recent court documents.

The order, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Sherman, removes Grove from a lawsuit first filed in October. The suit alleged Dallas-based Gateway Church and several of its senior leadership, including Grove and founder Robert Morris, misallocated members’ tithes and committed financial fraud.

Four members of the megachurch argue in the lawsuit that Gateway claimed to give 15% of members’ tithe to global missions, but it failed to do this. According to the suit, Gateway should have given a minimum of $15 million a year to global missions, as the church had annual revenue around $100 million.

The church members also note that Morris “used a marketing scheme to guarantee congregants a return of their money if the congregants wanted such a return.” However, if congregants asked the church to make good on the promise, the church would refuse, according to the complaint.

Last month, the court dismissed Grove from the suit, according to court records. The court dismissed the claims against Grove without prejudice, meaning the plaintiffs could still sue him again later.

While Morris and Gateway Church have also sought to have the lawsuit dismissed, the court has yet to give an order on those motions.

The plaintiffs have asked the court for more time to respond to Morris’s motion for dismissal, court records indicate. They now have until March 25 to file their response.

Gateway has been embroiled in controversy since Cindy Clemishire accused founder Robert Morris of sexually abusing her for years. The abuse reportedly started when she was just 12 years old.

Morris resigned soon after the allegations surfaced.

Gateway argues members ‘lashed out’

In separate motions to dismiss, Morris and Gateway Church argue the court lacks jurisdiction in the case because of the Class Action Fairness Act’s “home state exception.” This exception says that a case belongs in state court, not federal court, if the majority of the people involved in it reside in the same state. 

They also argue the court lacks jurisdiction because of the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine, which prevents courts from interfering with religious organizations’ internal affairs.

In addition, both Gateway Church and Morris argue that the church had no “valid contract” with members that they could have broken. Gateway Church also takes issue with the church members’ claims that they could have their tithes refunded. 

“Disgruntled by misconduct allegations that came to light this summer, Plaintiffs lashed out at Gateway and its former elders, seeking to claw back their freely given tithing donations,” the church’s motion, filed in November, states. “(They relied) on two vaguely alleged promises regarding the disbursement and refundability of tithing donations.”

The “vaguely alleged promises” Gateway is referring to stem from remarks Morris made in his sermons. In a YouTube clip on tithing, Morris said that if church members aren’t satisfied with their giving, they have a money-back guarantee.

“When I started giving the first 10% to God, it changed everything,” Morris said. “I’ve told our church on multiple occasions, I’ve said to them, if you’ll try it for one year, if you are not fully satisfied, at the end of that year, I’ll give you your money back. With 22 years in the church, no one’s ever asked for their money back.”

First Liberty Institute, a law firm litigating religious freedom cases, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of Gateway Church in December, arguing that the members’ lawsuit hurts religious freedom.

First Liberty took a “strong interest” in the case because it could establish important precedent for churches’ exercise of religious freedom,  the organization wrote.

“If courts are free to parse sermons to determine whether the pastor may have used language creating an implied contract, pastors will be unable to share their religious convictions freely without risking legal reprisal.”

It continued, “Such an outcome would chill core religious exercise and would be devastating to many of First Liberty’s clients and to religious freedom in general.”

Members contend case is about fraud, not religious freedom

The church members responded in a court filing in January that their case does not endanger religious freedom .

The ecclesiastical abstention doctrine does not apply because the plaintiffs raise “no issue as to theological doctrine, religious or moral teaching, or internal church governance,” they write.

Instead, they contend the case is about fraud and argue that the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine does not shield pastors from legal action when they commit fraud.

Plaintiffs allege Gateway gave “fraudulent misrepresentations” through its reports on global missions tithes. These “misrepresentations” were used by the church to “induce” tithing, the plaintiffs state.

Gateway faces tithe losses, leadership changes

Since Robert Morris’s resignation, donations at Gateway have dropped 35%-40%, and staff reductions are looming, The Roys Report (TRR) previously reported.

Additionally, church leadership has been in flux. In February, the church announced the addition of four new elders, just months after removing elders who reportedly knew about allegations of child sex abuse by Gateway Founder Robert Morris. The church is still searching for a new senior pastor.

Around 100,000 people attend Gateway’s dozen locations across Texas each weekend, according to the church’s YouTube page. Morris founded the church in 2000.

Liz Lykins is a correspondent covering religion news for The Roys Report, WORLD Magazine, and other publications.