Jimmy Evans, former senior apostolic pastor at Gateway Church, said Texas megachurch founder Robert Morris told him he had an affair while he was pastor in his early 20s, but that Evans did not know the woman was a 12-year-old girl. “I was shocked and devastated by Cindy Klemischer’s story, which came out in June of this year, and I commend her for her courage in coming forward. First and foremost, I pray that God may grant comfort to Ms. Klemischer, her family, and all who knew and loved her,” said Evans, now founder and president of XO Marriage. statement In last Friday’s “Tipping Point Prophecy Update.”
“Before the Gateway launch, Robert Morris told me, [his] “In his early 20s,” Evans said, “he had retired from the priesthood and claimed to be fully recovered. Until I read Ms. Cremisher’s story I knew nothing of the allegations reported last week.”
Earlier this month, Gateway Church elders announced that Pastor Morris had resigned as senior pastor after Ms. Cremisher, a 54-year-old grandmother, alleged that Morris had abused her for four and a half years when she was 12 years old.
After the allegations became public, Morris confessed to “inappropriate sexual conduct with young women”, repented, and was reinstated to the ministry. Christian Post report.
“When I was in my early 20s, I engaged in inappropriate sexual activity with a young woman in a house where I was staying. It was kissing and caressing – not sexual intercourse – but it was wrong. This behavior occurred several times over the next few years,” he said.
“In March of 1987 this situation was brought to light, confessed and repented. I submitted to the elders of Shady Grove Church and the father of the young woman. They asked me to resign from my ordination and seek counseling and freedom ministry, which I did. Since that time I have walked in this area with purity and responsibility,” Morris added.
He returned to his pastorate two years later with the blessing of Klemscher’s father and the church elders, he said, adding that he and his wife met with the survivors and their families in October 1989.
Prominent evangelical leaders have spoken out against Morris in the wake of the sex abuse scandal, including the founder of Saddleback Church. Rick Warren.
“The perpetrator should be publicly fired and not allowed to resign,” said Warren, whose wife, Kay, was sexually abused as a child. Said“Child abuse still infuriates Jesus: ‘If anyone offends one of these little children, it would be better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and be drowned in the sea.'” Matthew 18:6.”
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Photo credit: ©Facebook/Jimmy Evans
