The pastor of a megachurch in Texas, accused of repeatedly sexually abusing a family friend starting when he was just 12, has admitted to previously engaging in “inappropriate sexual conduct with young women.”
Robert Morris, founder of Gateway Church in Southlake and a one-time spiritual adviser to Donald Trump, came forward after Cindy Klemischer. He told Wartburg Watch She was allegedly abused for four years until she was 16 years old.
“When I was in my early 20s, I engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with a young woman in a house where I was staying,” he said. He told The Christian Post.a derogatory term that “horrified” the accuser.
“It was kissing and petting, not intercourse, but it was wrong,” said the pastor of a church that attracts an estimated 100,000 members each week.
“This behavior occurred several times over the next few years.”
He said the abuse “came to light” in 1987 but was “confessed and repented.”
Morris claims he “obeyed” the elders of his church and Cremischer’s father, who was president of his church at the time, who “all asked me to resign and seek counseling and the ordination of freedom, which I did.”
“Since then, I have walked with purity and responsibility in this field,” he asserted.
Ms Cremischer said she was “appalled” to be described as a “young woman”.
“I was 12 years old, a little girl, a very innocent girl, and he was brought into our house,” the grandmother, now 54, told The Christian Post about the abuse it took her decades as an adult to understand.
“I was an innocent 12-year-old girl who knew nothing about sex,” she said.
Mr Cremischer was also outraged by the suggestion that his father had given Mr Morris his blessing to return to the pastorate.
“My father never gave his blessing for Robert to return to the pastorate!” she said.
“My father told him he was glad he didn’t kill him. It’s embarrassing that he’s telling the world that my father gave him his blessing!”
Klemisher said Morris repeatedly abused her in both Texas and Oklahoma and told his wife at the time he was only “counseling” during the abuse.
She eventually confided in a friend about what was going on, who encouraged her to tell her family, she recalled. When her father found out, he told the senior pastor that he would call the police if Morris “did not resign from the ministry.” Morris did resign from the ministry for two years.
“Of course we forgive because we are commanded in the Bible to forgive those who sin against us, but that doesn’t mean he should continue to live with impunity,” she added.
She tried to file a lawsuit against Morris in 2005, but Morris’ lawyers claimed the abuse occurred because she was “frivolous.”
He eventually offered her $25,000 if she signed a non-disclosure agreement, but she refused.
Gateway Church elders told The Christian Post they support Morris, saying he has returned to his priesthood in accordance with the Bible after confession.
“Pastor Robert has spoken openly and honestly about the moral failings he made more than 35 years ago in his 20s, before starting Gateway Church. He has spoken publicly from the pulpit about the appropriate, biblical steps he has taken during his long process of recovery,” they said.
The church added that since the two-year restoration process, Morris has not committed any “other moral failings.”
“Pastor Robert has lived a life of integrity and accountability and responsibility for his actions,” they added. “The matter has been appropriately disclosed to church leadership.”
