Founding elder parts ways with Gateway Church
SOUTHLAKE — Gateway Church and one of its founding elders and the leader of the church's Business Leaders ministry have parted ways.
Founding elder Steve Dulin is no longer with the church. He was one of the elders asked to step down temporarily during the investigation. Four Gateway Church elders, including Robert Morris's son, were asked to take a leave of absence under the investigating law firm's recommendation.
Less than two months have passed since senior pastor and church founder Robert Morris resigned over allegations that he sexually assaulted a young girl, Cindy Clemishire, decades ago.
Dulin was with the church during the 2005 to 2007 time period in which Clemishire said she contacted Gateway about the alleged abuse.
Dulin was also the executive director of Gateway Business Leaders and Kingdom Business Leaders Network. Dulin joined Gateway when church elders asked him to start a ministry to support, equip, and disciple the church's business leaders, according to the Kingdom Business Leaders Network website.
The scandal surrounding Gateway Church's Robert Morris
The public controversy for the megachurch began in June when Cindy Clemishire publicly claimed Morris sexually assaulted her starting in 1982 when she was 12 years old. Morris was a traveling Evangelist in his early 20s and had become close with her family.
Those allegations were first published by The Wartburg Watch, a North Carolina-based church watchdog blog, and then picked up by The Christian Post. Clemishire told The Wartburg Watch the alleged abuse continued until 1987.
Morris acknowledged in a sermon in 2014 that he was "sexually immoral" when he was a young man and admitted to "inappropriate sexual behavior" In a statement to the Christian Post.
"When I was in my early twenties, I was involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady in a home where I was staying," he said. "It was kissing and petting and not intercourse, but it was wrong. This behavior happened on several occasions over the next few years."
Church elders said Morris disclosed to them he'd had an extramarital affair, but not that he had allegedly abused a 12-year-old.
On June 18, Morris resigned from his position as senior pastor at Gateway Church.
"Though I am grateful that he is no longer a pastor at Gateway, I am disappointed that the Board of Elders allowed him to resign," Clemishire wrote in a statement. "He should have been terminated."
She rebuked church elders for knowing and acknowledging her claims of sexual abuse, but intentionally embracing "the false narrative Robert Morris wanted them to believe."
Protesters gathered outside the church on June 23 when a church elder addressed the congregation for the first time after Clemishire's statements.
"As an elder, I did not know the truth and, frankly, like many of you my wife and I are shocked, devastated and grieving," said Tra Willbanks, a Gateway Church elder. "I'd like to express my personal compassion for Cindy Clemishire, I can't imagine carrying a burden like that for so many years and I want to say to you, Cindy, I'm so sorry."
Four members of the Gateway Church Board of Elders, including Robert Morris' son, were put on temporary leaves of absence as an outside legal team investigates the sexual abuse of a child accusations against Morris, the church said on June 28.
Robert Morris' son and daughter-in-law, James and Bridgette Morris stepped down from their roles at Gateway Church last week. James Morris had been the designated successor for his father.
Dulin was not at the staff meeting in which James and Bridgette Morris' departure was announced.
The church said the well-known Church of Christ Pastor Pastor Max Lucado, a best-selling author and former teaching pastor at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, will be leading in the interim. Pastor Joakim Lundqvist from Sweden, a frequent speaker at the church, will take on a more pastoral role with the staff.
In a statement on social media last week, the church said the independent investigation by outside law firm Haynes and Boone into the allegations is continuing.
Founded in 2000, the Southlake-based Gateway Church expanded to become one of the largest congregations in the nation, drawing approximately 100,000 attendees each weekend to its nine campuses. Morris broadcasted his weekly program live online to over 190 countries, reaching even wider audiences.