Well-known pastor Max Lucado set to take on new role at Gateway Church
SOUTHLAKE – The congregation at Gateway Church in Southlake will be greeted by a new face this Sunday.
The church announced that Pastor Max Lucado will become the interim teaching pastor. Lucado is a best-selling author and the current pastor at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio.
In a message posted to Facebook, Lucado said "My role at Gateway is only in the interim teaching capacity, currently scheduled through the end of 2024. I will have no leadership or administrative role." Lucado continued, "Be assured, I am still a minister in my home church where I have been since 1988. I will preach in both locations this fall."
Pastor Joakim Lundqvist from Sweden, a frequent speaker at the church, will be taking on a more pastoral role with the staff.
The announcement comes seven weeks after Gateway's founding pastor Robert Morris resigned over allegations that he sexually assaulted a young girl decades ago.
Morris' son James Morris was the designated successor for his father, but he stepped down on July 25. James Morris' wife, Bridgette, also resigned from her role with the megachurch, Gateway staff members were told on the same day. Before fully stepping down, the younger Morris had been asked by church elders in late June to take a temporary leave of absence as an outside legal team investigated the sexual abuse accusations against his father.
Pastor Robert Morris' accuser, Cindy Clemishire, revealed in June that the elder Morris sexually abused her starting in 1982 when she was 12 years old. The pastor admitted to "inappropriate sexual behavior" with Clemishire and resigned from Gateway.
Based in Southlake, near Fort Worth, Gateway Church is one of the biggest evangelical Christian churches in the country, boasting several locations throughout North Texas.