Gateway Church members speak out after yet another pastor resigns due to a "moral issue"
SOUTHLAKE — Gateway Church has fired another high-ranking pastor as it continues to deal with the fallout from the June resignation of its founder.
It may look like business as normal outside Gateway Church in Southlake Thursday, but church member Valentina Hansen said what's happening inside feels like a soap opera.
"I feel like it's 'As Gateway Turns.' It's like, okay, well, what's going to happen on the next episode of Gateway Church?" Hansen said.
Gateway Church elder Tra Willbanks posted a message on YouTube Wednesday about the resignation of former executive pastor Kemtal Glasgow.
"We were informed last week of a moral issue, which we believe as elders disqualifies him from the role he had at Gateway. We love his family. We love his wife and his kids, and we want to come alongside them during this difficult time," Willbanks said in the announcement ... We love his family, we love his wife and his kids and we want to come alongside them during this difficult time and we want to find restoration and healing that they need as a family."
He did not offer specifics.
Glasgow's information has been removed from Gateway's website, but according to an archived biography page, he provided leadership and oversight to all of Gateway's campuses.
In a statement to CBS News Texas, Gateway Church said:
"At Gateway, it's our deepest desire for every staff member to lead a life of integrity, both in their personal and professional lives. It recently came to light that Kemtal Glasgow had a moral failure so we've asked him to step down as a pastor at Gateway and devote time to his marriage and family. Although his employment is ending, we are devoted to still caring for Kemtal and his family.
To be clear, this decision regarding Kemtal had nothing to with the departure of Robert Morris nor related to those circumstances.
We are praying for God's grace and love to be with Kemtal and his family during this time."
"It's tragic. I feel for his wife and family. It's heartbreaking. It's just ongoing, and it's horrible," Gateway Church member Katherine Leach said.
Leach said she hasn't been to a Gateway Church service since June.
"I couldn't in all good conscience," Leach said. "I came here, brought water to protesters. I wanted to go inside and see how things were handled and quite honestly, at the time I was appalled with it. It seemed like business as usual."
Several Gateway Church members met with church leaders Thursday afternoon to discuss their concerns and propose some solutions after the series of pastors have stepped down.
"I made the suggestion that they become a member of CFR," Hansen said. "It's a credentialing organization for churches about transparency and accountability for financials."
That's not the only idea Hansen proposed.
"I even made a suggestion that they have a place on their website to where parents can go to know how their children are being protected," Hansen said.
CBS News Texas reached out to Glasgow for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Robert Morris accusations
Public controversy around the church 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.
Morris resigned days after the allegations were first published by The Wartburg Watch, a North Carolina-based church watchdog blog. The Christian Post then picked up the story, and in a statement to the outlet, Morris admitted to "inappropriate sexual behavior."
"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."
Morris founded the church's first location in Southlake in 2000. The evangelical church, one of the largest in the U.S., has grown to nine campuses in North Texas.
Last month, Morris' son James and his wife Bridgette both resigned from their positions as pastors at the church. Founding elder Steve Dulin also resigned.
Church leaders hired an outside firm to conduct an investigation, which is ongoing.
