Texas Pastor Accused of Sexual Abuse Resigns
Robert Morris, senior pastor and founder of Gateway Church near Dallas, TX resigns amid accusations of sexual abuse in the 1980s.
In June 2024, a 62-year old Texas pastor of Gateway Church resigned after sexual abuse allegations surfaced against him. The allegations were revealed on a religious watchdog blog, The Wartburg Watch.
The survivor chronicled to The Dallas Morning News that she had met Morris in 1981, and became close with him and his family. In 1982, on Christmas Day, the first instance of sexual abuse occurred, she says, which continued for over four years. The survivor was about 12 years old at the time of the first alleged abuse.
Morris copped to The Christian Post that when he was in his early 20s he was “involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady in a home where I was staying.” He continues in the statement, “It was kissing and petting and not intercourse, but it was wrong. This behavior happened on several occasions over the next few years.”
The survivor describes the abuse she endured in what she didn’t understand then to be a form of rape, saying “I was an innocent 12-year-old little girl who knew nothing about sexual behavior.”
In 1987, Morris confessed and repented, but returned to ministry in March of 1989. “I don't think he ever should have been allowed to be in the ministry,” the survivor said. “We would never allow someone to go teach in a school … work in a daycare or be a doctor if anybody had done these things. And I have a very difficult time believing I'm the only one.”
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