Robert Morris, founder and pastor of the Texas megachurch Gateway, resigned recently after admitting to sexually assaulting a child in the 1980s. A leaked phone transcript now reveals that Morris attempted to pay off his victim for her silence.
The transcript, dated September 22, 2005, and provided to NBC by a former Gateway Church employee, shows Morris telling his victim, who has identified herself as Cindy Clemishire, to "put a price on it" when she asked for compensation for the trauma she endured.
Clemishire responded, "It is not a small number. Money doesn’t make you happy, and I can understand that. So that is not what this is about."
When Clemishire requested $2 million, Morris reportedly hung up the phone.
The transcript was discovered when the former employee was transferring files from Morris's computer to a new laptop. Gateway Church has not commented on the validity of the transcript.
Morris founded Gateway Church in 2000, which has grown to become one of the largest megachurches in the United States, located in Southlake, Texas. He gained prominence as an evangelical leader, known for his sermons and books on purity and the power of prayer, and even served on former President Donald Trump's spiritual advisory board.
Clemishire publicly accused Morris of beginning the abuse in 1982 when she was 12 years old, continuing for several years. Morris, who was a traveling evangelist and a family friend at the time, claimed he confessed to Clemishire’s father years ago and received his forgiveness. However, Clemishire stated that while her family forgave Morris, they never wanted him to return to ministry.
Gateway’s board of elders acknowledged knowing about Morris’s "moral failure," but only partially, as Morris had only admitted to "inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady." In June, Clemishire clarified that she was actually a child when the abuse began, not a consenting adult.
The board's statement read: “Regretfully, prior to Friday, June 14, the elders did not have all the facts of the inappropriate relationship between Morris and the victim, including her age at the time and the length of the abuse.
“The elders’ prior understanding was that Morris’s extramarital relationship, which he had discussed many times throughout his ministry, was with ‘a young lady’ and not abuse of a 12-year-old child. Even though it occurred many years before Gateway was established, as leaders of the church, we regret that we did not have the information that we now have.”
The church accepted Morris’s resignation earlier this month following the full revelation of the truth.
Gateway Church has not responded to requests for comment regarding the leaked phone transcripts.
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