Gateway Church offers prayers to members after i…

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Monday, March 17, 2025

Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, offered prayers to congregants and reminded them on Sunday that the church had drawn a “bright line” of separation from founder Robert Morris following his indictment last Wednesday on five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child by a multi-county grand jury in Oklahoma.

“I wanted to just briefly update you related to the news that many of you have seen by now — the media coverage of Robert Morris,” Nic Lesmeister, Gateway Church’s executive pastor of global outreach, began in an address about Morris’ indictment.

The charges stem from allegations made by Cindy Clemishire last June that Morris sexually abused her over multiple years in the 1980s when he was a traveling evangelist, beginning when she was 12.

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“We know that stirred up a lot of emotion for all of us,” Lesmeister added. “It stirred up a lot of emotion for us and we want to be available to pray with you, to pray for you, to support you, to counsel you in any way that we can … as we continue to move forward and heal and step into the great things that God’s doing in our church.”

Lesmeister reminded members that Morris, who resigned over the allegations on June 18, 2024, no longer has any formal ties to the church.

“Last November, our elders made it clear that we had drawn a bright line as a church, and we were moving forward. And because we’re moving forward, and Gateway is no longer involved in this legal matter, we won’t be continuing to update you on the proceedings of the case, but we’re continuing to pray for everybody that’s involved and affected in this matter,” Lesmeister explained.

“So thank you to all of you who have been a part of our church family through all of the highs and the lows that we’ve gone through together. We’re so grateful, and we know that God’s going to continue to do great things as we’re all experiencing Him doing in our church right now,” he ended before praying.

In a statement following Morris’ indictment, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who had served as Clemishire’s attorney while he was in private practice in 2005, said Morris’ alleged crimes were “more despicable” because he was a pastor when they occurred.

“There can be no tolerance for those who sexually prey on children,” he said. “This case is all the more despicable because the alleged perpetrator was a pastor who exploited his position. The victim in this case has waited far too many years for justice to be done.”

In 2005 and 2007, Drummond tried to negotiate a settlement with Morris for the abuse Clemishire suffered. However, Morris allegedly refused to provide any assistance unless she signed a non-disclosure agreement.

Clemishire went public with her story last June, sparking national headlines. Now, as Oklahoma’s attorney general, Drummond revealed in an NBC News interview Thursday that his prosecutors asked for permission to examine a criminal case against Morris as he had a personal connection. 

“I frankly have walled myself from that investigation and prosecution and was pleased that the grand jury believed that there was enough evidence to indict Mr. Morris,” Drummond told NBC News.

Drummond said his staff used a frontier-era statute written more than a century ago to prosecute outlaw cowboys who roved the Old West committing crimes in different states. He said Oklahoma and other frontier states have a provision in their laws that allows them to pause the statute of limitations when someone from out of state commits a crime and then flees the state.

Since Morris was a traveling evangelist who did not reside in Oklahoma when he is alleged to have committed the crimes, Drummond and his prosecutors argue that there was a pause on the statute of limitations.

“Certainly, that will be challenged in a court of law, and we are prepared to meet that challenge,” Drummond said in the interview. “I anticipate that there will be, ultimately, case law made on this case.”