A Texas megachurch has removed four church elders from leadership after hiring a legal firm to conduct a confidential investigation into sexual assault allegations against its founder.
On Saturday, Nov. 2, Gateway Church elder Tra Willbanks announced the elders’ removals during a service in Southlake, Texas.
According to NBCDFW and ABC affiliate WFAA, Willbanks informed the congregation about the probe this weekend. Haynes Boone, a law company, performed the inquiry after allegations were made against Gateway senior pastor and founder Robert Morris earlier this year.
Morris has admitted to having “inappropriate sexual behavior” with a “young lady” in the 1980s, following allegations by Cindy Clemishire to WFAA that he mistreated her from 1982 to 1987. Morris did not acknowledge to assaulting Clemishire, but he did resign from the Church.
Willbanks stated that three of the four elders dismissed from the church were either aware of Morris’ incident with the claimed victim or “failed to inquire further.”
Willbanks also allegedly stated that the church is cooperating with an ongoing criminal inquiry.
Although Willbanks did not name the elders that were dismissed from the church, both sites stated that the names of Kevin Grove, Thomas Miller, Jeremy Carrasco, and Gayland Lawshe had been taken off Gateway’s website.
A prior June statement from the church explained that Grove, Dulin, and Lawshe, three elders who served on Gateway’s board of elders from 2005 to 2007, took voluntary, temporary leaves of absence from the board following the law firm’s probe.
“These three Elders … are men of integrity who have served Gateway Church with distinction, and each of these three Elders has clearly stated that they had no knowledge of the true facts of this situation,” the statement concluded in part.
Clemishire’s attorney, Boz Tchividjian, previously told NPR that, in addition to the present inquiry, Clemishire attempted to settle a legal suit against Morris in 2007 for the alleged abuse, but she walked away because he wanted her to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
According to their website, Morris started Gateway Church in 2000. The church currently has multiple locations throughout the country.