Robert Morris Ministries cancels future radio,
television broadcasts after child sexual abuse scandal
Following allegations that came to light last month that Gateway Church founder Robert Morris sexually abused Cindy Clemishire over multiple years in the 1980s, beginning when she was 12, Pastor Robert Morris Ministries has now canceled “all future radio and television broadcasts.”
“The elders of Gateway Church learned that Pastor Robert’s moral failure from more than forty years ago involved a minor. We are heartbroken and grief-stricken for this woman who has carried this burden of abuse for decades,” the Board of Elders of Gateway Church and the Overseers of Pastor Robert Morris Ministries said in a joint statement posted on the Robert Morris Ministries homepage Wednesday.
“Pastor Robert’s sin and his lack of transparency to the church’s elders and leadership has disqualified him from continuing in his role as senior pastor at Gateway Church and as leader of Pastor Robert Morris Ministries. As a result, all future radio and television broadcast ministry from Pastor Robert Morris Ministries has been canceled,” the ministry leaders continued.
The reaction from Pastor Robert Morris Ministries comes some two weeks after Texas-based Daystar Television Network, one of the largest Christian television networks in the world, also removed all programming featuring Morris following his June 18 resignation from Gateway Church over the allegations from Clemishire.
Clemishire, 54, reported last month that the megachurch founder began sexually abusing her on Dec. 25, 1982, when she was just 12 years old. She says the abuse continued for four-and-a-half years before he was found out. But he was later allowed to return to ministry.
When questioned about the allegations by The Christian Post, Morris only confessed to being involved in “inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady” more than 35 years ago, and said he repented and was restored to ministry.
“In March of 1987, this situation was brought to light, and it was confessed and repented of. I submitted myself to the Elders of Shady Grove Church and the young lady’s father. They asked me to step out of ministry and receive counseling and freedom ministry, which I did. Since that time, I have walked in purity and accountability in this area,” Morris said.
Clemishire insisted to CP, however, that she was no young lady when Morris abused her.
“I was 12 years old. I was a little girl. A very innocent little girl. And he was brought into our home. He and his wife, Debbie, and their little boy, Josh, trusted and preached at the church that my dad helped start and then began grooming all of us to do this, which took me decades to wrap my brain around as an adult,” she said.“It went on for many years. He says there was no sexual intercourse, but he did touch every part of my body and inserted his fingers into me, which I understand now is considered a form of rape by instrumentation. I was an innocent 12-year-old little girl who knew nothing about sexual behavior.”
In their announcement of Morris' resignation on June 18, Gateway Church elders said they retained the law firm of Haynes & Boone, LLP, to "conduct an independent, thorough, and professional review of the report of past abuse to ensure we have a complete understanding of the events from 1982-1987."
Despite the removal of video and audio content from Morris for the website of Pastor Robert Morris Ministries, the staff said the broadcasts helped many people around the world for decades.
“We are grateful for how God has used Gateway Church and Pastor Robert Morris Ministries to minister to so many people around the world for decades. Countless people have come to Christ, grown in their faith, and been ministered to in their time of need. We are truly humbled by what God has done through these ministries,” they said in their statement.
“Our prayer for you who have watched our television programs, listened to Worship & the Word on radio, and supported this ministry with your prayers and gifts can be found in Scripture. Numbers 6:24–26: ‘May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.’”
While Jesus paid the price of our sins, there are still consequences to sin. Better to pay those consequences in this lifetime than in Eternity.
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Unless our hearts are filled with pain for the state of our world, we have not begun to sense the heart of God. Charles Price - Living Truth
What must Jesus think when He suffered so much for us to have the privileges of serving Him and glorifying Him, and we respond with this kind of evil, in the Name of God?
Zachary King, former megachurch pastor, charged with rape, sodomy of minor
Zachary King, a pastor with “significant experience serving in youth ministry” at multiple megachurches, including LexCity Church in Lexington, Kentucky, from which he recently resigned as executive pastor, has been charged with the rape and sexual abuse of a minor.
A press release from the office of Attorney General of Kentucky, Russell Coleman, said King, 47, who preached at LexCity Church as recently as three months ago, was also charged with the unlawful use of electronics to engage in sexual acts with a minor. A report from Lex18 said King was booked in the Fayette County Detention Center and charged with first- and second-degree rape, as well as first- and second-degree sodomy.
At his arraignment on Tuesday, King’s attorney asked Judge John Tackett to set his bond at $50,000 that would allow him to pay $5,000 or 10% of the bond to be released, but the judge set the pastor’s bond at $250,000.
King’s arrest citation, according to Lex18, said he confessed in an interview with Coleman’s office that he "engaged in a sexual relationship with a minor over the course of the last year and a half."
The pastor confessed that he had "sexual intercourse with the minor starting at age 15 in January 2023, continuing until April 2024." He further stated that he had "sexual intercourse in the minor's home, at his residence, and at the church where he was a former pastor."
A Fox56 report said King confessed to communicating with the teenage girl through Snapchat and WhatsApp to arrange meetups and receive explicit photos. He reportedly admitted to picking up the girl from her home and driving up the road to have sex in his car.
He reportedly resigned from LexCity Church after he was confronted by the congregation.
Coleman’s office urged anyone with further information regarding additional alleged criminal conduct by King to the Department of Criminal Investigations Hotline at 866-524-3672 or DCIForce@ky.gov.
According to his LinkedIn profile, King has significant experience serving in youth ministry, including at Craig Groeschel’s Life.Church and Metropolitan Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, where he spent more than eight years.
Talent search firm Vanderbloemen, praised connecting King with Metropolitan Baptist Church as a successful partnership in earlier comments on his time with that church.
“Since the first project that we were able to walk through with the Met, we have successfully helped the church with hires in Student Ministry, Worship, and Executive Leadership. In our first engagement with the church, we were able to help them connect with their Student and Teaching Pastor Zach King,” Vanderbloemen said. “Zach has served at the Met now for several years, the Student Ministry is flourishing, the church overall has grown to over 4,000, and plans are being drawn up for the new campus of the Metropolitan Baptist Church.”
Neither Life.Church nor Metropolitan Baptist Church immediately responded to a request for comment from The Christian Post on Wednesday.
King, who has been married for approximately 24 years, revealed in February 2022 during a podcast called "Off the Record" hosted by LexCity Church Lead Pastor Brian Classen how difficult marriage was for him at times when he felt his needs weren’t being met.
“At times, where I'm frustrated and my needs are not being met and [I'm] annoyed by things I shouldn't be annoyed by is when my wife and I are disconnected and we haven't talked about it and we just kind of let it sit,” he said.
“We become really good co-parents and roommates in those seasons where it's like, we just got to get the kids to the next place and get through the next day, almost like surviving until you can go to bed.
“So things that would never really bother me, normally you are treating the symptoms but you are not treating the root of the problem, and I just have to sit there and pray and ask the Lord to reveal the root — typically it's me — my frustration is actually something I'm not doing, so it is really not you it's me in this scenario.”
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