Attendance has plummeted at Texas megachurch where leaders have resigned amid sex scandal

The church has seen a resignation, a firing, a protest and a name change since the sex abuse allegations against its founder came to light in June

A Texas megachurch entrenched in scandal has seen a significant dip in attendance in recent weeks.

Gateway Church has seen a mass exodus after its founder, Robert Morris, resigned in June after admitting to engaging in “inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady” in the 1980s. Separately this week, the church’s executive pastor Kemtal Glasgow was fired because of a “moral failure.”

Amid the controversies, the church - which usually sees 100,000 people for its weekend services - has seen a 17 percent to 19 percent decrease in attendance at services, a church spokesperson told CNN.

The Independent has reached out to the church for comment.

In the immediate aftermath of the allegations against Morris, a protest erupted outside of the Southlake church.

Texas megachurch Gateway Church has seen a decrease in attendence at weekend services since sexual abuse accusations against its pastor surfaced in June (Wikicommons/Jared Stump)

Emily High, a member of the church for 17 years, told WFAA in Dallas that she wouldn’t return, citing a sense of betrayal from the pastor.

“It’s anger, it’s all the range of emotions,” High said. “Being a pedophile, a molester, that’s not ok.”

The widespread effects of the mass departure are not yet clear. Gateway, which spans nine locations in Texas, one in Wyoming, and one in Missouri, announced earlier this month that it was canceling its annual conference in September “in the midst of navigating Morris’ resignation and the emotions surrounding it.”

Meanwhile, a Houston location changed its name.

The trouble with the church began when accusations against Morris surfaced in June, when accuser Cindy Cemishire, 52, came forward claiming Morris - who once served as an advisor to Donald Trump - and his wife were staying at her house in 1982 and he asked the then-12-year-old girl to come to his room. He told her to lay on his bed and then began touching her inappropriately, she said.

The abuse continued for five years until she told her parents, she said.

Robert Morris, a Texas pastor who founded Gateway Church, allegedly asked the woman accusing him of abuse how much it would take to buy her silence (WFAA / YouTube)

Morris acknowledged the allegations in a statement in June: “When I was in my early twenties, I was involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady in a home where I was staying. It was kissing and petting and not intercourse, but it was wrong.”

“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,” the statement continued.

Clemishire told WFAA in June that though her family forgave him, they never supported Morris returning to the ministry. “He didn’t come forward and confess. He was turned in,” she said. “When someone is turned in, what are they sorry for? Are they sorry they got caught? Or are they truly repentant of what they did?”

Morris was once a member of Trump’s faith advisory board. The Gateway Church also hosted the former president in 2020 at its Dallas campus for a discussion on race relations and the economy.

The church’s board of elders announced in June they’d accepted the resignation from Morris and hired a law firm to “conduct a thorough and independent inquiry so that the facts can be understood.”

This week, church elder Tra Willbanks announced the departure of its pastor in a statement: “Kemtal Glasgow is no longer employed at Gateway. We were informed last week of a moral issue which we believe, as elders, disqualifies him from serving in the role that he had at Gateway.”