It has been the summer of wrongdoing for evangelical churches across North Texas, with several prominent megachurch pastors stepping down from their leadership roles — or being pushed out of them — for everything from “inappropriate” actions and "sin" to child sex abuse allegations.
The most high-profile example is Robert Morris, the former pastor and founder of Southlake’s Gateway Church, who is accused of sexually abusing a child in the early 1980s. After the claims were made public in June, Morris resigned from his position and the church announced that an independent company would conduct an internal investigation into the allegations. But the church has stayed in the headlines for controversial messaging, such as calling Morris’ abuse of 12-year-old Cindy Clemishire an “inappropriate relationship” with a “young lady.”
At Sunday's service, Gateway elder Tra Willbanks openly apologized to Clemishire and said the church is not attempting to hide from the accusations facing their founder.
“Cindy, in case you are watching, we want to again apologize to you on behalf of our entire church for the years of pain that you have endured,” Willbanks said. “We are sorry for our initial communication, which was clearly incorrect. You were a child, not a young lady. Additionally, two weeks ago, Gateway released a statement saying that this was an ‘inappropriate relationship.’ This statement was not correct, either.”
It was the first such apology that has been made to Clemishire, who has not been privately contacted by church leadership, her attorney told The Dallas Morning News.
A victim-centered apology is the first of several actions that should be taken after churches are rocked by claims of abuse, says Michelle Simpson Tuegel, a Dallas-based victim’s rights attorney. Tuegel has represented victims in litigation against the Catholic Church, in clergy abuse scandals like Gateway’s and against disgraced USA Gymnastics national team doctor Larry Nassar. But even with a public apology made, there is still a “big question” about how Gateway Church will move forward, she said.
“I talk to [victims] every day and hear their responses to the institution's responses after they come forward,” Tuegel told the Observer. “And I can't speak to what the church will do, but I can speak to what they should do.”
How to Regain Trust After Abuse
Gateway Church leaders have stated they did not have “all the facts” about Morris’ wrongdoing, which sets off alarm bells for Tuegel. As a litigator, the phrasing tells her that some members of the church did know at least part of the story, and Morris had openly spoken previously about infidelity and sinful relationships in sermons. At the very least, Gateway should look into training programs that center on mandatory reporting and victim support, she said.
The church should also look to identify any individuals who may have known about misconduct but failed to report it and “clean house,” she said.
“Without that, it's still the same [leadership], and they're leaving people who failed to take action,” Tuegel said.
Last week it was announced that James Morris, the son of Robert Morris, who had been chosen to become lead pastor at Gateway after Robert’s eventual retirement, was also resigning from his position. The younger Morris began working with the church in 2012.
James Morris first took a leave of absence from the board of elders in late June after the law firm Haynes and Boone began an internal investigation into the claims against Robert Morris, and concerns about conflicts of interest arose. A statement made on Facebook said James “had no knowledge of the true facts” of the allegations against his father and that the leave would be temporary.
James is the first major church member, aside from Robert Morris, to step down from the church’s leadership. To Tuegel, it seems like an attempt to “save face” by getting a recognizable name out of the church.
Victim-forward messaging is key to rebuilding trust within the church and making other potential victims feel empowered to come forward, she explained. With 27% of women reporting having experienced some degree of child sexual abuse according to the National Center for PTSD, there will be “other victims in the church body,” Tuegel said.
In the weeks following Morris’ resignation, Tuegel believed the church's communications were likely invalidating those victims.
While it may be necessary to rebuild trust, it generally isn’t an issue to rebuild membership. In the cases she has litigated, Tuegel said she rarely sees a significant dip in church membership following accusations of abuse or misconduct.
“I have often seen the actual impact to numbers be minimal until you get to the point of bankruptcy. And even then, they don't cease to exist, they just restructure and they use bankruptcy as a way to avoid some of the liability,” Tuegel said. “It's not what you would think it would be, based on how great the harm is.”
While many institutions jump to hire outside investigators after allegations of misconduct, Tuegel warns they can be ineffective in signaling change. Another sign to be weary of is the quick hire of a big-name pastor to replace the accused, she added.
Learning From the Mistakes of Others
Because of Gateway’s high-profile status, Tuegel believes it can stand as a “great test” to see if “churches can learn from the mistakes of others.”
“The bigger problem seems to be the church's response to abuse. We know that there's abuse. We know that there's abuse within these large institutions, but how are they going to change and respond to it is the question,” Tuegel said.
Here are some other North Texas churches that have been rocked by controversy this summer, and how they handled it.
Tony Evans – Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church
In June, Evans stepped down from his role as pastor after more than 40 years, citing years-old “sinful” behavior as his reason for leaving. The church has more than 10,000 members, records show.
"When we fall short of that standard due to sin, we are required to repent and restore our relationship with God," Evans wrote in a statement. "A number of years ago, I fell short of that standard."
WFAA reported that Evans did not commit a crime, and in a statement to the congregation, church elders said they were working “prayerfully and diligently” to continue the church’s work.
Luke Cunningham – Lakeside Baptist Church
A former Lubbock youth pastor and student minister at Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury was arrested in June and charged with sexual assault of a child.
The employee, Luke Cunningham, was suspended and then fired from his role at the church. In a social media message, church leadership encouraged anyone with knowledge of the situation or any victims to contact law enforcement. The church also advocated for the Southern Baptist Convention to take a more aggressive stance against sexual crimes.
“We believe that, if the Southern Baptist Convention had a working database for offenders, we would likely have never been exposed to Mr. Cunningham,” the church said. “We plan to do everything possible to encourage national leaders to exercise their spiritual responsibility, identify perpetrators in the churches, and stop this from happening again.”
Josiah Anthony – Cross Timbers Church
In Argyle, Cross Timbers Church elders dismissed lead pastor Josiah Anthony last weekend due to “inappropriate and hurtful" actions. Officials told WFAA the actions did not involve children, a crime or physical or sexual interactions.
In a statement read to the congregation Sunday, the church said emotional and mental health struggles contributed to “events and circumstances” over a multi-year time period that were “hurtful” to the church community.
“Josiah was not forthcoming and transparent with the staff and the elder board," church leadership said. "Once all of this came to light over the last few weeks, it became evident that Josiah could not continue to serve as our lead pastor."
Replacing Anthony will be Byron Copeland, who worked for Gateway Church for two decades prior to joining Cross Timbers. Copeland is currently named in a lawsuit filed by a former administrative assistant at Gateway who says he ignored reports of sexual harassment by a pastor.
“Pastor Copeland aggressively confronted Ms.Childress while they were at the Administrative Headquarters of Gateway. Pastor Copeland backed Ms. Childress into a corner of the room they were in and threatened to fire her if she didn’t shut up and stop stirring up drama. Pastor Copeland subsequently sent her an apology via Slack later that evening,” the lawsuit, which was settled last summer, states.
Tony Cammarota – Stonebriar Community Church
In an email sent to members, Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco said Tony Cammarota, associate pastor for 17 years, had been removed from his position due to “moral failure.”
“Please guard against giving the Devil any foothold for more damage to our church through unnecessary speech and speculation,” the church said. “This is a sad day and we don’t want the Devil making it worse through any one of us in the days ahead.”
