Texas megachurch accepts senior pastor’s resignation after allegations of ‘inappropriate relationship’ with a minor

A Dallas-area megachurch accepted the resignation of senior pastor Robert Morris on Tuesday after allegations of a past inappropriate relationship with a 12-year-old surfaced last week.

A Dallas-area megachurch accepted the resignation of senior pastor Robert Morris on Tuesday after allegations of a past inappropriate relationship with a 12-year-old surfaced last week. The Board of Elders of Gateway Church said in a statement Tuesday that prior to June 14, they didn’t have all the facts of the abuse. “The elders’ prior understanding was that Morris’s extramarital relationship, which he discussed many times throughout his ministry, was with ‘a young lady’ and not abuse of a 12-year-old child,” the statement reads. “Even though it occurred many years before Gateway was established, as leaders of the church, we regret that we did not have the information that we now have.” The elders said they were “heartbroken and appalled” and expressed sympathy to the victim and her family. “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. This behavior happened on several occasions over the next few years,” the pastor said in a statement.