Robert Morris, the disgraced founding pastor of Southlake-based Gateway Church, has been released from jail after serving six months of a 10-year sentence.
Court records show Morris was released from Osage County Jail in Oklahoma shortly after midnight on Tuesday.
Morris, 64, pleaded guilty to five counts of lewd or indecent acts to a child last Oct. 2. after Cindy Clemishire revealed in June 2024 Morris had sexually abused her in the 1980s when she was 12 years old and he was 22.
Clemishire said the abuse lasted more than four years.
The disgraced pastor was sentenced in Osage County where the abuse took place. He will also be required to register as a lifetime sex offender and pay $270,000 to Clemishire.
In a statement Tuesday, Morris asked for forgiveness from Clemishire and her family.
"What I did to Cindy decades ago was wrong," Morris said. "There is no other word for it, and there is no excuse for it. I am deeply sorry. I have carried the weight of that wrong for a very long time, and I am grateful 鈥� genuinely grateful 鈥� that the Clemishires had the courage to bring this into the light. It is only in the light that things can truly be addressed and healed."
Clemishire's accusations led to Morris鈥� resignation from Gateway shortly after and the megachurch claiming in a series of statements they weren鈥檛 aware of the abuse in the years prior.
But an internal probe into Gateway uncovered multiple church elders and staff knew about the abuse for years, eventually leading the removal of four elders and a criminal investigation into the megachurch.
Morris was indicted and arrested last March and initially pleaded not guilty.
Gateway鈥檚 reputation was tarnished after Clemishire came forward. Once considered one of the largest megachurches in the nation, it faced a drop in church attendance, church donations, staff cuts and both related and
Jeff Leach, a state house representative and one of Clemishire's attorneys, said in a text to 四虎影院 Tuesday that Clemishire will continue to fully pursue justice via the civil justice system.
"She rightfully seeks full accountability not only for Robert and the crimes he committed against her as a young child, but also for the other individuals who harbored him, covered for him, lied for him and even in some cases attacked Cindy on his behalf," Leach said.
Morris, Gateway and former church elders are still in the midst of an ongoing civil lawsuit from Clemishire and her father filed last June. They accuse them of defaming her in the statements released after Morris resigned in which they referred to the abuse as inappropriate sexual behavior with a 鈥測oung lady,鈥� and that her family forgave him.
Clemishire has argued those statements downplayed the assault.
The suit also claims church staff knew about the abuse for years, helped cover it and finally benefitted from it.
A Dallas judge has denied motions by Gateway, Morris, and several former and current church elders to be dismissed from the suit.
A trial for that suit is set for June 2026.
This is story was updated to include a statement from Robert Morris and Cindy Clemishire's attorney Jeff Leach.
Penelope Rivera is 四虎影院's Tarrant County Accountability Reporter. Got a tip? Email Penelope Rivera at privera@kera.org.
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