Pastor Robert Morris resigns, church says it didn't have full story of abuse

The pastor of a Texas megachurch has resigned after recent allegations of sexual abuse came to light.

The board of elders at Gateway Church, based in Southlake, Tex., announced on Tuesday that it had accepted the resignation of Robert Morris. Morris was the church's founder and served as its senior pastor. 

"Regretfully, prior to June 14, the elders did not have all the facts of the inappropriate relationship between Morris and the victim, including her age at the time and the length of the abuse," the release states.

Allegations from the victim, Cindy Clemshire, came to light last week accusing Morris of molesting her over several years, beginning when she was just 12 years old. 

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Morris released a statement to the Christian Post last week confessing the accusations were true, but described it as "inappropriate sexual behaviour with a young lady." 

Morris' church says that's the same language he used with the church, describing it as an "extramarital relationship ... with 'a young lady.'" 

He had shared several times throughout his ministry about a moral failing of an extramarital relationship when he was in his twenties, the statement says.

"The elders' prior understanding was that Morris's extramarital relationship, which he had discussed many times throughout his ministry, was with 'a young lady' and not abuse of a 12-year-old child. 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."

Last week elders from the church told the Christian Post that they believed he had been "Biblically restored" to ministry.

Morris founded Gateway Church in 2000, and today it has several locations with over 100,000 people attending, according to its website.

The 62-year-old pastor has not released a statement as of publication time.

The church says that it has hired a law firm to fully investigate the allegations of abuse between the years of 1982 and 1987.