Before yesterday, I knew who Robert Morris was, but otherwise did not know much else about him other than he was/is pastor of the largest church in America. I knew that his church, Gateway Church, is charismatic. That sector is not my wheelhouse, but, having attended an Assemblies of God church during 4 of my 5 years of college, I know the culture.

But on Thursday, Amy Smith had this to say:

“Church abuse is doing far more damage to the cause of the gospel and Christ than anything the WEC wants to blame.” Tomorrow morning 9 am (ET)

@wartwatch

will post a story of child sexual abuse by a well known megachurch pastor. I’m planning to share on my blog as well & TikTok

I immediately asked Dee Parsons of The Wartburg Watch if this involved Tony Evans, as he had stepped down earlier in the week. Her response: “No but it does involve a DFW pastor and you will know who he is.”

At that point, I started examining megachurches in the DFW area and made a short list of 5 churches whose pastors I thought could be suspects. 4 of those were SBC. The fifth was Gateway.

Turns out, it was Gateway.

It took a few hours, but Gateway leadership formulated an internal response. For context, here is the text. We will examine it.

First off, this is a statement by the Gateway elders, not by Robert Morris. While it is incumbent on them to issue a statement, what they are saying is IN HIS DEFENSE. So this is one big use of TRIANGULATION. Robert Morris is using the leaders of Gateway to speak for him.

(TRIANGULATION: this involves using other people to either deflect attention, shoulder the fallout, or vouch for your character.)

"Pastor Robert has been open and forthright about a moral failure he had 35 years ago."

They lead off with MINIMIZATION. And they do it three ways:

(a) They call it a "moral failure". That's sanitized. He took sexual license with a girl, starting from age 12, through 17.

(b) They phrase it in passive voice: "a moral failure 'he had'" instead of "a moral atrocity he committed."

(c) They use TEMPORAL DISTANCING: by pointing to the fact that it was 35 years ago, they appeal to the passage of time, the "why are we dredging this up now?" defense.

Why is this a problem? That passage of time may have been good for ROBERT MORRIS, but for his victim that time may have included a lot of Hell to unpack.

"He shared publicly the proper Biblical steps he took in his lengthy restoration process."

This is TRANSCENDENCE. In this, they are appealing to a Biblical process to shut down all criticism. And I'd bet no small amount of money that his congregation had no idea that his "moral failure" involved molesting a 12-year-old over the course of 5 years. That might force more discussion as to why he didn't face more severe consequences.

This shows more TRANSCENDENCE. Why? It appeals to authority: "professional counseling", "two-year restoration process".

They appeal to the elders of Shady Grove Church. But this sidesteps the severity of the offense.

He did not simply have an affair. He was not a single man who hooked up with an adult. He was an adult who FONDLED A 12-YEAR-OLD GIRL REPEATEDLY OVER THE COURSE OF FIVE YEARS. It only ended when she told others, and it got back to her parents, who confronted him and the church.

Now we're back to MINIMIZATION. Notice the TEMPORAL DISTANCING again. They are reinforcing that this was "35 years ago". They also use passive voice: "There have been more other moral failures."

(Fact: THEY DON'T KNOW THAT!!!)

Now we have a quote from Robert Morris himself. First, this is multiple layers of MINIMIZATION.

(a) "When I was in my early 20s". More TEMPORAL DISTANCING.

(b) "I was involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady". This is PASSIVE VOICE, also covers the severity of what he did: fondle a 12-year-old girl, and continue to do so for 5 years.

(c) "It was kissing and petting but not intercourse". HE WAS MOLESTING A GIRL! The Bill Clinton/Mike Bickle defense is lame here.

(d) "but it was wrong". It was CRIMINAL!

(e) "this behavior happened on several occasions over the next few years." MINIMIZATION by PASSIVE VOICE. Fact: he molested her repeatedly for 5 years.

(f) "In March of 1987, the situation was brought to light." MINIMIZATION by PASSIVE VOICE. Her parents confronted him.

(g) "it was confessed and repented of." MINIMIZATION by PASSIVE VOICE. Notice that the "it" he refers to is what he calls the "situation". He does not actively refer to his atrocities. Nor does he show any regard for his victim in retrospect.

Now we're getting to TRIANGULATION: "I submitted myself to the elders of Shady Grove Church and her father." He appeals to the authority of a church (TRANSCENDENCE), and also her father. This is also an ATTACK vector in that he is weaponizing her father against her. This is part of an implicit DARVO.

He then gets into some BOLSTERING: "Since that time, I have walked in purity and accountability in that area." This is also BOLSTERING via TEMPORAL DISTANCING.

Just as they want you to know that the offense was 35 years ago, they also want you to know that he has been walking "in purity" for 35 years.

Here we get more TRANSCENDENCE and TRIANGULATION. He appeals to his return to ministry; that he met with the victim's family, and "they forgave him".

The problem?

So far, no one here has said ANYTHING empathetic with his victim.

• No acknowledgement of WHAT HE DID TO HER

• no acknowledgement of HER SUFFERING

• no acknowledgement of THE BAGGAGE SHE HAD TO UNPACK FOR DECADES.

• They are completely disregarding HER STORY.

He ends with TRANSCENDENCE. He did it “Biblically”, so in effect he is saying, "There's nothing to see here."

Except throughout both the elders' statement and Robert's own statement, there is no acknowledgement of her. Moreover, what they all are saying is at variance with what the victim is saying.

Ultimately, there is NO MORTIFICATION: no apology to anyone. No apology to the victim, or her family.

There is NO CORRECTIVE ACTION. He has vast amounts of wealth. He allegedly offered money to cover up the story, but not to reimburse her for the trauma he inflicted, or the therapy and suffering she endured over the years.

There is NO ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of the victim; he frames it in terms that imply consent. But that was not the case; in fact, what he did was CHILD MOLESTATION. It was CRIMINAL!

Unlike Tony Evans, who at least had the good sense to step away from his pastorate, Robert Morris has not tendered a resignation. And his elders have not fired him, which they should.

Conclusion: this statement by Gateway Church is hot garbage.

If you are a member of Gateway, you need to eject.

Robert Morris, you have two choices:

(a) you can go to Hell and take your money with you.

(b) You can show some public contrition and take real corrective action commensurate with repentance.

Your move, Bob.