Preachers Abuse Their Powers

June 19, 2024 Texas Megachurch Pastor Resigns-- Accused of Touching Girl Starting When She Was 12

A pastor at a Texas megachurch resigned Tuesday after a woman accused him of sexually abusing her several times between 1982 and 1987, when she was a minor.

The resignation of Robert Morris, founder and senior pastor at Gateway Church, was accepted by the church’s board of elders. In a statement, the board said it is “heartbroken and appalled” by the allegations raised by Cindy Clemishire, who was 12 when the alleged abuse began in 1982. The church said it had hired a law firm to investigate the allegations.

“Regretfully, before Friday, 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 board said, adding that the elders had known about an extramarital relationship but thought it was with a “young lady.”

June 17, 2024

LONG BEACH, Miss. (WLOX) - A former youth pastor out of First Baptist Church in Long Beach, who was also a former Harrison County reserve deputy, has been arrested on two counts of sexual battery and one count of touching a child for lustful purposes.

Long Beach Police Chief Billy Seal says the investigation began in November of 2022 when the family of a female victim alerted authorities, alleging that pastor John Douglas Jones was abusing the victim.

Jones was arrested after he was indicted by a grand jury. He left the church shortly after the investigation began in 2022.

Officials say Jones and the victim met through the youth program at First Baptist Church.