Plastic Surgeon in Southlake, TX

Last summer, James Morris resigned as associate pastor at Gateway Church in the Dallas suburb of Southlake amid an internal investigation into child sexual abuse claims lodged against his father, the church founder Robert Morris. James and his wife, Bridgette, who stepped down as executive pastor at Gateway, left the giant non-denominational Christian evangelical megachurch at the onset of the abuse scandal that led to elder layoffs and tens of thousands of members leaving the congregation.

The presumed heirs to the DFW megachurch haven't commented on the controversy surrounding Gateway and its once highly-esteemed founding pastor. Instead, after an Oklahoma grand jury indicted Robert Morris on child sexual abuse charges last week, James and Bridgette Morris told their Instagram followers that they plan to launch Passage Church on April 12 at St. John Church in Southlake, a short drive from the Gateway campus.

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"LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!" the caption to the announcement reads.

"Thank you so much for going on this journey with us, praying for us, praying for Passage Church," James said in a wholesome video posted around the time of his father's indictment. "We have been looking long and hard trying to find a location and God opened a great door." Bridgette chimed in, saying that Pastor Denny Davis of St. John Church "graciously opened up his doors" for them to host services on Saturday evenings. They invited people to attend Passage's first service on the weekend of Palm Sunday, a week before Easter.

Robert Morris, 63, resigned after a woman accused him of sexually abusing her in the 1980s. The victim, Cindy Clemishire, told authorities the abuse started when she was 12 years old and Morris was a traveling evangelist staying in Oklahoma with her family, according to Associated Press. Robert Morris, a well-known preacher among Texas politicians and former spiritual adviser to the Trump White House, surrendered to Oklahoma authorities on Monday. He could face up to 20 years in prison for each of the five charges of lewd or indecent acts with a child.

After months of silence, James and Bridgette Morris announced in September 2024 that they had been "taking time to rest, pray and hear from the Lord after this last season" and received orders by God to embark on a "church planting journey" in the near future. A Gateway spokesman said at the time that the church elders believed "God has placed a desire in both James and Bridgette's hearts to serve as senior pastors of a church at some point in the future" and that the congregation would ultimately "support their desires to plant a church in the future as the Lord leads them."

Passage's new site describes the church as a "Bible-based, Holy Spirit-filled community that is centered on Jesus Christ." It doesn't mention Gateway or Robert Morris.

In response to questions, a Gateway spokesperson on Tuesday said that the megachurch has "no formal relationship" with Passage or James and Bridgette Morris and "has not provided any staff resources" to the congregation. However, Gateway contributed "a donation to their church as part of their departure," the spokesperson added, "which is something Gateway does from time to time for staff who depart to plant churches."

Gateway, continued the spokeperson, doesn't have a relationship with St. John or Pastor Davis. "We are thankful for their long-standing presence in Southlake as a blessing to our community," they said. Neither James Morris nor St. John responded to requests for comment.

Meanwhile, Robert Morris' daughter, Elaine Fisher, and her husband, Ethan, announced in August 2024 their intent to rebrand Gateway Church in Houston into Newlands Church. Ethan, who helped his wife plant Gateway's Southeast Texas sites in Katy and Magnolia beginning in 2020, said last year that "while we’ve always been an autonomous entity, this is a chance to have a local identity as a church and really our own identity."

Newlands no longer has formal ties to Gateway, the church's spokesperon said. However, some of Newlands' pastoral staff have worked in Gateway's network of church years before the rebranding.

This past Sunday, days after his father-in-law's indictment, Ethan delivered a sermon titled "The Storm Before the Calm." He didn't mention Gateway, Robert Morris or Passage Church in the message.

Robert Morris, founding pastor of Gateway Church⁩, a megachurch in Southlake, Texas, has been indicted on five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child, stemming from alleged incidents dating back to the 1980s, the Oklahoma attorney general's office announced Wednesday.

Morris resigned from Gateway Church last year following allegations that he had sexual relations in Oklahoma with a then 12-year-old girl, Cindy Clemishire, four decades ago.

"After almost 43 years, the law has finally caught up with Robert Morris for the horrific crimes he committed against me as a child," Clemishire said in a statement Wednesday. "Now, it is time for the legal system to hold him accountable. My family and I are deeply grateful to the authorities who have worked tirelessly to make this day possible and remain hopeful that justice will ultimately prevail."

The indictment was announced by the office of Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond. A multi-county grand jury investigation resulted in five felony counts.

"There can be no tolerance for those who sexually prey on children," Drummond said. "This case is all the more despicable because the alleged perpetrator was a pastor who exploited his position. The victim in this case has waited far too many years for justice to be done."

According to Drummond's office, the statute of limitations does not apply to this case because Morris was not a resident or inhabitant of Oklahoma at any time.

Gateway Church released the following statement to CBS News Texas:

We are aware of the actions being taken by the legal authorities in Oklahoma and are grateful for the work of the justice system in holding abusers accountable for their actions. We continue to pray for Cindy Clemishire and her family, for the members and staff of Gateway Church, and for all of those impacted by this terrible situation.

The scandal surrounding Gateway Church's Robert Morris

The public controversy for the megachurch began in June, when Cindy Clemishire publicly claimed the church's founder, Robert Morris, sexually assaulted her starting in 1982 when she was 12 years old. Morris was a traveling Evangelist in his early 20s and had become close with her family.

Those allegations were first published by The Wartburg Watch, a North Carolina-based church watchdog blog, and then picked up by The Christian Post. Clemishire told The Wartburg Watch the alleged abuse continued until 1987.

Morris acknowledged in a sermon in 2014 that he was "sexually immoral" when he was a young man and admitted to "inappropriate sexual behavior" In a statement to the Christian Post.

"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," he said. "It was kissing and petting and not intercourse, but it was wrong. This behavior happened on several occasions over the next few years."

Church elders said Morris disclosed to them he'd had an extramarital affair, but not that he had allegedly abused a 12-year-old.

On June 18, Morris resigned from his position as senior pastor at Gateway Church.

Clemishire said she has mixed thoughts and feelings regarding Morris' resignation and believes she is not the only victim.

"Though I am grateful that he is no longer a pastor at Gateway, I am disappointed that the Board of Elders allowed him to resign," Clemishire wrote in a statement. "He should have been terminated."

She rebuked church elders for knowing and acknowledging her claims of sexual abuse, but intentionally embracing "the false narrative Robert Morris wanted them to believe."

On June 23, protesters gathered outside the church as a church elder addressed the congregation for the first time after Clemishire's statements.

"As an elder, I did not know the truth and, frankly, like many of you my wife and I are shocked, devastated and grieving," said Tra Willbanks, a Gateway Church elder. "I'd like to express my personal compassion for Cindy Clemishire, I can't imagine carrying a burden like that for so many years and I want to say to you, Cindy, I'm so sorry."

Four members of the Gateway Church Board of Elders, including Robert Morris' son, were put on temporary leaves of absence as an outside legal team investigates the accusations against Morris, the church said on June 28.

Founded in 2000, the Southlake-based Gateway Church expanded to become one of the largest congregations in the nation, drawing approximately 100,000 attendees each weekend to its nine campuses. Morris broadcasted his weekly program live online to over 190 countries, reaching even wider audiences.

Gateway Church also recently settled a 2020 lawsuit alleging child sex abuse.

Gateway Church's 2020 lawsuit

The case settled in April involved accusations that multiple church pastors covered up the alleged sexual abuse of a child by a member of the congregation in March 2018. The child's mother filed the lawsuit in Tarrant County in 2020, which also claimed pastors encouraged members of the congregation to ostracize her.

The lawsuit also claimed that church leaders conspired when they failed to inform law enforcement that they were aware of the alleged abuse and had spoken with the church member accused. It also alleged the church leaders tried to discredit the allegations.

For its part, the megachurch said it is not guilty of any cover-up or failure to report, stating that the incident from the 2020 lawsuit did not happen on a Gateway campus or at a Gateway event but between two teens during a sleepover at a family home.

The church said a third teenager was told about the incident and later relayed it to his mother, a Gateway Church staff member, who reported it to "proper authorities within 48 hours."

"The mother of the victim was irate and claimed [Gateway Church] intentionally hid the story for weeks and failed to report it to authorities," the church said in a previous statement to CBS News Texas.

"She decided to file a lawsuit against [Gateway Church] … After the mother of the girl went through [six] different attorneys the insurance company decided to provide a settlement to avoid further litigation and expense. This was the 'compromise of disputed claims,' which Gateway justly defended in court," the church added.

S.E. Jenkins

S.E. Jenkins is a digital content producer for CBS Texas. She has also been a Digital Content Producer in Tallahassee and Myrtle Beach. S.E. graduated with journalism degrees from Texas State University, Aarhus Universitet and City, University of London.

A North Texas megachurch pastor who was accused of sexual conduct with a 12-year-old girl back in the ‘80s has officially been indicted in Oklahoma. It’s been roughly nine months since the defamed pastor reportedly confessed to the crimes and resigned from the church he founded and led, Gateway Church in Southlake.

Gateway Church founder and senior pastor Robert Morris allegedly confessed to having inappropriate relations with a 12-year-old girl in June 2024. Shortly after, he resigned from the North Texas megachurch and the elders at the wealthy place of prayer began an investigation into Morris’s statements.

Several elders took leaves of absence a month later amid the investigation, citing conflicts of interest, including Morris’s son and fellow senior pastor, James Morris. That same month, the church issued a statement apologizing to the victim in the alleged child sexual abuse case.

"We apologize for the initial communication which was incorrect. Additionally, two weeks ago, Gateway released a comment referring to the abuse as ‘an inappropriate relationship.’ This was not correct, either. We want to clarify that we believe the incident was in fact sexual abuse of a child, and any description falling short of that does not reflect our or Gateway Church’s position," Gateway Church officials said in a public statement. "We are in no way trying to cover up or minimize the situation, and we want to thank Cindy for coming forward and bringing her experience to light."

In August, another church leader, Executive Pastor Kemtal Glasgow, was kicked from the congregation due to a "moral issue" that was not expounded on. He marked the fourth pastor to be ousted from the church in a two-month period with folks leaving both in connection and unrelated to the investigation into Morris.

It would be roughly five months before the church spoke about what it uncovered into the investigation into the founder. During a sermon in November 2024, church elder Tra Willbanks detailed the church’s findings, calling what allegedly happened to Cindy Clemishire, Morris’s reported victim, heartbreaking and vile. Willbanks said anyone who knew of Clemishire’s alleged abuse were nixed from church staff and leadership.

Now, an Oklahoma grand jury in Osage County indicted Morris on five felony counts of lewd or indecent acts to a child in relation to Clemishire’s outcry. The court document laid out five cases of sexual abuse charges against Morris, spanning years from December 1982 to January 1985. This closely aligns with the allegations against Morris, which accused the pastor of sexually assaulting Clemishire starting when she was 12 years old and continuing for about four years.

If convicted, Morris could face between three and 20 years in prison for each charge. According to Oklahoma law, molestation of a child under 12 is punishable by a minimum of 25 years in state prison upon conviction.

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Put on your most festive green outfit and prepare your pot of gold (wallet) -- there's a plethora of St. Paddy's Day festivities in the Metroplex this week.

Many restaurants and bars are offering St. Paddy's Day-themed drinks and dishes during the weekend of March 15-16, since St. Paddy's Day falls on a Monday this year. We'e rounded up what we think are some of the must-trys in and around Dallas-Fort Worth:

Fuzzy's

The popular fast-casual Mexican food joint is offering a limited-time cocktail that, per a press release, "blends the bold flavors of Jameson Orange with Fuzzy’s signature frozen margarita and a splash of Q Ginger Ale." Sounds delicious. The best news? This drink will be offered from March 10 - May 5, leaving margarita lovers plenty of time post-St. Paddy's Day to try it. Visit the Southlake location today!

480 W. Southlake Blvd., Suite 101

BreadHaus

Irish soda bread will be available for customers exclusively on St. Paddy's Day at the well-known Grapevine bakery.

700 W. Dallas Road, Grapevine

The Londoner Pub

As authentic an Irish experience as you can get in Colleyville: bagpipes, Irish dancing and Irish food beginning March 15 and lasting through the end of St. Patrick's Day.

5120 State Highway 121, Colleyville

Harvest Hall

St. Patrick's Day is quite the celebration at Grapevine's Harvest Hall: On March 17, enjoy green beer, Jameson cocktails, a Lamborghini car show on Peace Plaza and a DJ. Specialty cocktails are $10 all day long.

815 Main Street, Grapevine

Danny's Celtic Pub

Just up the road in Bedford, try this Irish-inspired menu on for size: Shepard’s pie, Irish nachos, New England clam chowder, Ploughman’s platter cheese plate with Irish bangers, smoked cheddar, gouda, fresh fruit and toast points. And beer. Lots of beer.

2824 Central Drive, Suite 301, Bedford

STK

From March 14 - 21 this Uptown Dallas steakhouse will offer a cocktail consisting of Grey Goose Le Citron Vodka, St. Germain, cucumber and mint, dubbed the Leprechaun Stiletto -- only $9 during Happy Hour (3 - 6 p.m.)!

2000 McKinney Ave., Dallas

Flying Saucer

The famous Fort Worth tap house and restaurant should be a must-visit during St. Paddy's Day, with specials galore. Per the Flying Saucer website, all drafts on March 17 including Irish brews from Peticolas, Odell and Boulevard are $5 as well as shots of Jameson Irish Whiskey. St. Patrick’s Day food specials include a savory Shepherd’s pie made with ground beef, vegetables, gravy and topped with mashed potatoes. Flying Saucers collectable St. Patrick’s Day glasses will also be on sale. Popular singer/songwriter Cash Byers takes the stage from at 7 p.m.

111 E. Third St., Fort Worth

Shamrock's & Shenanigans

It's a giant St. Paddy's Day party at Texas Live! in Arlington on March 15. Doors open at 1 p.m. and drink package purchasers will receive designated drinks, and priority access to St. Patrick's Day Swag items. VIP purchasers will receive a custom Texas Live! St. Patrick's Day T-Shirt. Tickets are on sale now!

1650 E. Randol Mill Road, Arlington

Poag Mahone's

Craft beers, whiskey and delicious food make this Irish Fort Worth pub a must-stop if you're in the St. Patrick's Day mood.

700 Carroll St., Fort Worth