Gateway Church and its leaders engaged in misrepresentation and fraud in their efforts to get members of the Southlake-based megachurch to donate money to Gateway and may not have dedicated to foreign missionary work the portion of the congregational tithe the leaders had promised, four church members alleged in a lawsuit they filed on Oct. 4.
Robert Morris, the church’s former senior pastor and founder who resigned in June amid allegations of sexual abuse, is among the defendants. The case was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Morris and Gateway leaders appear not to have used for mission efforts 15% of donations, according to the lawsuit.
“Attempts to seek transparency and [prove] that money did in fact go to global missions and Jewish ministry partners have been rebuffed by Gateway elders,” wrote attorneys Micah Dortch and Lu Pham, who represent the plaintiffs. “This lawsuit is a means of last resort and being pursued with a heavy heart.”
The plaintiffs are Katherine and Garry Leach and Mark and Terri Browder, although the lawsuit seeks court approval for a class of tens of thousands of people who are current or former members of the church.
Beyond Morris, the other individual defendants are Tom Lane, a former executive senior pastor and former associate senior pastors Kevin Grove and Steve Dulin.
A Gateway spokesperson did not immediately respond to a reporter’s request for a response to the allegations described in the lawsuit.
“This lawsuit is about transparency, brought by members whose concern is not money in their pockets but rather biblical stewardship,” attorneys Dortch and Pham wrote. “Then-Senior Pastor Robert Morris and Gateway leaders represented that 15% of all tithe dollars would be distributed to global missions and Jewish ministry partners, encouraging church members to generously give toward these ends.”
Cindy Clemishire, who is now in her 50s, told the religious watchdog blog The Wartburg Watch that Morris abused her for four years in Oklahoma and Texas beginning when she was 12 and Morris was 21.
EMEA Tribune is not involved in this news article, it is taken from our partners and or from the News Agencies. Copyright and Credit go to the News Agencies, email news@emeatribune.com Follow our WhatsApp verified Channel
