Gateway Church and its founding pastor, Robert Morris, have agreed to dismiss a civil lawsuit over Morris’s retirement benefits.
It remains unclear whether Morris will receive any payout from the Texas megachurch.
The dismissal comes after Morris, 64, was released from Osage County Jail on March 31 after serving six months in prison following guilty pleas to five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child.
In June 2024, Cindy Clemishire alleged that Morris sexually abused her in the 1980s, beginning when she was 12 years old and he was 22. Clemishire said the abuse continued for more than four years.
According to court documents obtained by KERA News, Gateway alleged that Morris was “laser focused” on securing his retirement payout after resigning from the church following Clemishire’s allegations.
As previously reported by Premier Christian News, attorneys for Morris sent a letter to the church’s legal team demanding, among other things, more than $1 million that his lawyers said had accrued in his retirement account.
In addition to the retirement funds, the letter stated that church elders had verbally promised Morris a retirement benefit of $800,000 annually until he turns 70 and $600,000 annually for the remainder of his and his wife’s lives.
Gateway Church said it had grounds to withhold the funds because of the criminal charges against Morris.
Church leaders and Morris had previously failed to resolve the dispute through mediation and were attempting to agree on an arbitrator before the lawsuit was dismissed.
Morris still faces a separate civil lawsuit filed by Clemishire and her father, who allege that Morris, his wife, the church, and former and current elders defamed her after she came forward with the abuse allegations.