PAWHUSKA, OK – Pastor Landon Schott of Mercy Culture Church in Fort Worth, Texas, visited his mentor and former pastor of Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, Robert Morris, on Tuesday (Feb. 3). The leader of the multi-campus church shared his experience with his Instagram and Facebook supporters.
“Today was deeply personal for me,” Pastor Schott told his social media fans. “I visited Pastor Robert Morris in prison,” the Mercy Culture Church senior leader said.
“Before we ever started Mercy Culture Church, the Lord spoke to me very clearly. He told me to go get Pastor Robert Morris’ blessing. I obeyed. That assignment turned into a year (sic) internship at Gateway Church. The elders laid hands on Heather and me and prayed over Mercy Culture before it was ever public.”
Robert Morris pastored Gateway Church for 24 years before resigning in 2024. The spiritual leader stepped away from ministry after it was revealed that he sexually assaulted Cindy Clemishire for four years during the 1980s. Clemishire was 12 years old when the assaults began in 1982. Robert Morris was in his 20s.
The spiritual leader, an evangelist at the time, was subjected to a restoration process within his church network in the 1980s, when it was revealed he sexually abused Clemishire. Law enforcement in Oklahoma, where the abuse occurred, was not contacted during the process.
Morris publicly admitted to having an “affair” on several occasions during his tenure at Gateway. He, however, never specified the age of his victim.
Cindy Clemishire brought everything to light, including ages, in June 2024. Morris resigned from his position at Gateway shortly thereafter and pleaded guilty to five counts of lewd and indecent acts with a child last October. He received a 10-year suspended sentence, with the first six months being served in the Osage County jail in Pawhuska, Oklahoma.
“I am grateful,” Pastor Schott said on Tuesday when reflecting on the life lessons Robert Morris taught him. “I do not believe we can preach MERCY at the altars of our churches if that same mercy is not available for the ones who stand behind them,” the senior leader of Mercy Culture Church continued.
“The grace of God is not selective. It is the same grace that covered David after moral failure. The same mercy that met Moses after murder. The same restoration that reached Samson after compromise.”
In his message, Schott did not try to excuse the sin of his mentor. “It grieves the heart of God,” he said. “But I do not believe that failure, even devastating failure, gets the final word in a surrendered life,” the pastor shared.
“I believe in repentance. I believe in redemption. I believe God restores what the enemy tries to ruin. I believe no one is beyond the reach of the mercy of God.”
Morris should’ve served out the entire 10 year
sentence ! My hubsnd & I donated thousands of dollars to build the new huge church..I needed a new car, but we gave under pressure. Then..that ! Also, his wife debbie SHAMED the 12 year old girl for urging on Morris..She knew it was him !