The leader of a conservative Fort Worth megachurch visited Gateway Church founder Robert Morris in jail and says God has forgiven the disgraced pastor.
Landon Schott, pastor of Mercy Culture Church, said on Facebook that he visited Morris, who is serving six months in jail for charges related to the sexual abuse of a child. In the Feb. 3 post, Schott shared a selfie of himself outside the Osage County jail in Oklahoma and said God told him he forgave Morris.
“Today I had the honor of sitting with Pastor Robert,“ Schott wrote. ”I am grateful for the role he played in my life. I am grateful for what I learned. And I am grateful that the story of grace is still being written.”
Morris pleaded guilty last year to sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl, Cindy Clemishire, in Oklahoma decades ago. He is scheduled for release in early April and will be required to register as a sex offender.
The explosive case and conviction rocked Morris’ Gateway Church in Southlake — resulting in a slew of lawsuits, resignations and decline in membership — but also the broader North Texas Christian community. Morris helped launch hundreds of other churches by training leaders, including Schott, who served as an intern at Gateway before starting Mercy Culture in 2019 with his wife, Heather.
Morris resigned from the church in 2024 after the allegations resurfaced.
Schott did not respond to a phone call or email from The Dallas Morning News seeking a response on Friday. Clemishire, now in her 50s, did not immediately respond to a phone call or text message from The News on Friday. She told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram she was disappointed by Schott’s Facebook post, and pastors should not be placed on pedestals.
“I just don’t understand why he would even make a public announcement,” she said. “It just seems self-serving. I know we are called to forgive, to restore and all of that, but I just don’t see the fruit of it.”
Cindy Clemishire poses for a photo at her home in Jones, Okla. on Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024. Clemishire says, Robert Morris, the founder and longtime senior pastor of Gateway Church, began sexually abusing her when she was 12 years old. The abuse lasted four and a half years.
Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer
The meeting angered others, as well, who said the former pastor should not be given a platform and asked if Schott also met with Clemishire. Rosalie Escobedo, chief of staff for Texas state Rep. David Lowe, a Tarrant County Republican, criticized his post.
Last year, Lowe and other Texas lawmakers passed a bill that prohibits nondisclosure agreements from being used to silence survivors of sexual abuse. Clemishire has said Morris later offered her $25,000 if she signed a nondisclosure agreement, which she refused to do.
“What if Cindy was your daughter? We should not demonize those who recognize a child has been hurt and speak up for her with integrity,” Escobedo wrote. “I ask that you seek to understand more, rather than villainize those who are speaking out on behalf of the victim.”
In a follow-up video posted to Facebook on Thursday, Schott said his visit with Morris revealed a “foul religious spirit” and that churches are “full of foul, ugly, nasty, religious people.” Schott compared the people criticizing his visit and post to the people who crucified Jesus.
“I poked a religious demon,” he said, “and a legion of spirits came out.”
Others applauded Schott’s visit, saying the gospel calls on people to forgive, and they hope Morris’ pastoral work is not over.
Mercy Culture has courted controversy and gained influence in some conservative circles with its often-divisive rhetoric and ambition. The church announced late last year it is planning a new congregation and prayer house across the street from the U.S. Supreme Court, while expanding to Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Waco and Orange County, Calif.
Last year, as the measles spread in Texas, Schott celebrated that a school affiliated with the church had the lowest measles vaccination rate of any school in Texas. Mercy Culture regularly endorses candidates and works to recruit and train would-be political candidates in its mold. Schott has previously said someone who votes for Democrats cannot be a Christian, describing policies of the Democratic party as “demonic.”
