Disgraced former Gateway Church founder Robert Morris and the Texas megachurch have agreed to move their ongoing dispute over his multimillion-dollar retirement package into private arbitration after nearly a year of legal fighting in public court.
According to new court developments, the state court proceeding in Tarrant County has now been dismissed after both sides reached an agreement on an arbitration forum. “The parties have reached agreement on an appropriate arbitration forum to resolve their dispute and will now proceed in that forum and not in state court. Thus, the state court proceeding was dismissed,” Morris’ attorney, Bill Mateja, told The Christian Post.
The latest development comes less than two months after Morris was released from the Osage County Jail in Oklahoma after serving a six-month sentence tied to the sexual abuse of Cindy Clemishire, who has said Morris abused her repeatedly beginning when she was 12 years old in the 1980s.
Morris resigned as senior pastor of Gateway Church in June 2024 after the allegations became public. In May 2025, he filed both a lawsuit and an arbitration demand after the church refused to meet his financial demands.
Court filings show Morris claims Gateway Church promised him a substantial retirement package that included $800,000 annually until he turned 70, followed by $600,000 per year for the remainder of his life. According to the filings, those payments would continue to his wife, Debbie Morris, if she outlived him. Morris also alleges he is owed more than $1 million in accrued retirement benefits.
His legal team argues the church was required to pay him within 60 days if his termination occurred without fraud or cause. Morris has maintained that he was effectively forced out of his role after church elders allegedly told him to resign or face termination once the abuse allegations surfaced publicly.
Gateway Church previously pushed back against Morris’ claims, accusing him of making “substantial financial demands” shortly after revelations about his past conduct became public. The church said it declined those demands and argued Morris’ claims “do not reflect accountability for the impact of his actions on the community.”
A key disagreement between the two sides centered on how the dispute should be resolved. Morris’ employment contract reportedly required legally binding arbitration through the California-based Institute for Christian Conciliation. Gateway Church attorneys argued they were not obligated to use the institute because ownership of the ministry organization had changed. Morris’ attorneys countered that while the parent ministry may have new ownership, the principles and rules governing Christian reconciliation and arbitration remained intact.
Gateway Church did not respond to requests for comment regarding the latest court dismissal and arbitration agreement.
The retirement pay dispute is unfolding alongside another major legal challenge for the church. Four members have filed a class action lawsuit accusing Gateway Church leadership of financial mismanagement involving church tithes and a failed money-back guarantee program. Church leaders have denied wrongdoing and sought dismissal of the case under the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine, which limits court involvement in internal religious matters.
As the arbitration process moves forward behind closed doors, the dispute continues to cast a shadow over one of America’s largest megachurches and its former pastor.