The controversy surrounding the Texas-based Gateway Church continues to unfold as Kemtal Glasgow, the church executive pastor, was recently fired due to an undisclosed “moral issue.” The church announced earlier this week that the elders believed he was disqualified from serving the church as a result of the moral failure.
“As of Monday this week, Kemtal Glasgow is no longer employed at Gateway. We were informed last week of a moral issue which we believe, as elders, disqualifies him from serving in the role that he had at Gateway,” Tra Willbanks, a long-time elder at Gateway Church, said in a recent statement.
He continued, “We love his family. We love his wife and his kids, and we want to come alongside them during this difficult time and help them find restoration and healing that they need as a family. We would ask that you, as a church, would pray for them as well.”
“At Gateway, it’s our deepest desire for every staff member to lead a life of integrity, both in their personal and professional lives. It recently came to light that Kemtal Glasgow had a moral failure, so we’ve asked him to step down as a pastor at Gateway and devote time to his marriage and family,” Lawrence Swicegood, Gateway Church’s executive director, noted.
He added, “Although his employment is ending, we are devoted to still caring for Kemtal and his family. To be clear, this decision regarding Kemtal had nothing to with the departure of Robert Morris nor related to those circumstances. We are praying for God’s grace and love to be with Kemtal and his family during this time.”
However, the church maintained that the incident involving Glasgow “nothing to do with the departure of Robert Morris nor related to those circumstances.” Earlier this summer, Gateway Church founder Robert Morris resigned after allegations surfaced about an inappropriate sexual relationship he had with a young girl in the 1980s.
The Christian Tribune previously reported on the controversy, where Morris admitted, “When I was in my early twenties, I was involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady in a home where I was staying. It was kissing and petting and not intercourse, but it was wrong. This behavior happened on several occasions over the next few years.
He continued, “In March of 1987, this situation was brought to light, and it was confessed and repented of. I submitted myself to the Elders of Shady Grove Church and the young lady’s father. They asked me to step out of ministry and receive counseling and freedom ministry, which I did. Since that time, I have walked in purity and accountability in this area,” Morris added.The Texas pastor said that he sought forgiveness for his actions. “I asked their forgiveness, and they graciously forgave me,” he said.
According to the elders at Gateway Church, “Pastor Robert has been open and forthright about a moral failure he had over 35 years ago when he was in his twenties and prior to him starting Gateway Church. He has shared publicly from the pulpit the proper biblical steps he took in his lengthy restoration process.”
Featured image credit: Jared Stump, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gateway_Church_NRH.jpg