Gateway Church to lay off part of its staff after drop in tithes, officials say
Southlake’s Gateway Church will lay off some of its staff members because of a drop in tithes, church officials announced in an email Wednesday.
The North Texas megachurch did not specify in the email how much of its staff would be laid off, according to the Dallas Morning News. Church staffers will have a two-week period to resign voluntarily, and packages will include one month of severance and benefits per year of service up to four months.
The announcement comes exactly a year after the church’s founder Robert Morris was publicly accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old Oklahoma girl in the 1980s. Morris resigned as lead pastor last June, and he was indicted this year in Oklahoma on criminal charges related to those allegations.
Tra Willbanks, the chair of Gateway’s elders, said in a statement about the staff cuts, “This decision was an important step to ensure we are able to minister to our church family well, however it affects real people and members of our church family that we’ve loved and served alongside for years, which is what makes it so painful. And we are trying to love our staff well through this painful process,”
Last October, former Gateway members sued the church over its tithing practices, claiming that church officials did not allocate the money the way they said they would, the Star-Telegram previously reported. The suit alleges Gateway misrepresented its intentions for the money when it told the congregation that a portion of it would be used to fund international missionary work.
The layoffs come on the heels of several staffing changes at the church in recent months.
Four of the church’s elders were removed from the board last November after an independent investigation found that they had knowledge of Morris’ abusive conduct before it was publicly revealed, the Star-Telegram previously reported.
At the end of last month, Gateway hired Virginia megachurch pastor Daniel Floyd to serve as the church’s new lead pastor.
“We are so honored and humbled to be stepping into this new role that’s right for us. This isn’t just a new assignment, it’s a sacred calling,” Floyd said in a video during the May 25 service.
In addition to the tithing lawsuit, which seeks more than $5 million in damages, the church is also named as a plaintiff in at least one other multi-million dollar civil suit filed in Dallas County court last week by Morris’ accuser Cindy Clemishire and her father.
Morris also has taken legal action against Gateway, claiming the church improperly denied him retirement pay.
“These are the difficult but practical realities of the season we’ve been in, and we will continue to walk through it with humility, prayer and our commitment to intentionally healing as a church family,” Gateway’s elders said in an emailed statement Wednesday.
This story was originally published June 18, 2025 at 4:02 PM.
