New Life Church in Colorado Springs has requested the resignation of two longtime executive pastors following revelations about their failure to act on sexual abuse allegations against Gateway Church founder Robert Morris.

According to the Christian Post, the resignations come just one week after the dismissal of former senior pastor Brady Boyd, deepening an institutional crisis rooted in decades-old abuse claims and recent evidence showing church leaders had prior knowledge of the allegations.

Executive pastors Lance Coles and Brian Newberg were asked to step down after a church investigation determined they failed to escalate concerns regarding Morris’s involvement with the church, despite having information as far back as 2007 about abuse claims from Cindy Clemishire’s family.

Sexual Abuse Allegations From the 1980s Resurface

Morris, a well-known evangelical leader and founder of Gateway Church, was indicted in March 2025 by a multi-county grand jury in Oklahoma on five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child. The charges stem from the alleged abuse of Cindy Clemishire, which began in 1982 when she was 12 years old.

According to court records, Clemishire says the abuse started on December 25, 1982, and lasted for approximately four and a half years while Morris was a traveling evangelist. She is now 55 and has publicly spoken out about her experiences.

In addition to the criminal indictment, Clemishire and her father, Jerry Lee Clemishire, filed a defamation lawsuit seeking over $1 million against Gateway Church and Morris. The complaint alleges church leaders misrepresented the abuse as a “relationship” and knowingly made false statements after media reports emerged in 2024.

Early Warnings and Institutional Inaction

New Life Church’s internal review found that in 2007, Clemishire’s sister alerted the church about the abuse as it was in the process of selecting Brady Boyd as senior pastor. Coles and Newberg, both members of the pastor search committee at the time, received this information.

Records show Coles and Newberg initially questioned Morris’s association with New Life Church. Despite their doubts, they failed to bring the matter to the board of elders after Boyd dismissed their concerns and proceeded to involve Morris in church leadership.

The church’s elders ultimately determined both executive pastors had a duty to act and, having failed to do so, requested their resignations. Both pastors, who contributed a combined 70 years of service to New Life Church, submitted to the decision with what elders described as humility and sorrow.

Brady Boyd's Disputed Claims and Resignation

Boyd, who had served as senior pastor since 2007, told the congregation in June 2025 that he had only learned in 2024 that Clemishire had been just 12 years old at the time of the abuse. He also said he was unaware of the accusations while working under Morris at Gateway Church.

However, the elders produced emails and meeting notes from as early as 2011 showing Boyd had received at least 20 communications directly referencing the allegations. Many emails included references to the victim’s age in the subject lines, which Boyd never disclosed to the church leadership.

Additional archived documents revealed that Boyd had met with the pastor search committee in 2007 to review the accusations shared by Clemishire's sister. He engaged with leaders over multiple weeks, discussing the nature and impact of the claims.

Ongoing Reckoning Within Church Leadership

The board of elders concluded after reviewing these records and meeting with Boyd that trust had been compromised. All seven elders unanimously agreed that Boyd could no longer continue in his role and asked for his resignation, which he agreed to submit.

The elders expressed disappointment that Boyd had not admitted to any wrongdoing. "At this time, Brady has not apologized nor is he repentant for what we think constituted lying to New Life Church," they said, noting that reconciliation could be possible in the future.

New Life Church's current governing structure, established in 2008, is led by a board of elders—all of whom were nominated by Boyd and elected after 2011. The structure was designed to increase accountability, but this scandal has tested that goal.

Previous Missteps at Gateway Church Highlight Broader Issue

In November 2024, Gateway Church underwent its own leadership purge following a four-month investigation that led to the removal of multiple elders. The probe found that almost all elders, except for three, had some prior knowledge of Morris’s misconduct and failed to intervene.

Some of those removed were aware that Clemishire had been a child when the abuse began, raising questions about a culture of silence that extended across institutions. These institutional failures have triggered broader discussions about safeguarding within megachurch environments.

Clemishire's case has attracted widespread attention not only for its detailed allegations against a high-profile religious figure but also for its implications for accountability within church leadership at multiple levels.