New Life Church senior pastor asked to resign amid accusations he knew about sexual abuse of a minor

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – New Life Church has confirmed that now-former senior pastor Brady Boyd was asked to resign due to allegations that he was aware that a pastor at his previous church in Texas sexually abused a child.

At an evening service on Friday, June 20, the New Life Church informed attendees that Brady Boyd had resigned as senior pastor.

The resignation followed controversy stemming from a lawsuit filed in Texas, which alleged that Boyd was aware that his former boss, Robert Morris, had sexually abused a minor.

Morris, who founded Gateway Church in Texas in 2000, stepped down a year ago after admitting to “inappropriate sexual behavior” in the 1980s. The admission came after Cindy Clemishire publicly accused him of sexually abusing her, beginning in 1982 when she was 12 years old.

Morris now faces five counts of lewd or indecent acts to a child tied to the alleged years-long abuse.

Boyd is not facing any charges or direct allegations of misconduct. However, according to Morris’s attorneys, many within the church were aware of the abuse “as early as 2005, and most certainly by August 2007.”

According to a statement released Sunday from New Life Church, the church became aware of details of the sexual abuse when its pastoral search committee was considering Boyd for senior pastor.

New Life said it contacted the Board of Elders of Gateway, who were informed that Morris’s past abuse was known to the victim’s family, the Gateway elders, media and legal counsel.

Gateway also told New Life that Morris had been through a “restoration process” and that the victim and her parents had supported Morris’s return to ministry – information New Life says they now know to be inaccurate.

Based on that information, the New Life search committee concluded that Morris's conduct "did not involve Brady and did not impair his fitness to serve as our senior pastor." The search committee subsequently recommended Boyd for the role, and he was welcomed to the church as its senior pastor in 2007.

But in a statement read aloud to a congregation Friday evening, the church said that recently, Boyd claimed he was unaware of the sexual abuse allegations until 2024 – a claim the church says it believes is "inaccurate."

The church also said Boyd made statements in a public address to the congregation on June 8 that "the Board of Elders knows to be inaccurate."

"Brady had nothing at all to do with Robert Morris’ past abuse. Still, we believe that trust is the currency of leadership. When Brady recently told our congregation, inaccurately, that he was unaware of certain details regarding Morris’ past abuse, trust was broken, and we, the Board of Elders, asked Brady to resign," the statement read in part.

Boyd resigned on June 18. New Life Church says Daniel Grothe will now be stepping into the role of senior pastor, marking a massive change in leadership for the church, as Boyd had served as the church's senior pastor since 2007.

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