This post was written by Allie Beth Stuckey.

Pastor Robert Morris is one of the most influential pastors in the world, leading a church that gathers about 100,000 congregants each week. Today, he resigned after an alleged victim accused him of molesting her when she was aged 12-16. He was a married father and pastor.

In response to her recently published story, he didn’t deny the accusations but rather described his behavior as “inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady,” which implies a consensual interaction with an adult. But, in reality, if her testimony is true, he sexually assaulted a pre-teen and was never properly held to account for it.

The accuser told her parents in 1987, and her father went to Morris’s church leadership and urged them to remove Morris from his position. Morris stepped away from ministry for two years, then was restored as a pastor.

But, if her accusations are real, he never should have been restored. Child molestation isn’t just a sin, it’s a crime. This should’ve been handled by civil authorities, which God gave us to keep evil in check. Instead, it was brushed under the rug after he was “restored.”

Let’s set something straight: repentance and restoration does not include restoring an accused abuser to a leadership position (if, in fact, the claims against him prove true). He can be forgiven. He can be restored to the body of Christ. But he failed to fulfill the requirements for overseer God gives us in His Word, and his sin may have posed a real threat to vulnerable members of the flock. A person like this should NOT be a pastor again.

I pray for the alleged victim, Cindy, and her family, that they’d be met with peace. I pray for Gateway and its members, that they would cling to Jesus, who never changes, fails, or betrays us, and who is the sole author and finisher of the Christian’s faith. I pray for Morris, that God would humble him and that he’d walk in total honesty and repentance. I pray also for his family, that God would be near to them.

Lots of lessons to be learned from this tragic story.