Gateway Church continues to deal with controversy following the resignation of Robert Morris due to an allegation that he sexually abused a 12-year-old girl in the 1980s. According to The Roys Report, Gateway Church’s Prison Ministries Campus Pastor Stephen Wilson is a known convicted sex offender.
Meanwhile, a 2019 article written by Outreach Magazine’s Jonathan Sprowl states that Wilson was a former middle school teacher and coach who was found guilty in 2002 of attempting “indecency with a child” after he had an “inappropriate relationship with one of his high school students.”
He was arrested on July 30, 2002, and charged with a third-degree felony. He served time in prison and had to register as a sex offender for ten years. Wilson also gave up his teaching license, Church Leaders reports.
One local news article from 2002 indicated that Wilson was charged with “three counts of indecency with a child.” Records show that two of the counts involved Wilson touching the girl’s breasts and genitals. According to the Assistant District Attorney Jay Lapham, the third count involved “his causing her to touch his genitals.”
Wilson told Outreach Magazine that despite growing up in church, he only possessed “head knowledge” and didn’t surrender his life to Christ until he was in prison. During his time in prison, Wilson witnessed fellow inmates “holding hands and praying in a circle.” Wilson said what he saw “blew [him] away.”
“I’d never thought about those things happening in prison,” he said. “So I just said, ‘Okay, God, I get it. When I get out, I’m going to come back and reach those guys just like that.’”
After his release from prison, Wilson obtained his M.A. in Discipleship Ministries from Liberty University. In 2008, he started his G3 Prison Ministries non-profit, which partnered with Gateway’s Global Ministry in 2011.
According to the church’s website, Wilson joined Gateway Church’s staff in 2019 to develop and implement an “internal prison ministry at Gateway.”
“When he was 33, Stephen came to the realization that he had never completely surrendered his life to God,” Gateway Church’s website reads today. “Through a radical transformation, Stephen submitted his life to following Christ and his calling to ministry. Stephen and his wife, Celeste, began doing prison ministry in 2008 through their own non-profit.”
After Morris resigned, Gateway Church edited Wilson’s bio following Morris’ resignation, deleting reference to the truth that he “confessed to a past crime and was sent to prison” following a “Damascus Road” experience.
According to a local news article at the time of Wilson’s conviction, the family of the 13-year-old “felt [Wilson’s] outcome was appropriate.”
Photo Credit: ©GatewayChurch
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.