Plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit accusing Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, of misallocating their tithes and failing to honor a money-back guarantee have removed former Executive Global Pastor Kevin Grove as a defendant.
The lawsuit, filed in October 2024 by Gateway Church members Katherine Leach, Garry K. Leach, Mark Browder and Terri Browder, originally named embattled Gateway Church founder Robert Morris; former Executive Pastor Tom Lane, founding elder Steve Dulin; and Grove as defendants. Grove also served as a trustee of The King’s University.
On Feb. 26, the plaintiffs filed a motion asking the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas to dismiss the case against Grove without prejudice.
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Last Friday, U.S. District Judge Amos L. Mazzant granted the motion to dismiss without prejudice all pending claims against Grove, according to court documents reviewed by The Christian Post.
The lawsuit stems primarily from allegations that Gateway Church was not transparent about the ministry’s finances as it generated over $100 million in annual revenue in past years.
On Dec. 16, 2024, attorneys for Grove filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit against him, arguing, among other things, that the court lacked jurisdiction over the case.
“The Court lacks jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ claims as the Complaint does not assert any federal claims, and Plaintiffs’ attempt to invoke jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act does not meet the necessary prerequisites set forth by the Act,” Grove’s attorneys Michael D. Williams and Charles M. Kibler, Jr., of the law firm Brown Sims, P.C argued. “Plaintiffs’ claims are vague allegations that rely on alleged promises that Grove himself did not make. Further, the Court lacks jurisdiction to adjudicate the Plaintiffs’ claims under the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine. Thus, Plaintiffs’ claims against Kevin Grove must be dismissed.”
The other defendants in the case have raised similar arguments. In response to motions to dismiss the case in January, attorneys for the church members argued that the First Amendment’s ecclesiastical abstention doctrine does not bar their claims for relief as argued by the defendants.
“The ecclesiastical abstention doctrine does not bar Plaintiffs’ claims against Defendant or the Church because the claims raise no issue as to theological doctrine, religious or moral teaching, or internal church governance,” they note.
“Rather, Plaintiffs take issue with misrepresentations by the Church and its elders in their solicitation of tithing funds, an issue for civil and secular analysis that happened to be committed by church officials. … The ecclesiastical abstention doctrine does not shield church pastors and leaders from committing fraud and other torts. Plaintiffs’ claims allow for the Court to distinguish between the religious teachings behind tithing and the Church’s fraudulent misrepresentations to induce donations from congregants.”
The church members conceded, however, that they did not enter into a contract with Lane or Grove but would “continue to pursue this claim, in addition to the others, against Defendants Gateway Church and Robert Morris and will continue to pursue their fraud and conspiracy claims against Defendants Lane and Grove.”
Morris founded Gateway Church in 2000 and resigned in June 2024 amid an allegation he sexually abused a child for years in the 1980s, beginning when she was 12 years old. On Wednesday, he was indicted on five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child by a multi-county grand jury in Oklahoma in connection to that case.
The megachurch founder previously announced his money-back guarantee on tithes during a 2022 sermon at Willow Creek Community Church in the suburban Chicago area about “The Principle of First” to help boost falling revenues amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I don’t want to exaggerate, but I’m sure thousands and thousands of people, and I’m sure it’s multiplied, that have told me some way over the years through email, letters, whatever, ‘this changed my life,'” Morris said, as seen in a YouTube clip from his message on tithing the first 10% of one’s income.
“When I started giving the first 10% to God, it changed everything. And here’s what I’d like to do. I’d like to just challenge you. I’ve done this with our church. I’ve told our church on multiple occasions, I’ve said to them, if you’ll try it for one year, if you are not fully satisfied, at the end of that year, I’ll give you your money back,” Morris said. “With 22 years in the church, no one’s ever asked for their money back.”
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