Parsons noted how Morris wrote in a book published in 2011 that he temporarily stepped down from the ministry when he was 25 due to issues with pride. During that time, he got a job as a hotel security guard.

“After a month of working nights at Motel 6, I felt I had made great strides toward humility,” Morris wrote.

There is no universally accepted concept of restoration in the Christian church, according to Throckmorton.

“It varies among evangelical churches,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything uniform.”

For some churches, restoration can involve anything from mentoring or counseling with elders, while others may simply impose a period of removing the offender from the public eye, Throckmorton said.

“It’s just stay out of sight. They don’t really do much, but usually there’s some version of what they call counseling, but it’s not like mental health counseling, although I guess some probably do that,” he said.

One Christian missions organization, DOVE International, has clear guidelines for discipline and restoration on its website, which include making the sin public as part of the process. Morris’ restoration process did not include this step.

Gateway Church’s website has a page outlining its “freedom ministry,” the goal of which is to help people “find freedom from bondage in their life.”

“It is our position that demonic forces can influence a person in varying degrees from an external position as well as an internal position,” the page reads. “When we live by the flesh, we give the devil an opportunity.”

For Parsons, who emphasized that she is a Christian, and others seeking accountability for sexual abuse in churches, restoration is possible on a personal level, but not on a professional one.

“Restoration is roundly decried by people who are involved in the sex abuse crisis within like the Southern Baptist Convention and other places,” she said, noting how other professions like counselors, physicians and social workers lose their licenses in cases of sexual abuse.

“It is really awful when the secular world has higher moral values than the church itself has,” she said. “What they should do is kick them out of the church first. When you mess with a kid, you’re out of the church. Now, do some repentance, and if you really repent, we might let you come back to church. And if you super duper repent, we might let you take communion again, but you never are going to stand behind the pulpit again, and that is what most people that are in these circles now believe.”

©2024 Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Visit at star-telegram.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.