Mercy Culture Senior Lead Pastor Landon Schott said a recent prison visit with former Gateway Church pastor Robert Morris was “deeply personal,” sharing in a lengthy Facebook post how the relationship shaped his ministry and how he views the situation through the lens of repentance and redemption.
“Today was deeply personal for me. I visited Pastor Robert Morris in prison,” Schott wrote.
He recounted that before Mercy Culture Church ever launched, he believed God directed him to seek Morris’ blessing.
“Before we ever started Mercy Culture Church, the Lord spoke to me clearly. He told me to go get Pastor Robert Morris’ blessing. I obeyed. That assignment turned into a year internship at Gateway Church. The elders laid hands on Heather and me and prayed over Mercy Culture before it was ever public.”
Schott said he later asked God why that season at Gateway was necessary.
“Years later I asked the Lord, ‘Why did You send me to Gateway?’ He said, ‘To save your future.’ There were principles, structures and guardrails I needed to see up close. Things I believe will help keep Mercy Culture healthy, faithful and steady for generations. God was protecting something I could not yet see.”
He also described what he saw as significant spiritual timing surrounding Morris’ imprisonment and release.
“The day he went to jail, I was on a prayer run during my daily encounter. The Lord asked me, ‘Do you know what day it is?’ I checked the calendar. It was Rosh Hashanah. The Hebrew new year. The beginning of the Days of Awe leading into Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. And the Lord spoke to me, ‘I have forgiven him.’ I did not post it. I did not announce it. I just carried it.”
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Schott said he later learned Morris would be released during a week Christians associate with Easter and Jews with Passover.
“Then I found out he would be released the week of Easter and Passover. The week we celebrate the Lamb. The blood. The cross. The resurrection. You cannot script that. Even in this situation, the gospel is being preached. Atonement. Forgiveness. Resurrection. New beginnings.”
While acknowledging the gravity of sin, Schott emphasized what he described as the greater power of the cross.
“Sin is serious. It grieves the heart of God. But the cross is more serious. The blood of Jesus is stronger than failure. Mercy triumphs over judgment. I do not believe we can preach mercy at our altars if that same mercy is not available to those who once stood behind them.”
He added that grace, in his view, must apply even in cases of moral collapse.
“The grace of God is not selective. It covered David after moral failure. It met Moses after murder. It restored Samson after compromise. Failure does not get the final word in a surrendered life. I believe in repentance. I believe in redemption. I believe God restores what the enemy tries to ruin. I believe no one is beyond the reach of the mercy of God.”
Schott closed by expressing gratitude for Morris’ influence in his life and cited Matthew 25:36, 40, referencing Jesus’ words about visiting those in prison.
Morris, the founder and former senior pastor of Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, pleaded guilty in 2025 to child sexual abuse charges involving Cindy Clemishire, who was 12 at the time of the abuse in the 1980s. He was sentenced to a 10-year term that includes jail time and probation, and is required to register as a sex offender. Before his resignation, Morris led Gateway Church, one of the largest megachurches in the United States.
Prepared by Charisma Media Staff.
