Skip navigation and go to main content

Our History

  • 1999

    September – The Lord placed a desire in the heart of Pastor Robert Morris to start a Bible-based, evangelistic, Spirit-empowered church in Southlake, Texas, that would impact the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and beyond. He developed a working relationship with the pastors at Trinity Fellowship Church in Amarillo, Texas, asking them for wisdom and guidance.

  • 2000

    February - Pastor Robert and Debbie Morris began meeting with a group of 30 people in their living room to pray for direction for the ministry, worship the Lord, and study the Word. This group of 30 went on to become the founding members of Gateway Church.

    April - On April 9, Pastor Jimmy Evans and the elders of Trinity Fellowship Church in Amarillo, Texas, prayed for and released Pastor Robert to start the new church.

    April – On April 23 (Easter Sunday), Gateway held our first service at the Hilton Hotel in Grapevine for 180 people!

    May - Three weeks after our first service, we began meeting on Saturday nights at Christ Our King Church in Southlake.

  • 2001

    July - Gateway started holding services at A World of Learning, a 300-seat training facility and daycare center in Grapevine. While there, the church quickly grew to five weekend services with more than 2,000 people attending weekly.

  • 2002

    May - We broke ground on a 64,000 square-foot facility at 2121 East Southlake Boulevard, our original campus in Southlake. Services began before the new building was completed, and continued growth resulted in packed services.

  • 2003

    June - We hosted our first services at the completed Southlake Campus building. Shortly after moving into the 600-seat auditorium, five weekend services were once again needed to accommodate growth.

  • 2007

    November - We opened our first extension campus on nine acres in North Richland Hills (NRH). The weekend services at this extension campus mirrored those in Southlake with live worship, personal ministry, and a live simulcast of the message from Southlake.

    November – The Blessed Life TV show (now Pastor Robert Morris Ministries) debuted on Daystar Television Network featuring a sermon from Pastor Robert and worship with Gateway Worship.

  • 2008

    October – We broke ground on our current Southlake Campus at 700 Blessed Way, which features a 4,000-seat auditorium, a spacious lobby, and ample classrooms.

  • 2010

    July - We added a second extension campus in Frisco to support the North Dallas area. Like NRH, these services mirrored those at Southlake with a live simulcast message.

    November – We held the first weekend services at our current Southlake Campus, which has an Auditorium that seats 4,000; a wing devoted to our ever-growing children’s ministry; and classrooms set aside for ministry, prayer, healing, and equipping purposes.

  • 2012

    August - Responding to an unmet need for ministry in the North Fort Worth area, our third extension campus, Gateway North Fort Worth, began holding services in a temporary space, the Fossil Ridge High School Auditorium.

    August - Under the leadership of Pastor Robert and Dr. Jack Hayford, The King’s University at Gateway opened and started having classes at a temporary facility in Southlake.

    September - Gateway launched our first church plant in Scottsdale, Arizona, with the goal of taking what God has been doing through Gateway Church in Texas to Scottsdale and the Phoenix metropolitan area under the vision and leadership of Senior Pastor Preston Morrison.

  • 2013

    March - Shady Grove Church in Grand Prairie, Texas, joined the Gateway family as our fourth extension site and became the Grand Prairie Campus. Each Gateway campus serves its own distinct community, and that tradition continues at the Grand Prairie Campus.

    July - Gateway North Fort Worth moved from its temporary space to a newly completed campus building at the corner of Beach and Basswood.

    August - The King’s University began having classes at their permanent campus at 2121 E Southlake Blvd (our original Southlake Campus).

  • 2014

    January - The campus operations for The King’s University moved from Van Nuys, California, to Gateway Church.

  • 2015

    April - Gateway celebrated 15 years of ministry with 43 Easter services across five campuses with 52,000 people in attendance.

  • 2016

    March - Gateway expanded our reach by opening the Dallas Campus—our first campus in Dallas County. With many Dallas residents attending our overflowing Frisco Campus, it became clear we needed a campus in the North Dallas area.

    October - Gateway launched its apostolic ministry, Gateway Resource Library, to come alongside other churches to mentor them and provide valuable, life-giving ministry resources.

  • 2018

    November - We opened our first prison campus at Coffield Unit in Anderson County, Texas, with more than 300 residents at the first service.

  • 2019

    April - We launched our first extension campus outside of Texas in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

    September - Gateway opened the Justin Campus to provide relief to the overflowing North Fort Worth Campus and meet the rapid growth occurring in and around the master-planned Alliance Texas development. The Justin Campus is currently meeting in a hotel—a permanent location is coming soon!

  • 2020

    April - Gateway held its first online-only Easter services and celebrated 20 years of ministry.

    August - Building on the growth of the online community, Gateway officially launched its Online Campus. And in the first weekend of the month, campus doors reopened for in-person services.

    October - Gateway welcomed families to the first weekend services at the newly launched Prosper Campus.

  • 2021

    April - Gateway launched Gatherings to build community in cities without a Gateway campus. By the end of the year, more than 50 people had launched their own gatherings in the United States and overseas.

  • 2022

    May - Songs of praise and worship echoed through the building as the freshly renovated Plano Campus officially opened for its first weekend services.

    May - Gateway Worship Español released their first album with original songs in Spanish, Grande y Fiel!

    September - After seeing tremendous growth, the Frisco Campus opened the doors to a brand-new addition that includes a 1,200-seat sanctuary, several classrooms, and offices for staff. The expansion also made room for the campus to begin transforming its original space into a facility for youth and young adults.

Where Gateway Church is today and where we are going all began with a single step of faith that started a journey to see people saved, healed, set free, discipled, equipped, empowered, and serving. We are now one church with more than 100,000 people attending each weekend in multiple locations. We are seeking the Lord’s direction for our future and watching God’s plans for us unfold as we plant and oversee multiple campuses throughout the Metroplex and across the United States.