IHOP Releases Initial Findings On Mike Bickle Abuse Claims+ Say Most Victims Have Denied Allegations
Editor’s Note. An earlier version of this headline said that the women ‘recanted and denied’ which is imprecise and is not reflected in the letter, as no recanting took place.
The International House of Prayer in Kansas City has released its initial finding into allegations of sexual abuse against founder Mike Bickle, offering that many of the allegations against Bickle may not be what they seem and that the Complainants who brought forward the allegations have overplayed their hand. Bickle, who should be regarded as innocent untol proven guilty, has been on leave from his duties at IHOPKC since the the story broke. The report explains:
Three weeks ago, on October 24, a group of men led by a local Kansas City pastor, (the “Complaint Group”) officially presented IHOPKC’s Executive Leadership Team (“ELT”) with a series of allegations against Mike Bickle allegedly made by eight women whom the Complaint Group claimed to represent.
After three weeks of examination, IHOPKC has identified five of eight alleged victims. Three of those five have publicly called the allegations lies, a fourth has not wanted to communicate with IHOPKC’s attorney, and the fifth’s allegations relate to incidents that preceded IHOPKC’s founding. Further, it became apparent that the Complaint Group did not have permission to include at least four of the women in their list of alleged victims.
Noting that “at all times, the allegations were treated as if they were credible in order to care for any past or present victim while objective due diligence was to be performed” it soon became apparent to them that “upon review by outside legal counsel, it was determined that the collection and presentation of the allegations by the Complaint Group lacked any semblance of reliability or due process.”
The document prepared by the Complaint Group to accompany the presentation of allegations on October 24 does not contain any actual evidence: no statements from the victims, whether sworn or unsworn, and no emails, texts, or other exhibits between Mr. Bickle and the alleged victim to substantiate the allegations (only blank squares acting as exhibit placeholders)
This reflected in the quality of alleged victims quoted by the Complaintants. Some of the victims so far identified include, according to IHOPKC:
• Alleged Victim #3 (refuted)
A third alleged claim asserts that a woman (again, named by her initials) was a victim of being pursued emotionally and “prophetic manipulation” from 2013-2018. On November 2, this woman issued a public statement that she was not a victim of Mr. Bickle. The woman also sent a letter to IHOPKC’s attorney stating that the Complaint Group were “bullies” and that she never gave them permission to use her name.
and another
• Alleged Victim #5 (refuted)
On the same day, October 31, another alleged victim released a public statement via her social media account, refuting any claims that she had ever been sexually or spiritually abused by Mr. Bickle, and that any claims to the contrary were lies. This woman had been named by the Complaint Group orally during the October 24 ELT meeting. Our attorney spoke with this woman ten days after she released her statement, and she maintained her emphatic denial of any misconduct by Mr. Bickle toward her or any sexual involvement with him.
The rest of the testimonies follow this trend. The one exception is Jane Doe, where it is explained:
• Alleged Victim #2 (partial credibility established)
The second, and only detailed, allegation is from 26 years ago, before IHOPKC was founded. The allegations include physical contacts between Mr. Bickle and an adult woman; it is also insinuated that Mr. Bickle may have committed a crime. IHOPKC has not been able to determine whether this criminal allegation has any credibility.
Nonetheless, in light of the detail provided, IHOPKC immediately asked Mr. Bickle to step away from his ministry at the church while the allegation was further investigated. Our attorney then reached out to this alleged victim by phone and email on November 9, without success. Then on November 10, we learned that the founder of G.R.A.C.E. was the attorney representing her regarding these allegations.
Notably, many have been clamoring over IHOPKC’s decision not to hire G.R.A.C.E. to do their investigation. However, as they indicated previously, and in more detail, doing so would have been a conflict of interest.
Last week, on November 9, IHOPKC made multiple attempts to reach out to G.R.A.C.E. to explore the possibility of having their investigators come to review our findings. G.R.A.C.E. did not respond. The very next day, we learned that the founder of G.R.A.C.E. is now the private attorney of the main alleged victim whose claim is from 20+ years ago. This attorney is also currently listed as a board member on G.R.A.C.E.’s website. This represents a clear conflict of interest for G.R.A.C.E. and disqualifies the organization as a candidate to be an objective third party.
Furthermore, there was critcism over their decision to utilize attorneys to conduct the preliminary examinations from Stinson LLP. The report explains however that “they are one of the largest firms in the nation with regard to representing victims of sexual abuse in the context of religious organizations” and that since one of the allegations brought forward would be considered criminal in nature, “we believe that attorneys like the Stinson team, comprised of subject matter experts and former federal prosecutors, would be the most skilled at thoroughly and legally examining all the facts.”
IHOPKC continues to encourage anyone with an allegation against Bickle to contact their complaint line and get in touch with them.
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Good news.