International House of Prayer Gives Update on Mike Bickle Investigation, Warns It Will Take Time.
The embattled International House of Prayer in Kansas City has given a brief update on where they stand after expelling leader and founder Mike Bickle from their midsts following sexual misconduct allegations. Kurt Fuller, a retired major general who took over Executive Director responsibilities of the church following a round of resignations, told the church yesterday:
“I’ve heard enough and seen enough to know that there are some issues here that need to be addressed and some of them urgently….(my job is to) “get to the bottom of all these allegations, not just those about Mike Bickle, but also those that are now directed to the organization as a whole.”
Turning the mic over to IHOPKC Spokesperson Eric Volz, he likewise shared:
“I will say that to date IHOPKC has appropriately handled this case considering the cards that it has been dealt, and I believe there will be a day when the diligence and the care in which this organization has handled this will be very clear.
Volz explained that Fuller has “ordered a historic review of reported misconduct,” and while that review is far from over, he notes that “for an organization this size, with 25 years of operating history (and) over 20,000 staff who’ve served here, statistically speaking, the number of known incidents is actually quite low.”
Insisting that “we can confidently say that a few of those reported incidents likely they were not handled properly” and that “from what we can tell most of those incidents happened under the watch of leaders who are no longer here,” Volz does not say if the leaders who are no longer here were from before the allegations, or after.
He notes that “some of the cases are clear-cut, and others are not. So we need to be very careful to not blur the lines between the two and it’s going to take some time to make those determinations,” referencing the 2018 Grace investigation that took almost a year to sift through, and which only involved one allegation.
Volz confirmed that the investigator will release the final report independently and that IHOP will only be able to see it after it’s released, ensuring it is not edited or censored in any way. He further reveals:
We know that the investigator has conducted numerous interviews with individuals who claim to have information related to the allegations against Mike Bickle, but we also know that she has not been permitted to speak to any of the alleged victims or members of The Advocate Group. And as a result IHOPKC still has not been able to verify the allegations that were presented by The Advocate Group last October.
Volz says they are still working and talking with the group and hope to engender trust so they can move ahead with the investigation.
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