Woman Alleges IHOPKC Founder Mike Bickle Groomed & Sexually Abused Her When She Was 14
Weeks after it was revealed that Mike Bickle had sexually inappropriate relationships with at least two women- relationships that he has admitted and which have resulted in the disgraced leader being barred from the International House of Prayer- another woman has come forward alleging that Bickle groomed her and molested her when she was 14 and he was in his mid-twenties.
Tammy Woods told the Kansas City Star that she was abused by Bickle in the early 1980s in St Louis, when she used to babysit his two young children and his church. She alleges that the abuse took place “in Bickle’s car, at her home, in the church, and in his office” and that they had sexual contact but not intercourse.
“Woods, now 57 and a mother and grandmother, said she didn’t tell anyone for 43 years. But after watching the details unfold about a woman identified as Jane Doe, whose sexual abuse allegations were made public in October and led to Bickle’s removal and upheaval in the round-the-clock prayer movement, Woods said she couldn’t keep silent any longer.
She told her husband, some family members, and her pastors last week. And on Saturday, she called St. Louis police and filed a report. “This is my story. It really happened. I’m not Jane Doe, I’m Tammy, and you did this.”
In the article, Woods described how Bickle would spend a lot of time with her, talking about the Lord, driving her places, including home after youth group. She alleges that one night he pulled over and asked her, “Do you feel for me as more than a friend?”
She nodded yes, and then he asked,” ‘Now I have another question. Do you think that I feel the same?'” She said she wasn’t sure, and Bickle indicated he did.
Woods alleges that things shifted after that. Bickle told her that she was worried that his wife Diane might die someday- a line that many other women have accused him of saying, and that she might be his son’s new mother one day. They started kissing, and he would play with her hair, until Bickle’s passions outgrew even that.
“He never had sexual intercourse with me … but he did lay on top of me and move on top of me until he released…I just want to be very clear, because of what was said in the report that came out.. He did touch me…and moved my hand to touch him sexually. And he did touch me in return.
Woods says that she never told anyone because of how repentant he seemed afterward.
I have witnessed him genuinely weep and repent, like ask the Lord’s forgiveness, ask my forgiveness,” she said. “I saw at 14, a man in anguish over failure, and he would always be like, ‘I can’t, we can’t do this again. And please forgive me.’ I believed all of that to be genuine … but it didn’t stop. We’d do good for a while and then crash.”
I made a vow to him, and also in my own little young heart, that I would cover him in love to the grave, And the reason why I made that is because I saw and experienced the moral failure, but also the repentance.”
Their contact wasn’t isolated to merely the 1980’s, however. While no more sexual contact took place, Woods details how their lives crossed paths over the years, usually in some ministry capacity. Some friends and family were always suspicious of her relationship with Bickle and asked her about it over the years, but she always denied it.
Then the bombshell claims against him hit. After hearing about it, she texted Bickle and the two of them exchanged many calls and messages over the next few months. Bickle asked her not to reveal anything, to stick to the script if contacted by a lawyer and say he’s “the godliest man.”
Woods claims she told Bickle she would do that until she read the statement from one of the other involved women and then realized: “Holy mackerel, I was duped. The parallels took my breath away. Literally.”
She went and told her pastors, showed them a letter from Bickle, contacted Boz Tchividjian- the lawyer representing the main Jane Doe, and filed a police report, something she is glad she has finally done:
“Nobody can script your life for you. Nobody can control the narrative of your life. No matter how dark the chapters are, they don’t define you. That’s why I went to my pastors here and said, ‘Once upon a time …”
Yesterday, IHOPKC sent out a letter to staff and family, saying they were not aware of the allegations against Bickle until today and would be keeping everyone apprised.
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So sad and a reminder of how men, regardless of who they are, can be overcome by sexual temptation if not adequately adorned with the armor of God.
I was waiting for the other shoe to drop as predators begin at a fairly young age. Likr Judas Iscariot, there’s a part of the soul that wants God, but a larger part that wants Him on their terms and so, never truly knows Him. Sorrow and repentance isn’t the same. Rrpentance requires confession and surrender to God; something Judas could not bring himself to do, so in his case, he died never truly knowing Jesus. Let’s pray that MB comes to know Christ instead just knowing a lot about Christ. I honestly believe all of his prophetic “words” were manufactured in his head and I could say that before all of this happened. The people following him and feeding his diseased mind are culpable, but God knows and He will deal accordingly. This is a warning to the entire Church; MB is just one of many.