For nearly a year, former International House of Prayer-Kansas City (IHOPKC) leaders known as The Advocacy Group have been clamoring and insisting that Mike Bickle and his former ministry undergo a thorough investigation by an independent third-party group, and it looks like they’ve gotten their wish.
Bickle, closely associated with the New Apostolic Reformation and the Latter Rain Movement, founded IHOPKC in 1999, where prayer intercessors and musicians have been worshiping and praying 24/7 for nearly 15 years. The group and ministry ethos focused on apostles, prophecies, tongue speaking, visions, dreams, signs, and wonders, with the rotating teams frequently whipping folks into an ecstatic state with repetitive, droning songs that can last for hours. Along with IHOPKC, Bickle founded the International House of Prayer University, which included full-time ministry, music, and media schools and boasted over 2000 students, staff members, missionaries, and volunteers.
These have all been shuttered and shut down after Bickle was accused last October of longstanding sexual abuse and predation that spanned decades.
While Bickle has only admitted to sexually inappropriate behaviors with two separate adults, two other women have stepped forward alleging sexual abuse when they were minors, with one saying that Bickle molested and groomed her when she was 14 and another when she was 15.
Yet questions remain, the Advocacy Group wants answers, and they believe Firefly Investigations will do it.
Firefly, a neutral third-party, is comprised of “current and retired law enforcement investigators, seasoned therapists, and forensic interviewers from throughout the country.” They are a team “experienced in investigating sexual and physical abuse, along with working to heal the trauma that often follows.”
Boz Tchividjian, who represents survivors of sexual abuse and whose client is one the women that Bickle is said to have abused, welcomed the news, writing on X:
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.
The International House of Prayer has revealed the full results of the investigation report into the actions of founder and ‘prophet’ Mike Bickle. Prepared by Rosalee McNamara from the law firm Lathrop GPM, she says she was allowed unhindered access to all parties and players involved, except Mike Bickle himself, who declined to be interviewed directly but did respond to written questions, and the primary Jane Doe that Bickle has already admitted into having an inappropriate relationship with before the formation of IHOPKC, on the advice of her lawyer.
Some of the highlights of the report include:
The evidence is clear that MB has publicly admitted that 20 plus years ago he “sinned by engaging in inappropriate behavior. My moral failures were real.” [Mike Bickle Personal Message December 12, 2023.]
With the primary “Jane Doe,” identified by initials in the “Documentation of Grave Concerns,” MB admitted that “over 25 years ago, prior to the [May 7, 1999] formation of IHOP, I recall five occasions where I engaged in inappropriate behavior with [her] (which includes two occasions when we kissed). We both repented and agreed that those actions were wrong. Our friendship has been entirely appropriate for decades, over which time I have received dozens of friendly emails from [her]” and spoke at her marriage ceremony over twenty years ago. The dates would make her 19-20 and him in his 40’s at the time of the contact.
and
MB also admitted to inappropriate contact on three occasions with an individual connected with IHOP around 2002 to 2003. He described the contact as “consensual sexual contact that involved her touching me but not me touching her.” He said they both agreed it was wrong and the conduct stopped. MB’s account and the account of the individual are very similar, including that it occurred in 2002 to 2003, and I find the individual’s account credible
I spoke with four women identified by others as alleged “Jane Doe” victims or possible victims stemming from the Documentation of Grave Concerns. Each of these women, without exception, was very credible, assertive, and cooperative in the interview.
They clearly were not happy about hearsay and rumors suggesting that they were victims or in any way subject to abuse or inappropriate treatment (whether sexual, physical, emotional, spiritual, clergy/member/ churchgoer, or any other form of abuse or mistreatment by MB or others connected with IHOP). Each expressed concern about being “harassed” or intimidated by others who they said tried to get them to acknowledge that they were victims of such conduct or attempted conduct. Each emphatically and persuasively denied that any inappropriate conduct, attempts at inappropriate conduct, or any relationship or conduct other than an appropriate, professional relationship and conduct occurred.
Witnesses have stated that MB was “quirky.” One witness who said MB was “quirky” said he sometimes called female members of the close-knit MB team “my girls”; tousled men’s and women’s hair; and bumped shoulders with men, and that based on observation these things were done in a playful manner and not with ill intent or intent for it to lead to anything inappropriate. By some, hair tousling or a touching on the back was sometimes seen as odd or not appreciated
Members of the AG have stated that their goal is for MB to repent and to ensure that practices do not allow for these types of conduct to occur in the future, including preachings and prophecies that may discourage individuals from reporting inappropriate conduct. Others have stated that many people, including former senior leaders who are now members of the AG, knew many things and did not deal with them promptly at the time.
A witness reported that a former senior leader said words to the effect that he didn’t want to be on MB’s bad side. The context of this comment related to knowledge that MB’s son was having a relationship outside of his marriage while the woman was in some stage of separation from her ex-husband.
Based on all the credible evidence, including his own acknowledgements of contact with the two Jane Does over twenty years ago, it is more likely than not that MB engaged in inappropriate behavior including sexual contact and clergy misconduct, in an abuse of power for a person in a position of trust and leadership. As previously stated, after these allegations emerged, in December 2023 IHOPKC announced it was “immediately, formally and permanently” separating from MB
One thing we keep on learning from the whole Mike Bickle/International House of Prayer debacle is that issues of possible sexual abuse or sexual impropriety were often raised with leaders in good faith and then either ignored or passed off for the next person to deal with. One such person is ‘prophet’ Bob Hartley (right), who helped start IHOPK, was known to Bickle (left) and was finally banned from attending IHOPKC’s prayer room after a fresh round of allegations of sexual misconduct came to light just days ago.
Former IHOPKC leader Michelle Seidler alleges that in 2016, she complained about Hartley’s sexual misconduct to Mike Bickle and Bill Johnson of Bethel Church in Redding, California, where Hartley was ministering to at the time.
Mike Bickle allegedly did nothing and later denied being told. Bill Johnson sent an email informing folks that Hartley was no longer allowed to minister among them but did not say why or escalate or expose Hartley further.
In 2022, it was more of the same. Another woman contacted Dave Thomas, a staff member at IHOPKC and a board member at Deeper Waters, one of Hartley’s ministries, with more allegations against him. Thomas confirms that allegations of sexual misconduct were made against Hartley and that he resigned as a result but says no one at IHOP wanted to get involved. Thomas insists he told several leaders about the allegations, including Mike Bickle, Bill Johnson, and others, but Johnson allegedly said he couldn’t do anything since Hartley wasn’t on staff at Bethel and also had a lot on his plate with his wife Benni being sick with cancer.
As for Bickle, Rebecca Hopkins, writing for TRR, received a statement from him after questions were raised about the 2022 incident:
“I had one short conversation with a man who informed me that Bob and a lady were in a dispute and the man wanted IHOP leaders to get involved.
I told the man that I had resigned from IHOP in 2020 so I was no longer in the leadership and so that that (sic) Bob Hartley was not a part of IHOP nor was he under the IHOP leaders and the lady to my knowledge was not on the IHOP staff.
So, I told the man that he need (sic) to identify the group that Bob recognized as his leaders. I did not know who that group was then nor do I know that info .”
Put away, despite being a national leader with tremendous power and influence, having access to all the players who have a large platform, who personally knows all the leaders at IHOP and likely has them all on speed dial, heard allegations that a woman was making claims about a prophet known to them and who routinely participated in their prayer room.
Rather than use his position to act, encourage investigation, and expose a predator, he did nothing but make excuses, pass the buck, and wash his hands of the matter.
The following is a post written on the Facebook page of Dean Briggs, the recently resigned Chief Strategist & VP of Messaging at the International House of Prayer. A long-time leader of IHOPKC, he was the one who publicly confronted the executive team (who have now mostly all resigned) and shouted at them when they first announced the claims against Mike Bickle. “I do not consider this an acceptable level of transparency” and “(this is) well-intended, righteous bulls***.”
He also sent this note to Bickle, which he references at the end of the post, days before the news broke.
KICKING AGAINST THE GOADS
(I wrote this, then sat on it for many days. It’s a long read.)
Like thousands of others, I continue to be baffled by IHOPKC’s ongoing response to the unfolding crisis. Allowing for the ELT’s legitimate initial shock and disbelief in October, followed by a brief, but reasonable period of acclimation to the disturbing nature of the allegations at hand, any objective measurement of decisions, actions and announcements since then — as evidenced by the last 75+ days — is nothing short of astonishing. A very incomplete list of head-scratching, jaw-dropping executive actions follow:
The point of this review is not to be comprehensive, nor even necessarily to rehash the past, but to provide enough context to understand why the initial, credible allegations against Mike Bickle are no longer the only scandal. The handling of the scandal is now almost equally scandalous. The gap between IHOPKC’s institutional rhetoric, defiant behavior and policy-based approach as compared to a humble, broken, Biblio-centric, principled and transparent approach is staggering and unconscionable (see Duluth Vineyard response for contrast: https://duluthvineyard.org/our-response-to-allegations…/).
• Denial (or creative rewording) of the true timeline regarding concerns and allegations
• Early statements from official leaders were bungled, vague, obfuscatory and misleading
• Best practice in credible reports of clergy abuse were not, and STILL have not been, followed, including the refusal to include the alleged victims and their attorney in dialogue for the selection of a mutually agreeable independent third party investigation firm
• The Executive Leadership Team (ELT) signs Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs)
• Much verbal ado has been made of caring for the alleged victims, and other possible victims, and the wider community, while consistently making choices that favored the unstoppable machine of prayer, to the point of not even pausing for Biblical expressions of lamentation that “sexual immorality and impurity” could “even be named among you.” (Eph. 5:3)
• To remedy the hemorrhaging of public trust due to public outcry over early statements, widely known IHOPKC faces and personalities opted to move away from the camera lens. In their place, the “international family of affection” was given a slick, unknown “official spokesperson” who specializes in crisis PR and narrative management
• This specialist claimed a commitment to facts, transparency and truth, yet failed to preemptively disclose such things as his own prior interactions with Mike related to the allegations, nor being part of turning away Francis Chan and Sam Storms when they went to visit Mike (having traveled to Kansas City from across the country specifically for that purpose).
• Mike Bickle releases a carefully worded concession, not confession. His language mostly references himself, not the victims(s), while remaining vague on admissions of guilt or godly remorse.
• A fully functioning, unnamed board was presented to the public as if they had been governmentally operative for years, though 5-6 of the nine had only been appointed within days/weeks of their announcement. Only one board member was actually named. The rest of the board has still not been publicly announced, though at least a couple of the board members have since resigned.
• On Dec. 11, the ELT, led by Greaves, announced that they had “handed over” leadership to this new board, which was also led by Greaves (though that fact was not announced).
• Eleven days later, Greaves resigns from both the ELT and the board
• At the same time, “new information” was announced, though not specified, as just cause for “immediately, formally and permanently” separating from founder Mike Bickle, which is itself confusing language if this separation actually occurred three years ago.
• Within two weeks, Sliker and Sorge also resign from the ELT.
• Certain members of the board did not learn of these resignations until they were publicly announced. Reasons given included vague statements about the best interests of IHOPKC and miscellaneous health concerns. The Official Spokesperson announced their departure in flattering terms with no negative causal associations, leaving both staff and the wider public baffled and suspicious
• Reports indicate that Greaves has continued to be present in both ELT and board meetings, though it is not clear if this is for transitional or functional purposes. It is also not clear whether Greaves, Sliker and Sorge remain on staff.
• At no time has any leader, spokesperson or board member said, “I’m sorry. This or this was wrong. Please forgive us” about ANYTHING in this process. Instead, the modus operandi has been to release a litany of defensive counterpoints and other claims that could be characterized as technically true, but entirely misleading. Other than Greaves publicly voicing his frustration that he could never get a statement correct (i.e. the public didn’t buy it), no representative of IHOPKC has admitted any mistakes or culpability in the handling of this crisis. To the contrary, their “consciences are clear.”
Such an approach is not merely tone deaf, it is quasi-manipulative. It is not just veiled, it blame-shifts. It is not simply a failure of leadership in terms of capacity or wisdom, but in authorizing the crafting of a response mechanism that has proven fundamentally and repetitively dishonest. I’m not even concerned about the ineptitude at this point! Honestly, who has wisdom sufficient for such things? We can and should all feel empathy for the enormity of what they are facing. But that doesn’t justify the cloak-and-dagger, corporate espionage, seal-the-vault and “hide the family jewels” icky, cesspool feeling of what we are now forced to wade through.
By virtue of actions and communications that lack any discernible virtue, the wider public has essentially been handed fill-in-the-blank spaces for their imaginations to run wild, loaded with huge, frustrating, troubling question marks. Why are staff given very different versions of events than what is actually transpiring? Why are outside efforts to sweep away the cobwebs being called demonic? Isn’t that just another way of branding this with the Dark Horse narrative? What is motivating this objectively disastrous series of actions among a group that, even until very recently, would have been considered bastions of truth-telling, fearless champions of justice, and leaders of impeccable standing (reasonable, wise and godly)? Instead, everything they have done has fueled the very speculations they condemn as gossip.
The net effect of all these actions — let’s not call them missteps any longer — produces an aggregate of doubt far greater than any single, honest mistake in isolated fashion. The sum of the parts begins to look calculated.
And there’s the rub. Therein lies my deeper, most gnawing, unvoiced concern: what could be causing such otherwise excellent people to behave in this way? I dread to even write it. But something about THIS…this particular set of circumstances, brought about at THIS time, in THIS way…has turned everything we thought we knew about IHOPKC on its ear. While the initial seismic event is over, the shockwaves continue, and the damaged infrastructure of our souls is now reeling from an hourly/daily/weekly threat: what ELSE is about to emerge?
In our wildest nightmares, none of us ever thought we could be here. Yet here we are. And if you dare to connect known and emerging data points — dots that have and are continuing to connect over the last few months — the connected dots begin to form a line with a truly scary trajectory for where this might be headed. If thousands outside the system can see this, I refuse to believe that the highly gifted, highly intelligent leaders at IHOP somehow don’t.
So again, I am left to contemplate, why isn’t there a softening? Why, still, the stubborn, almost belligerent “We will do it OUR way, on OUR terms, and you will like it! And if you don’t, you are an enemy of the prayer room!” among a community that has so famously and skillfully preached — and striven to embody — Sermon on the Mount values, Song of Solomon intimacy, Davidic repentance and tender-hearted submission to the chastening of the Lord, for decades? Something doesn’t add up. Something about this has caused all of *THAT* to break. Historic values (and calls) for humble submission to the probing of God are nowhere to be seen.
Why?
Here we must pause, because admittedly, the hardest thing to know, to truly grasp, is the human heart. We deceive ourselves all the time. Therefore, it is folly, and dangerous, to speculate on another person’s motives. So let me be clear, I am not pointing to any person(s), but to the overall portrait of events that is emerging. If the aggregate of corporate decisions could be weighed for its motives — why are they pursuing this course of action as doggedly as they are — what would we find? Would true innocence resist investigation, even inquiry, to this degree? We have now had enough time, with enough material on record (and more coming still), to allow for at least basic pattern recognition as dots connect to dots.
The pattern is systemic corruption when it comes to the handling of certain type of sins — sins that exist at the strange intersection of prophecy, power, and impermissible sexual pursuit. The pattern is the prevalence of such sin within a culture of purported purity. The pattern is preconditioning the people who subscribe to the prayer mission to profoundly adopt a Biblical ethic that stays vigilantly skeptical of inquiry or suspicion under the guise of maintaining their own spiritual purity. The pattern is to leverage pressure against those that expose the pattern so that the pattern stays hidden. In short, the pattern is “you have made MY house a den of thieves” (Luke 19:46). (My prediction: that’s the likely title of someone’s future documentary about IHOPKC in the next 2-5 years. “Den of Thieves”).
But what has been stolen? Lives, money, innocence, trust. Perhaps further-reaching, the very idea of the prayer movement has been robbed of its potency. In a modern sense, the International House of Prayer in Kansas City largely defined (or at least modeled and molded) an image of devotional purity and relentless faithfulness for the world to see. In my time at IHOP, I advocated for the leadership to more boldly agree with, and act upon, that God-given leadership role among the nations .
Beginning in 2018, I argued that the Mission Statement was too weak, at least for internal purposes. Though we were never called to govern, I challenged our team to LEAD more deliberately than ever . I advocated that our *internal* mission statement should be revised to reflect that solemn sense of responsibility: “IHOPKC is a necessary, fundamental, provoking agent—with unavoidable leadership dimensions for which it alone is responsible—for 24/7 prayer, worship and end-time messaging unto global harvest.” My relentless advocacy for this became a bit of a joke among the ELT. Why do I say that? Because, in part, for what I will argue below, I want to neutralize speculation that perhaps I have always been opposed. Not true! Far from it. At least in the Western Church, but also across Asia, IHOPKC has occupied the place of standard-bearer, and I sought to advance that. IHOPKC was THE model for what 24/7 looks like. I was honored to serve that vision, because, like many, I was convinced this was a divine endowment and was inspired by the testimony of years of humble stewardship of that great mission.
Was this grandiosity and pride? Perhaps, but innocently. Was the vision always false to the bone? I don’t think so. Was it mixed from the beginning. Almost assuredly. Yet to the degree that the high call was ever true, it raises the stakes for how we conduct our affairs — then and now. Because to the degree that the image *we sustained* could exist as a genuine mirror of the divine pattern, and simultaneously a corruption of divine values, we have become guilty of stealing (rather, defiling, diminishing, or corrupting) God’s name and reputation…. with a prayer movement! The people are beautiful, the prayers are beautiful, the model is beautiful. But to the degree that it has been founded on lies (and/or liars) and therefore has operated with a concrete basement of secret, shameful practices, and perhaps business vectors alloyed to darkness, it has become a reproach.
It’s a super-spiritual Christian underworld that looks good on paper (and livestream) but, like a mouse that gets into a house and dies behind the walls, the rotten stench eventually seeps through, and can no longer be denied. If you unknowingly attended a mafia picnic, you might come away deeply impressed by their family values! Just stick around though. Time has a way of revealing deeper stories. Mark 4:21-22 declares that the destiny of truth is to be known. While this should encourage us, it also frustrates us when justice seems delayed. Yet Ecclesiastes 2:11 assures an ultimate discovery process; therefore we should not leverage God’s patience and forbearance to harden our hearts, Romans 2:4, but to surrender quickly. In fact, God is waiting on us more than we are waiting for Him! “Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice ” (Isa. 30:18). Isaiah reveals that God’s idea of justice is to patiently give every opportunity for a sinner to turn. Or for a system to turn.
But systems are led by people. They don’t turn themselves.
Money is not inherently evil, but the fact that both the church and the mafia have highly developed economies should give us pause for how we do business. Economic systems operate with fundamentals such as supply and demand. The greatest disruption of such systems therefore is not when the demand is threatened, but the supply. By coming forward, Jane Doe threatened the supply. Jane Doe revealed the pattern. As courage begets courage, Jane Doe coming forward gave others the courage to come forward too, and now we see what we cannot unsee, and the entire system is exposed. The dots are no longer randomized, nor hidden. Like a black light at a crime scene, we can now easily see things that have always been here, but the right kind of light had not yet been brought to bear.
There is enough fabric-rending, available data on hand to provoke at least some level of corporate grief and soul-searching. So how do the leaders of this humble, God-chasing, Jesus-loving, End Times worship and prayer movement respond? They double down. They clam up. And no matter what reasons are given, it doesn’t add up. Which means we have to step further back from the brushstrokes so we can see the bigger picture. So if my candor or concerns have already offended you, I beg you, please stop here. It only gets worse.
Saul of Tarsus was a Pharisee. Historically, and throughout the gospels, we see Jesus warn of the leaven of the Pharisees. We see the danger of focusing on the externals, on the legally permissible positions, that utterly miss the heart of what God desires. The Pharisees and Sadducees, the lawyers and scribes, could not recognize or appreciate, much less approve, of the table-turning Jesus. Though He was THEIR Messiah, they would not claim Him, because this also required that they agree with what He was doing, agree with the justness of His cause, and submit to the messy, exposing, necessary, corrective rebuke of His House-Cleaning zeal. You see, the Pharisees were zealous, too, but their zeal was for appearances and influence — that was part of the danger of their “leaven.” Over many centuries, they had finely tuned the Law to mostly govern matters of superficial compliance, rather than as a relentless standard demanding inner transformation and total yieldedness to God. Jesus did not expose the ways the religious leaders obeyed wrongly, as if it were merely a matter of wrong interpretation. No, His actions exposed their fundamental, heart-level resistance to His presence in their midst. They were not confused Law-keepers. They were actually law-less, because one greater than Moses stood among them and they would not heed His voice. They were unwilling to obey God’s controversial, corrective, healing work among them.
In Acts 26, Saul the Pharisee retells the disruptive moment when Jesus appeared to him in a vision. The Lord explained to Saul, “It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
This common expression was found in both Greek and Latin literature of the time, describing the practice by which farmers would prod (or goad) their oxen in the fields. According to Chuck Swindoll, “Goads were typically made from slender pieces of timber, blunt on one end and pointed on the other. Farmers used the pointed end to urge a stubborn ox into motion.” An unbroken beast would kick at the goad because it required an action or a response that was irritating and undesirable, but the more the ox kicked, the more likely the goad would stab into the flesh of its leg, causing even greater pain. In other words, when the master is prodding us to go in a certain direction, it’s best to go in that direction. But our stubborn hearts can make us like dumb beasts before the Lord. We can resist.
IHOPKC is famous for saying, “Jesus is a good leader. We can trust His leadership.” Clearly, we are in the midst of a deep-clean of the House of Prayer. Why aren’t they making public statements to that effect? Why isn’t this what we’re hearing: v v v v
“Beloved friends across the Body of Christ, we have failed you! We are pained and perplexed! We are grieved and sorrowful. Ashamed by what we’ve become, what we missed, what we allowed. There is much to be said, but we are not fit to speak at this time. We are shutting everything down for the deepest, most thorough soul-searching in our 25-year history. Nothing is to be hidden! The Lord’s eye is upon us, and we know we are being measured. We have maintained our innocence to the detriment of seeing our guilt. Clearly, God is testing and refining us, and even though it is painful, we are submitting completely to His fire. We announce a course correction, for surely we have veered into dangerous territory. Oh God, search and review our damaged and compromised spiritual history! We can no longer ignore the voices of the many wounded who have come and gone, and who remain. Our only response must now be a full-throated commitment to allowing the Lord to probe and reveal whatever He sees fit until OUR own house is cleansed so that HIS house can be beautiful once again. Brothers and sisters, forgive us! Father, forgive us! And should He deem us unworthy to sustain what He permitted us to pioneer, then let this vision and anointing pass to another more worthy, for the sake of His great name! We declare His verdict good and right, whatever it may be.”
Clearly, nothing even close to this has been communicated. Rather, a thinly veiled “Father, forgive THEM” (those who question their process) has been employed to quietly redirect repentance away from any core guilt. The goading is being called demonic.
On that note, it is important for all of us to conduct ourselves with tender hearts one to another, and with integrity in our dealings. The greater the tension, disagreement, disillusionment and disappointment among fellow believers, the more important it is to personally exhibit attitudes and actions beyond reproach. I am sure I have failed at this myself. God, forgive me! So in demanding answers, we must not excuse carnal, human goading that goes beyond the pale and becomes truly ugly, even for the supposed sake of justice. It doesn’t work that way. Nor do I approve of derogatory or unethical online tactics. If you are letting your pain or (even justifiable) anger outweigh godly restraint and actions befitting followers of Jesus, please dial it down.
Even so, plainly put, from the first day to the present moment, the present and rotating leaders of IHOP are not following a course of action even remotely resembling institutional meekness. We are all left to agonize over why, why, WHY? Especially since Mike once taught — true then, true now —that even resistance or accusations of sin wrongly brought — wrong in fact or wrong in spirit — still afford individuals and institutions a profound opportunity for the Lord to sift and more deeply refine the motives and character of the wrongly accused. In other words, never waste a good crisis! Never waste personal opposition in its ability to help us become more humble and transparent before the Lord. But that isn’t happening. It is also why the Greeks and Romans used “kicking against the goads” to imply “ruinous resistance.”
And here at last, I come to the thing that has been gnawing at me over the last few days, that has made me more prayerful and sober than ever. I wrote this with dread, then sat on it, and have asked the Lord to lift this off my heart without releasing it. Yet it remains, like a chunk of hot lead in my stomach. I take no joy in this speculation, but I believe, increasingly, the actual fact of the matter is this:
The Lord of Hosts has a controversy with IHOP.
This is not unlike the controversy He had with His chosen people in the days of Hosea.
“Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel,
for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land…
there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery;
they break all bounds…. therefore the land mourns”
(Hos. 4:1-3; cf. Jer. 25:31; Micah 6:2)
Because of that controversy, I believe we have moved into another phase. This is not simply Jesus cleansing the House of Prayer which, though certainly harsh, had a mostly positive, redemptive purpose. No, this is Yahweh, creator of the universe, righteously drawing an apparatus of darkness and injustice into a cycle of proud resistance that in turn escalates the divine response, guaranteeing the full measure of justice will actually be delivered. IHOP has entered a chessmatch with God. Never enter a chessmatch with God! In the very first move, you tip your king, and surrender. But that’s not what they are doing. They are kicking against the goads. They are on a path of ruinous resistance.
In other words, right now, IHOP is not a Temple needing cleansing. That opportunity came and went in the first 3-4 weeks. IHOP is now Egypt under Pharaoh, inviting the full measure of judgment. It began with repeated demands for a rigidly technical Matthew 18 process that was actually satisfied many times over in both letter and spirit, but still ignored. Without irony, we must observe that Matthew 18 begins with Jesus describing the appropriate response to anyone who causes a little one to stumble. He says it would be better for that man if a millstone had been hung around his neck. He then describes a redemptive process to try to avoid that outcome and restore that person, or system. But if not, by refusing the restoration process, however painful, the offender essentially ties the noose around their own neck. Mercy is not lacking here, and certainly “mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13), but when pride overwhelms the mercy, “there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment” (Heb. 10:26-27).
Many will strongly disagree that I could even suggest such a thing, so let me be clear. My point is not to indict or condemn the sincerity of those who fill the room — who still fill the room — with songs and prayers. That was our common mission, and it remains beautiful. For many, it remains central to their understanding of their own mission in life. For them, it is a matter of obedience to God. God has no controversy with those who see only the goodness of the Revelation 4-5 heavenly pattern, who pursue the simple lifestyle of worship and intercession. He delights in us, all of us. He lead many, if not all of us, to Kansas City, for just such a beautiful mission. If the mission base is the embodiment of that purpose, the Global Prayer Room is certainly its beating heart. Those who have chosen to humbly hold the line and stay in the room from their own simple sense of calling are not those on the indictment board. Even so, it is rapidly becoming clearer and clearer that there was a dark side, much darker than any of us knew, that lay just around the corner, or up in that upper room at night, or there in that office, that was more about money, sex and power, than humility, fasting and prayer. It was about using people for pleasure and profit, perhaps more systematically and intentionally than we would like to admit and would be shocked to know.
In modern times, we talk about the secret shadow government that runs the visible government, i.e. the “Deep State.” There is almost certainly now a long-standing “shadow mission base” and THAT apparatus is scheduled for dismantling. You don’t have to believe me. You can hate me and call me a traitor to the cause. You can say I left bitter, or that I am grandstanding or clickbaiting, even though I have plenty of evidence to the contrary. All such talk would miss the point. My claim is not that I want to tear the place down. My deep concern is that *God* does. And if that is true, the best move we can make is to tip our king and surrender. If true, our only hope for the mission base is the deepest kind of repentance. Nineveh-level. The kind that shifts the course of meted judgment and reconnects us to mercy. We need a different kind of fire on the altar, and it needs to consume every other purpose, no matter how noble that purpose once seemed.
The response that has been lacking must be the most thorough, bare-it-all, sackcloth-and-ashes kind of sorrow so that wherever sin has abounded, grace can abound all the more. The purity of the people who fill the prayer room has become a friendly, innocent mask for power players to wear in defense of an operation that is not nearly so holy and righteous as we have long believed. Yet because the people are pure, and the prayers are sincere, it is postulated that God could have no deeper controversy because the room is so dear to Him. In this argument, we’ve essentially outwitted God at His own game. See God! We’re doing what YOU want, what YOU inspired through the prophetic history, so all the other stuff must be weighed against that, and surely the eternal mission is greater than the messiness of the mess!
Stop! Just stop. This is kicking against the goads.
It also misses the point that everyone in that room would gladly give themselves to weeping and lamentation, or silence, or closing the doors, if the leadership themselves called for it. The reason the room persists with stubborn intercession is because the leaders persist in stubborn denial of the need for deeper reform of the mission and ministry of prayer. Please bear in mind, I am not a “judgment” preacher. . In fact, the official messaging of IHOPKC on judgment frequently frustrated me because I felt it tended to diminish important New Covenant realities. So comparing IHOPKC to Pharaoh is an uncomfortable position for me to take, much less to speculate that God may be triangulating for hardness of heart to further reveal itself. I realize it is controversial. The fearful question is whether it could be true.
In delivering His people, God had a clear strategy. He announced it in advance: “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart” (Exo. 4:21). Why? Because there was something deeper in that great empire, in their occultic culture of slavery, that God intended to fully dismantle for the sake of His people. By hardening Pharaoh, a more thorough and redemptive purge of spiritual contamination was guaranteed (Exo. 12:12-13). Thus, if Pharaoh had repented after Plagues 1 or 2 or 4, the devastation of Egypt would have been limited. With great tenderness, I submit that this is perhaps the terrifying moment we are now in. Over and over, we see God’s determination to escalate with Pharaoh because He intended to bring the whole nation to its knees. (Note: In context, the Hebrew word for “hardening” of the heart represents the continuation of a prior position. Pharaoh self-hardened his own heart during the snakes, Exo. 7:13; blood, 7:22; gnats, 8:15; flies, 8:32 livestock, 9:7; God hardened Pharaoh during the boils, 9:12; Pharaoh + God hardened with hail and fire, 9:35, 10:1; then God again hardened for locusts, 10:20; darkness, 10:27; firstborn, 11:12. The language of who did the hardening likely points to a seamless initiatory and responsive interplay between the human and the divine for all the plagues).
By the end, ALL of Egypt was left in ruins: agriculture, military, economy, religion, families, generations. None of us can afford to externalize this kind of severe mercy! God’s hardening actions PROVED and REVEALED that hardness was already there, which is why God acted as harshly as He did. Each cycle gave Pharaoh time to repent, yet by refusing, proved God right and just in the extreme, while simultaneously granting further occasion and deeper cause for Him to continue bringing the entire system of pride to its knees. Leaders, do not let IHOP fall for such cause as hardness of heart!
To the songbirds, Annas and faithful intercessors, I honor you. Inside or outside, I honor you. Please don’t take my corporate rebuke as a personal indictment. I honor your heart, and even the room itself. But the machine of prayer has become toxic and damaging. Too many families leave ruined. Once our eyes are opened, the darkness can no longer be ignored. It is therefore right for the Lord to bring severe correction…which — please hear me — if true, is actually PART OF HIS VALIDATION OF YOUR CALL TO A LIFE OF PRAYER. God desires a PURGED AND PURE FOUNDATION for you, the songbirds, Annas and faithful intercessors, to kneel upon. So while some might take issue with such a strong position, or strongly worded statement, my language is meant to arrest our attention for the sake of redemption and repentance. Please remember, those of us who are now “outside” were once “inside.” We care deeply. We are not enemies. Leaders of IHOPKC, please choose a different path. Please soften. Please open up. Please lead the world in repentance, even as you have led in intercession. Be that “necessary, fundamental, provoking agent—with unavoidable leadership dimensions” for realigning earth to heaven in humility and repentance.
Dear God, let us not be found treasuring or defending such hardness of heart. Give us grace for what we lack: humility, tenderness, tears. Break us, that we might be broken, but let us not be crushed. And yet, whatever shadows refuse Your light, tear down every barrier for the sake of Your great name. Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar (Rom. 3:4). Save and deliver the men, women and children out of the snare of the fowler. If there is darkness in Your global, Isaiah 56:7 International House of Prayer, then let that darkness be brought fully into the light, no matter how shameful or terrible such knowledge might be.
Help us, Holy Spirit. Help us. Minister in righteousness to ALL your people in this hour with truth, mercy, hope, and healing. Let bitterness on the one side and hardness of heart on the other be removed from all of us. Let us simply seek your face.
(I would humbly ask that comments be limited to sorrow, not rage, nor disdain, nor sarcasm. Let none rejoice or gloat that God may be moving sternly within such a beloved community. Let us all fear, and bow down.)
_____
The attached document was my early appeal to Mike as a brother and friend, emailed Nov. 26, 2023. Matthew 18 is IHOPs SOP for every scenario, thus my appeal within those constraints. But charges against an elder are not what Matthew 18 is even meant to address; rather that guidance is found in 1 Tim. 5:19-20. Even so, the parameters and process established by both passages have been scrupulously followed. No reply was given or received.
IHOPKC has announced that David Slicker, the International House of Prayer University president, has stepped down effective immediately and will also be withdrawn from the executive leadership team. The announcement was made late Wednesday evening in a press release:
“After seven years of faithful service, our dear brother in Christ, David Sliker, has decided to step down as President of IHOPU.
David is also stepping down from the IHOPKC’s Executive Leadership Team, effective immediately.
This was a mutual decision made in the best interest of the IHOPKC community and David’s family.
We honor David’s service and dedication. He is loved by the IHOPKC community and he remains in good standing with this spiritual family.
Additionally, the executive committee of IHOPKC’s Board of Directors, the ELT, and IHOPU’s leadership team all unanimously agreed to have Matt Candler appointed as the new President of IHOPU effective immediately. Matt and his leadership team will be communicating all the necessary information with the faculty and students in the coming days.”
Candler, the incoming President, helped start IHOPKC back in 1999. He is eductaor at IHOPKC, as well as Directors of Internships at the International House of Prayer.
Slicker’s resignation comes weeks after IHOPKC moved to permanently distance themselves from founder Mike Bickle, who engaged in at least one adulterous affair and faces multiple allegations of clergy sexual misconduct, and after IHOPKC Executive Director Stuart Greaves resigned.
A longtime friend and supporter of Mike Bickle says he believes the allegations against the IHOPKC founder, and recounts a recent incident where Bickle turned away he and Francis Chan.
Sam Storms, a member of the Council of The Gospel Coalition, past President of the Evangelical Theological Society, and former IHOPKC board member who ministered alongside Bickle for nearly a decade, write in a recent blog post:
We were made aware of the allegations of clergy sexual abuse at different times over the past several months. We have now both spoken extensively with one of the primary Jane Does and her husband and believe what she has said about the sexual nature of their interaction. In her own words, it involved everything short of sexual intercourse. There is no reason to doubt the accuracy of her testimony. Our hearts break for what she suffered and for the ongoing grief this horrific injustice has caused her and her family.
He continues:
Sam and Francis Chan attempted to visit Mike at his home on October 31 where Chris Reed turned them away at the door. He said that Mike had been instructed not to meet or speak with anyone, which Mike later confirmed in a brief email to Sam. We were subsequently informed that Mike was following the counsel of Eric Volz.
As a matter of conscience, we write now to publicly state that we believe Jane Doe. We deeply regret not being aware of her situation at the time it occurred. We have now been made aware of additional allegations directed at Mike for behavior subsequent to his relationship with Jane Doe. These are grievous and weighty.
Storms says that a recent statement by Bickle, where he only admits to ‘inappropriate behavior‘ and deflects all other blame, is “woefully inadequate” and that it is most lacking in “explicitly owning the sin he committed against Jane Doe(s), repenting, and asking for forgiveness.” He concludes:
We believe Mike has had every opportunity to vulnerably share any temptations or struggles with sin with fellow leaders in order to find God’s mercy and pathway to wholeness. Sadly, we believe he has not remained faithful to this commitment, but rather engaged in deceptive and manipulative actions to exploit the vulnerability of a godly young woman. As such, we are in firm agreement with Mike stepping down from Christian ministry.
Stephen Strang is the founder and chief executive officer of Charisma Media, the prominent Charismatic news and media organization that mixes occasionally decent journalism with heterodox bible teaching; plugging and platforming every wild-eyed charismatic loon and heretic that says they have a word from the Lord. Notably, their senior editor for seven years was Jennifer LeClaire, made famous for inventing the “sneaky squid spirit.”
On his podcast, Strang addressed the recent statement by leader of the International House of Prayer (IHOPKC), Mike Bickle where he admitted, “I sadly admit that 20+ years ago, I sinned by engaging in inappropriate behavior—my moral failures were real.”
According to Jane Doe, the woman Bickle engaged in “inappropriate behavior with,” he started coming onto her when she was 19 and he was 42. Prophesying over her and telling her that she would be his wife one day, despite him being already married, she recounts that he plied her with manipulations, machinations, and spiritual abuse, resulting in the two of them engaging in many acts of sexual activity spanning a period of the years. This activity included everything but intercourse and would certainly qualify as clergy sexual misconduct.
Sizing up the situation, Strang offers that these allegations are “very complicated” and that from his vantage point “this kind of thing is also a spiritual attack.”
Mike has confessed to doing something over 20 years ago…we have to ask why is it such a big deal now 20 years later, and why is it just a couple of months after he motivated and inspired over five million people to pray for Israel?”
Strang likens allegations against Bickle to rape claims against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing or Russian collusion charges against Trump (whom he believes is a born-again Christian) and looks at how those turned out. He insists:
“If Mike is removed from a position (at IHOP) there’s a very good chance that IHOPKC will fold, and the enemy would like nothing more.
Jesus himself said ‘he who is without sin cast the first stone’ and I just want to bring that up about Mike Bickle. You know, all the people that are accusing him of things have done things themselves. They just have. It just hasn’t been brought to light. And also I ask this question: ‘how long do we hold something against someone?’
You know, in the law there’s a thing called the statute of limitations, and I would think that most people would be willing to forgive Mike Bickle of something that happened 20 years ago. Now, Mike’s statement was not very specific about what it was other than the more recent allegations of clergy sexual abuse were not true, but apparently something happened.
Hey, these things happened. God uses flawed leaders; I mean, just read the Bible. Just about all the great men in the Bible were very, very flawed. David was an adulterer, he had Bathsheba’s husband killed. Moses was a murderer. In fact, when I was on the secular media, and they were talking about Donald Trump, I would make the point God has always used imperfect leaders.”
He continues
“It’s something that the enemy would want to squash. To me, what’s happening is almost like a really, really nasty church split. And there are churches where people have gotten offended, tried to oust the pastor, brought charges either true or false, or in some cases, exaggerated, and tried to bring down a ministry. And I’m very, very concerned about that.”
He concludes, demonstrating a pathetic lack of discernment and biblical sense.
“We need to pray for the accusers; Mike said that himself in his statement. The word ‘victim’ is being used- it’s unclear who’s a victim. Is it consensual, is it not consensual, there are so many questions. You know I said this earlier; it’s complicated; there is not an easy right or wrong. I’m just stating my opinion.
1: It happened a long time ago.
2: Whatever Mike did, a lot of other people have done too, so he who is without sin cast a first stone.
3. I believe, and I could be wrong, and if I’m proven wrong, I will be the first to admit it, but it looks to be like there are people who somehow have a vendetta against Mike Bickle for who knows why, offenses. In fact, John Bevere says ‘offenses are the bait of Satan.
It’s one of the worst problems in the church. There are people that would like that Ministry to come down and the enemy of our souls, Satan, is number one. We have to recognize that this is a spiritual attack. We are not fighting against flesh and blood.”
The International House of Prayer in Kansa City has dropped the law firm they previously chose to help them investigate the sexual abuse allegations against leader Mike Bickle, saying that “Third parties that claim to represent alleged victims have communicated a lack of trust in the national law firm IHOPKC engaged to lead the inquiry.”
In truth, IHOP sustained heavy criticism of their decision to hire this large firm, which many have claimed would not be impartial and whose track record and expertise in dealing with abuse victims is questionable. Before this announcement, a Change.org petition requestion alternate representation garnered nearly 3000 responses, which declared:
We officially call on IHOPKC to invite GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment) to conduct a true third-party investigation into the sexual abuse allegations and the systemic environment at IHOPKC in order to protect the interests of the alleged victims and current congregants. Furthermore, we implore IHOPKC to allow GRACE to publicly publish their findings without restriction by IHOPKC or its leadership.
On account of the outcry, they have terminated their contract with Stinson LLP. While they have not procured GRACE’s services, they have instead selected a smaller, unnamed firm to begin conducting interviews with the alleged victims, explaining that “That local firm has already begun outreach to the few alleged victims whose identities are known, as well as the individuals claiming to represent anonymous Jane Does.”
The leadership of IHOPKC issued a new statement this morning about the sexual assault allegations against Mike Bickle, saying that at least one of the claims from 26 years ago has “some credibility “while urging people to have patience with them as they sort it all out.
IHOPKC Executive Director Stuart Greaves, speaking at Forerunner’s Church, announced:
“Our executive leadership team and Mike Bickle agree that out of the best interests and integrity of IHOPKC, Mike will step away from public ministry for an indefinite time. up to and including and until we complete a thorough examination of the allegations and inquiry of the circumstances.
Mike has agreed to not engage in public ministry, our platform, attend our prayer room, nor engage in social media messaging.
As previously disclosed, there have been several allegations raised and we are taking this process very seriously. Firstly, to the women who have anonymously communicated allegations, we want to say that we value you and we pray you feel safe to come forward.
We have received a mix of artificial deadlines and ultimatums that have not been helpful as we seek the truth.
Regarding the allegations, so far there has been one allegation from 26 years ago that has some credibility. There are other allegations that have been more difficult to ascertain due in part to the fact that they are either anonymous or represented by third parties. Some of the alleged events predate the founding of IHOPKC.
Additionally, some of the women that were named in the allegations have publicly refuted that they were ever victims of abuse, and even denounced the representatives of the alleged victim group for using their names without permission.
But due to the variety of the nature of the allegations and our desire that all women involved would be well and fairly represented in this process, we have decided to bring an outside law firm in accordance with the best practices for evaluating accusations like these, the ELT has retained a national law firm Stinson LLP, to conduct an impartial examination of these allegations, with the goal of assessing their merit and advising the ELT regarding appropriate steps to take.
To be done with proper thoroughness and deliberation, this work will start immediately, but it will take time to complete. When this examination is completed, and based upon the findings, we will be able to determine what next steps should be taken towards healing.
As this continues to unfold, we want to be clear that our leadership team is open and not in any way opposed to getting even more additional outside independent help in the future.
We are starting first with this step to help initially assess the situation but plan to continue to pursue the truth with integrity guided by care for the alleged victims.
,See the full statement below:
BREAKING. #IHOPKC leaders release new statement about Mike Bickle this morning, saying that so far, at least "one allegation from 26 years ago that has some credibility" but that the truth of other allegations have been "difficult to ascertain" pic.twitter.com/UnBo41DdLC
