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Who Abused Whom?—Allegations Go Both Ways in Ongoing Sex Abuse Scandal at IHOPKC

Por Julie Roys
roberts bickle edwards abuse allegations
Dwayne Roberts (left) of The Advocate Group; International House of Prayer Kansas City Founder Mike Bickle (center); and worship leader Misty Edwards. (TRR Graphic / Photos via social media)

A statement by women claiming that an advocate group falsely named them as victims of abuse by International House of Prayer Kansas City (IHOPKC) Founder Mike Bickle has ignited a firestorm online. It also has prompted strong denials from the advocate group, which today published a declaración and three videos, containing new evidence in the ongoing Bickle clergy sex abuse scandal.

Among the bombshell revelations in the videos is testimony that Luke Bickle, Mike Bickle’s son, was engaged in a years-long adulterous affair, which his father allegedly tried to cover up. The videos also provide background as to why the advocate group, which first published allegations of clergy sexual abuse against Bickle in October, decided to blow the whistle.

This latest chapter in the ongoing IHOPKC sex abuse saga began last Thursday when a “Protest Statement,” claiming to represent the views of at least five falsely named “Jane Does,” was posted online. In the statement, the women accused the AG of falsely identifying them as Bickle’s victims and then abusing them when the women didn’t submit to the AG’s narrative.

“Behind the scenes we have been harassed, secretly recorded, had family members contacted, had our phone numbers given out, and been bullied and pressured to ‘admit’ to being victims . . .” the statement said. It added that when the women denied “such untruths,” they were “gaslit, told that these people know the true stories of our lives better than we do, and had the narratives they have formed about our lives suggestively put in media articles and social media posts, or threatened to be put in public articles.”

The statement was publicado en línea by two of the five alleged “Does.” One of them is April Rose, who worked closely with Bickle for years as a researcher, multiple sources told El Informe Roys (TRR). The other woman is popular IHOPKC worship leader Misty Edwards.

Your tax-deductible gift helps our journalists report the truth and hold Christian leaders and organizations accountable. Give a gift of $30 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you will receive a copy of “Baptistland: A Memoir of Abuse, Betrayal, and Transformation” by Christa Brown. To donate, haga clic aquí.

mike bickle
Mike Bickle leads prayer alongside a worship team led by Misty Edwards at the International House of Prayer-Kansas City, in Grandview, Missouri. (Courtesy Photo)

Un October 2023 staff list obtenido por El Informe Roys (TRR) listed Edwards as a member of IHOPKC’s Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and as “Mike Bickle Products Director.” However, when asked online about Edwards’ position last week, IHOPKC Spokesman Eric Volz stated that Edwards resigned from the ELT “several months” ago.

Neither Volz nor Edwards responded to TRR’s request for clarity about when and why Edwards resigned.

Yesterday, Edwards also posted a personal statement on X, accusing the AG of hatching a plan “behind closed doors . . . to bring down Mike Bickle and IHOPKC.” Edwards said the AG devised the plan “BEFORE there were multiple alleged ‘Jane Does’ . . . (T)hen the search for ‘victims’ to fill in that 40 year time line began.”

Several minutes after posting the statement, Edwards removed it. Then, she re-posted it and removed it again. At the time of publishing, the statement was not posted on Edwards’ feed.

misty edwards

Two members of the AG—former senior IHOPKC leaders Dwayne Roberts and Dean Briggs—claimed in separate, online posts over the weekend that the AG never publicized the names of the alleged Jane Does. Instead, the men claimed IHOPKC shared a confidential document from the AG with Bickle, which included initials of some alleged victims.

On X, Roberts wrote that he and other advocates created a “working document” months ago. This document, purported to be 50 pages long, included “the initials of women who agreed to be named and the ex-spouse of one victim.”

In a separate post En facebook, Briggs wrote that the document also included a list of five other, “possible Jane Does,” who were “numbered, not named.” 

Roberts said he used this working document as an “outline” during an Oct. 24 meeting with IHOPKC’s Executive Leadership Team (ELT), two other AG members, and himself. Roberts said he met the next day with Stuart Greaves, IHOPKC’s former executive director who resigned last month.

dwanyne roberts
Dwayne Roberts (Photo: Facebook)

Roberts said that during the meeting with Greaves, he shared a couple names of possible victims in confidence, “which I now fully regret doing.” Roberts claimed that after that meeting, Greaves met with Bickle and discussed the document.

“I felt utterly betrayed because this was not (the document’s) intended use and exposed victims,” Roberts wrote.

TRR reached out to Greaves for comment but did not hear back.

The International House of Prayer Kansas City in Grandview, Missouri. (Photo: Facebook)

Volz accuses AG, AG responds

In response to Roberts’ statement, IHOPKC Spokesman Eric Volz accused Roberts and Briggs of triggering “a global crisis in the prayer movement.”

In a meeting in October, Briggs had publicly confronted IHOPKC leaders for failing to give any details about the allegations against Bickle in their announcement. Briggs called the announcement “righteous bullshit” in an interaction captured on video.  

Similarly, Roberts was the AG member who published the initial declaración accusing Bickle of clergy sexual abuse.

“The initial events, specifically the iPhone video of Dean Briggs yelling profanity during the Oct. 27 staff service and your decision to prematurely release a condemning statement about Mike Bickle on Instagram to over 147,000 people in Brazil, are the sparks that ignited this fire,” Volz said.

(Roberts maintains he published the statement on his church’s website, not social media.)

Volz also published two pages from the “50 page document” that Roberts gave Greaves. Volz claimed the pages confirmed “it was not a ‘working document’” because it contained “required” actions, not “simple ‘suggestions.’”

In addition, Volz claimed on X that the AG told “many stories” that it did “not verify or have permission to tell and that has caused harm to innocent people.” Volz reiterated the alleged Does’ claim that “they were bullied, harassed and manipulated as part of this questionable process.”

Today, Roberts publicó una declaración on X on behalf of the entire AG, addressing the allegations.

The statement claimed that at no point since the Oct. 24 meeting “has there been any contact with any of these women, with the exception of Misty Edwards.”

The statement added that Dwayne Roberts’ wife, Jennifer Roberts, met with Edwards on Oct. 24 “in a non-confrontational meeting and discussed with her the abuse the main Jane Doe suffered (with her permission).” Then, “at (Edwards’) request,” Edwards met with other members of the AG, so they could “hear Misty’s side.”  

“(T)hese conversations were ones of humble listening and would in no way be characterized as ‘bullying’ or trying to force anything onto Misty,” the statement added.

The AG statement also addressed a claim by the alleged Does in their statement that they have been traumatized by IHOPKC’s three investigations.

“We are deeply sorry that these women were seemingly forced to be interviewed three times, but the Advocate Group cannot be held responsible for a process unilaterally determined by IHOPKC and in which we have no involvement,” the AG statement said.

misty edwards
Worship leader Misty Edwards speaks at the International House of Prayer Kansas City in Grandview, Missouri (Video screengrab)

The AG statement also named the members of the AG. In addition to Briggs and Roberts and their wives, the AG also includes former IHOPKC leaders Fran and John Chisholm; Jono and Shari Hall; Elizabeth and Peter Herder; Allen and Rachel Hood; Samuel Hood; and Amanda and Wes Martin.

According to the statement, the group came together organically and was not “any kind of organized or covert group.”

Some online have likewise urged IHOPKC to name the members of its board and current ELT. Volz responded that IHOPKC had decided not to disclose members of its board “to ensure their privacy and prevent them from being harassed, pressured by outsiders, and doxed.”

However, the most eye-opening revelations were not contained in the AG statement but in three videos published today and linked in the statement. According to the videos, Mike Bickle and Stuart Greaves conspired to cover up an adulterous affair by Bickle’s son, Luke Bickle, over a two-and-a-half year period. Full details on that are coming in a story to be published shortly.

Rebecca Hopkins contributed to this story.

Julie Roys es una reportera de investigación veterana y fundadora de The Roys Report. Anteriormente, también presentó un programa de entrevistas nacional en Moody Radio Network, llamado Up for Debate, y ha trabajado como reportera de televisión para una filial de CBS. Sus artículos han aparecido en numerosas publicaciones periódicas. 

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9 Respuestas

  1. julio,

    You have no proof that the former IHOPKC leaders on that video are telling the truth. And than you block ppl who write the truth. The sad fact is we are Christian’s and not acting how Jesus would act.

  2. Sheila,

    Julie just had a long day and wrote this article and you come along to accuse her of something and claim biblical violation without explanation. How is your conduct in line with the teaching of Christ?

  3. Are we observing a fair bit of aligning with the powerful “captor” / abuser with these protesting women protecting Mike Bickle?
    A la Stockholm Syndrome?

  4. I would add Michael Brown’s new commitment to one of these public reports so there can be accountability for him too.
    He has promised to gather together other global leaders to make sure there is pressure from other international leaders for an investigation acceptable to the AG.

  5. Snakes will be snakes. This Volz is what Jesus called a white-washed septic tank. It is just amazing the bold and in-your-face wickedness that “Christian” leaders will do. They are malignant narcissists that Jesus already condemned with many “Woes to you.” They have gone away from Paul’s command to “not even have a hint of immorality among you” to the opposite extreme of tolerating it and sometimes even promoting it. The Word of God condemns such action with the letters in red. There is NOTHING this org has in common with the real Jesus Christ. He has been locked outside for decades and is still knocking to come in with no one letting Him.

  6. Julie- this report starts out fairly done and then goes to ‘eye popping revelations’. I hope you report on the investigative report and report that as ‘eye-popping as well’.

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Hola. Vemos que este es el tercer artículo de este mes que ha encontrado que vale la pena leer. ¡Estupendo! ¿Consideraría hacer una donación deducible de impuestos para ayudar a nuestros periodistas a continuar informando la verdad y restaurar la iglesia?

Your tax-deductible gift helps our journalists report the truth and hold Christian leaders and organizations accountable. Give a gift of $30 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you will receive a copy of “Baptistland: A Memoir of Abuse, Betrayal, and Transformation” by Christa Brown.