A long-awaited investigation into Dalton Thomas Lifsey, the disgraced former president of Frontier Alliance International (FAI), an evangelical-charismatic missions and media ministry, has released this week and charged him with at least two adulterous affairs and many other instances of sexual misconduct.

Lifsey founded FAI in 2011 as an agency to evangelize the Middle East. It is one of a few that specialize in the Iraqi Kurdish region and it has released several movies, including Better Friends Than Mountains, that details how FAI aided Kurdish peshmerga soldiers in their battles against ISIS a decade ago.

Because Lifsey’s role with FAI was partly as a spiritual leader, some have characterized the extramarital relationships he engaged in as “clergy sexual abuse.” Lifsey, 40, resigned on November 20, 2023, prior to admitting to sexual misconduct with a woman outside the ministry team. 

A month later, FAI retained Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE) to conduct an investigation. GRACE found evidence of an additional affair between Lifsey and a ministry team member that happened in 2012, and many other instances of inappropriate behavior, verbal abuse, and spiritual abuse.

GRACE’s 91-page report details testimony from FAI team members and leaders about Lifsey’s misconduct from 2012 to 2023. Lifsey declined to participate.

In releasing the GRACE report publicly, the six-person FAI board, including board chair Joel Richardson, expressed “heartfelt apology . . . to all who were hurt or impacted by our shortcomings.”

The statement added, addressing alleged victims: “We are deeply sorry for the pain that you have suffered and for the ways our organization failed to provide the safety, support, and accountability that you needed and deserved.” 

One victim, referred to as reporting victim 1 (RV1), was part of a small group that started FAI in 2011 as an evangelistic initiation in New Zealand and Turkey. In the spring of 2012,  RV1 lived with Lifsey and his family for a month in New Zealand.

“During her stay at Dalton Lifsey’s home, there were many times when Dalton would take RV1 and another woman out for recreational activities that did not include Dalton’s wife,” the report states. “According to RV1, Dalton would come up with ‘different excuses’ for not including his wife.”

RV1 recalled how Dalton went out of his way to be with her, and repeatedly pushed boundaries with her. One time when she took Lifsey to the airport while he was visiting Turkey, he confessed his love for her.

“He came out and looked completely distraught and then communicated that he loved me, RV1 told GRACE. “And yeah, it all fell apart from there. It was very, I think, confusing for me. I was a single woman, obviously loved the Middle East, and have these passions. And here was a man who loved the same things, we connected, and yet he was married. And so I was angry, I was frustrated, I cried. It was a lot of mixed emotions, and I didn’t really know what to do at that time.”

RV1 said Lifsey messaged her the next day to express how, “this could destroy the rest of the community” and have a negative impact on his children if she told anyone about his confession.

Later in the summer of 2012, RV1 said Lifsey repeatedly asked her to meet him at a hotel. Eventually, she agreed when Lifsey told her they would have separate rooms.

She told GRACE, “I went there thinking we were just going to be talking. And one thing led to another, and we unfortunately did some sexual acts. We did not have sex. We never had sex, but it was basically anything and everything but sex.”

They continued to have inappropriate relations until the summer of 2013. RV1 cut things off with Lifsey after she realized he was lying to her about his intentions to stay with his wife. Later that year, RV1 told FAI ministry leaders everything that happened.

It wasn’t until 2019 that Lifsey reportedly told FAI leadership that he “had an affair with RV1 that was sexual in nature but denied any grooming or abuse,” the report states. Instead, Lifsey described RV1 as a “seductress.”

Other witnesses

GRACE detailed reports from witnesses who observed Lifsey verbally and physically cross boundaries with several women while working on FAI films.

One witness called W-10 recalled that one night, Lifsey grabbed her hand and “yanked” her toward a beach to go night swimming, despite her saying multiple times that she did not want to go. When they were swimming, Lifsey came up to W-10 and “wrestled” with her under the water, putting “his arms around [W-10’s] waist, underneath [W-10’s] chest,” according to the report.

Another witness reported seeing Lifsey and a woman who worked as an independent contractor for the ministry, referred to as Contractor-1 in the report, acting “cozy” together and interacting in inappropriate ways. The same witness and other witnesses also recounted Lifsey’s inappropriate physical behavior with another independent contractor.

They specifically told two FAI leaders, referred to as Leader-1 and Leader-2, about Lifsey’s behavior.

But when Lifsey was confronted about withholding information, “Dalton’s countenance, his demeanor, was horrifying” as “he went from being what we thought was that kind of friend to [someone who] would do anything to make us shut up and make me stop asking questions,” Witness 1 and Witness 5 recalled.

Response of FAI leadership

FAI leaders say they first confronted Lifsey in August 2013.

“According to Leader-3, FAI leadership advised Dalton to step down from leadership, submit to a local church with a plurality of elders, and prioritize his family. They emphasized the need for Dalton to get a job and not rely on missionary support,” GRACE reported.

Lifsey reportedly rejected FAI’s recommendations, and instead turned to a “pastoral oversight” team that included Mike Bickle, disgraced founder of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City (IHOP-Leader), among others. (Bickle has since been accused of sexually abusing multiple women over several decades).

The IHOP-Leader led a restoration process for Lifsey, which Leader-3 described to GRACE as having disastrous results. “Leader-3 told GRACE he and the FAI leadership team in Turkey did not support IHOP’s approach, which Leader-3 felt was inadequate and allowed Dalton to return to ministry too quickly,” GRACE reported. As a result, many in the FAI leadership team left.

Around 2015, Lifsey relaunched FAI with a new team. Leader-1 and Leader-2 said Lifsey seemed to be repentant of his mistakes at that time. Over the next few years, witnesses kept coming forward with reports of more inappropriate behavior, but FAI leaders continued to back Lifsey, even after an internal investigation in 2019.

The leaders finally demanded Lifsey’s resignation on Nov. 13, 2023 after seeing enough evidence of his misconduct. 

On Nov. 24, 2023, Lifsey sent a message to Leader-1 and Leader-2, in which he admitted to an affair with Contractor-1.

The recent FAI board statement concluded: “We acknowledge that our policies, practices, and culture fell short, and we take full responsibility for these failures. We understand that words alone are insufficient, and we are committed to take tangible action.”

Correction 2/12/24: This story has been corrected to accurately state certain details related to Lifsey’s resignation and the FAI board’s knowledge of it.

Fiona Morgan, former editor of the Stanford Interior Journal and Danville Advocate-Messenger and other publications, is a freelance journalist based in Danville, Kentucky.