Two days after being confronted publicly for an unacceptable “level of transparency,” International House of Prayer Kansas City (IHOPKC) Leadership Team today announced that the allegations against founder Mike Bickle included “sexual immorality.”
“We are heartbroken to share that we have recently become aware of serious allegations including sexual immorality directed against Mike Bickle . . .” stated Executive Director of IHOPKC Stuart Greaves in an announcement read during an 11 a.m. service at IHOPKC’s Forerunner Church in Grandview, Mo. “Our leadership team takes these allegations very seriously and we are laboring for truth, light, redemption, and righteousness.”
The earlier confrontation with IHOPKC leadership occurred at a staff meeting Friday night at Forerunner Church.
After IHOPKC’s leadership team declined to describe the nature of the allegations against Bickle, former IHOPKC senior leader Dean Briggs, who resigned in September, stated from the main floor: “I do not consider this an acceptable level of transparency. . . . There is more to be said, and what they just shared is well-intended, righteous bullshit. And I think that you need to address this in a different way with a right degree of transparency or this is not going to be a trustworthy process.”
On Saturday, a statement signed by three, former top IHOPKC leaders was posted online, revealing that several “credible, trustworthy” women had accused Bickle of clergy sexual abuse, “spanning several decades.”
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, click here.
The news was reported Saturday by both the The Roys Report (TRR) and the Kansas City Star.
In today’s IHOPKC announcement, which was also emailed to supporters, Greaves revealed that IHOPKC is “engaging with outside parties to assess and arbitrate these allegations.”
Greaves did not name the outside parties. And the only email the ministrry has provided in its announcements was on Friday night, an internal email—[email protected].
Greaves then announced that Bickle had agreed to remove himself from the ministry for the time being and appeared to become overcome with emotion.
“On October 26, the IHOPKC Executive Leadership Team asked Mike Bickle, and he agreed not to preach or teach from the IHOPKC platform—,” Greaves said and then paused 10 seconds. He continued, “—attend our 24-hour prayer room, or engage his social media channels while we work with others to assess this situation.”
Though Bickle has gotten off social media, his sister, Tracey Bickle, has remained active. On Friday, she posted on X/Twitter and Facebook, “God is our refuge and strength . . . He has not forgotten you. #StandSteady.”
Reading the statement, Greaves also encouraged people to pray for all involved, including “those who have experienced trauma” and “the Bickle family.”
He asked for patience as the church works through “this complex and difficult situation.” And he urged congregants to “refrain from using prophetic spiritual language that can be interpreted as dismissive of the pain of the traumatized.”
Similarly, on Friday, Greaves urged staff not to refer to the current situation as a “black horse.” This was a reference to a metaphor used by Bickle in an Oct. 20 sermon to describe an attack that would come against him.
That sermon was apparently removed from Forerunner’s YouTube channel. However, it remains posted on SermonIndex.net’s YouTube channel.
Isaac Bennett, lead pastor of Forerunner Church, acknowledged during this morning’s service that people are “hurting and angry.” He added, “I’m personally distressed by the nature of these allegations and where we find ourself (sic) in the midst of this.”
Bennett added that the leadership is aware that some in the congregation have experienced “things that resemble the allegations (against Bickle).”
“They carry pain. They carry trauma in their hearts,” Bennett said. “And we are very aware of that and sensitive to that. . . . And we want to urge you to come to a leader, to go to a counselor, to come to a pastor, especially those that maybe never disclosed former traumatic events that are of this nature.”
David Sliker, president of International House of Prayer University (IHOPU), also spoke, acknowledging that some may disagree with how things are handled.
“You’re not going to like the decisions we make,” he said. “I get it. I really get it.”
He continued: “I’m appealing to you to disarm where possible. Just stay out of it where possible. I’m not talking about with us. I’m talking about with one another, where you’re not processing, you’re arguing . . .”
Congregants then broke into groups of three to five people and prayed, as Greaves urged them—for “clarity, healing, restoration, fullness, purpose.”
The service ended with a benediction from Bennett: “Bless you. We’re with you. We love you. We appreciate your time and investment to even come here this morning to be with us.”
This story has been updated.
Julie Roys is a veteran investigative reporter and founder of The Roys Report. She also previously hosted a national talk show on the Moody Radio Network, called Up for Debate, and has worked as a TV reporter for a CBS affiliate. Her articles have appeared in numerous periodicals.
English 
Spanish 
15 Responses
The former leaders’ statement alleged Bickle was guilty of “clergy sexual abuse”. IHOP-KC’s statement mentioned “sexual immorality”. “Clergy sexual abuse” is a crime in many states. “Sexual immorality” could mean absolutely anything in conservative evangelicalism including looking at a woman “lustfully”.
IHOP-KC is proving they are not being transparent.
Missouri doesn’t have a clergy sexual abuse law on the books. What is alleged to have happened is sexual immorality (I happen to believe the allegations). Sexual immorality includes sexual abuse.
It’s deeply outrageous for the leadership at IHOP to be encouraging trauma victims to seek help internally at this irredeemably toxic institution, right now. To do so will only cause them more harm. It makes me want to scream.
Dawn Baxley—Author of “Sifted Like Wheat in Silo Country” releasing November 24th, 2023
The ODD part friend is the blatant reality that the allegations include — that this behavior by Mike has occurred for decades. Why the HEY was this so called behavior NEVER dealt with FOR DECADES LONG — by these furious, hateful ( if you witness one’s behavior) which included— ex-IHOP Leaders or the trust-worthy, COURAGEOUS, CREDIBLE, women who are traumatized. All I know is the personality and love of Jesus and the emotions of the ONE TRUE God have NOT been evident in this accountability effort whatsoever, by the ones calling him out. The timing is FISHY and un-like the living word of truth regarding admonishment. ( opinions without experience mean very little) !!!
My prayers are with IHOP and I pray that the Lord will help them to navigate through this to overcome this in Jesus’ name.
We need to have more details about Mike Bickle’s crimes. He has a such influence in the Charismatic world especially when IHOP launched a time of prayer for Israel. It is extremely unfortunate. I hope we can also have some updates regarding Albert Tate.
anybody ever launch a time of prayer for our Palestinian sisters and brothers subjected to war crimes by both Hamas and Israel? nahhhhhhh, didn’t think so.
What’s interesting to me is that the victims are just being revictimized all over again, by people like Dr. Michael Brown who said constantly throughout his broadcast on YouTube… “IF the allegations are true…”
Makes me sick. IHOP makes me want to vomit.
Bickle has been under suspicion for YEARS. The problem is that until now there wasn’t enough evidence to “out” him. That’s the fact.
These ungodly wolves prey on women and hide behind their power and salty reputations as men of God when in reality they are nothing but wolves and when they get caught because the victims finally have the courage to come forward, people of the likes of Michael Brown, who also cannot be trusted as far as you can throw him, come off on their shows like they are so spiritual and dogmatic. It’s reprehensible and I for one, will be praying for complete justice for the victims. Bickle is not the victim here. IHOP isn’t the victim here. Makes me sick that Brown and his ilk pretend that they even care about the real victims. All they care about is their false prophet was finally outed. Makes me want to vomit.
Here’s a link to Michael Brown’s response to the Bickle accusations if people want to watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTSlCI6J7C4
Michael Brown is well-known in charismatic circles and tends to be a critic of his own community. He was one of the key architects of the prophetic standards documents calling for greater accountability related to the Trump presidential prophecies which you can read about here:
https://religionunplugged.com/news/2021/4/28/charismatics-issue-prophetic-standards-to-address-false-trump-prophecies
Additionally, he was part of the team that investigated and declared Todd Bentley unfit for ministry (a charismatic leader who engaged in sexual immorality). This isn’t a defense of Brown. I am not a member of his tribe. However, I think he is unique in his willingness to call people to account. (Here’s a link to the article about the Bentley investigation: https://www.christianpost.com/news/todd-bentley-declared-not-qualified-for-leadership-after-review-of-ungodly-and-immoral-behavior.html)
What Brown doesn’t get is that he and his fellow “prophetic ministry” people created a culture where rock star pastors and prophets are regularly venerated and given honor of which no human is worthy. He may claim to seek correction for all involved, but he is unwilling to denounce the culture that has been creating these monsters. They give them a place to thrive and a pipeline of victims.
Wholeheartedly agree that in many streams of Christianity, pastors are too venerated and treated like rock stars– there are lots of famous (and wealthy) evangelicals now, too. It’s no longer just the folks on TBN who are well-known. Church rock star culture is pervasive, and there is a lack of accountability in many as more and more churches are independent or have significantly loosened ties with denominations. All too often charisma is valued over character. If we are looking across streams, we can see we ended up with people like Ravi Z too. Transparency and accountability are needed across the board.
Really? Michael Brown defends “Charismatic” leaders all the time. He’s known for it. Anyone who opposes him on his Facebook page gets immediately blocked and their posts get deleted. The Charismatic line, however, is a rabbit trail because Brown walks lock-step with the NAR leaders. That is the tribe he is a member of. Bickle is NAR. He helped form that clic.
This story will get a lot worse as more of the truth comes out – as it always does.
I have done prison ministry and have a heart for the perpetrator. My hope for Bickle is that the Lord gets a hold of his heart and he receives the Lords forgiveness. I have also been physically/sexually attacked by a man who I thought was my friend so I have a inkling of an idea of the immediate lies that come over the victim that keep us from speaking out. Bottom line, Bickle needs to do time in the slammer. This is clearly an issue of the heart and he has proven himself to be unsafe to his community. That these accusations have gone on for decades, is clearly a sign of a very deep, dark, EVIL, heart issue. Justice will be done this side of heaven, when he does time for these heinous crimes. Maybe prison will be what it takes to bring Bickle to his knees. I saw first hand the power of the Lord in the heart of men who, while in prison, became desperate for freedom.
Whatever it takes Lord, have Your way in Mile Bickle. I pray Lord, that every victim is healed by the power of your Love by revealing to them the truth about who they are, who you created them to be.
In Jesus mighty Name, Amen
Michele – I appreciate your comment and I know the Lord can redeem anyone who repents of their sin. I saw it with my father in law who raped both his daughters. He was a changed man, but he was also a tormented man until the day he died. I pray Bickle and anyone else who is involved in this, does repent because their end will be far worse. Even more so, I pray for justice for all of the victims. And I also pray that those in leadership, like Michael Brown, who are just making things worse with their ridiculous commentary, would actually step down and retire.