A third woman has come forward, accusing International House of Prayer Kansas City (IHOPKC) Founder Mike Bickle of grooming and sexually abusing her, beginning when she was 15 and Bickle was a 20-year-old church intern.
The woman, who wished to be identified as “TH,” spoke exclusively to The Roys Report (TRR) and is the ex-wife of Bob Hartley. Hartley is a self-proclaimed “prophet” and alleged friend of Bickle’s, who was banned last month from IHOPKC due to allegations of sexual misconduct.
TH said Bickle kissed her and fondled her breasts in the mid-1970s, when Bickle was a youth group intern at Colonial Presbyterian Church in Kansas City, Missouri, and TH was a youth group student. TH described Bickle as her “spiritual father” and said she and Bickle dated in secret because her parents didn’t approve of the relationship.
TH added that Bickle’s sister, Tracey Bickle, now pastor over restoration and recovery at IHOPKC’s Forerunner Church, was aware of the relationship and used to pass notes between TH and Mike Bickle.
Though their “dating” relationship ended in 1976, TH said she and Bickle re-engaged in the 1980s and had an inappropriate emotional relationship then. This is when Bickle was married and planting Kansas City Fellowship, now Kairos Church in Kansas City, Missouri.
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Mike Bickle denied the allegations in an email to TRR. “None of this is true Absolutely false,” he wrote.
TRR also reached out to Tracey Bickle for comment, but she did not respond.
However, on Oct. 27, the day IHOPKC leaders announced vague allegations against Mike Bickle, Tracey Bickle sent TH a text, thanking TH for “her voice.”
“This is what I do for a living for last 30 years,” Tracey Bickle wrote. “100% understand victims and stand with them and the pathology of ungodly men and women having hidden lives.”
TH is the third woman to come forward with a story of alleged sexual abuse involving Mike Bickle.
The primary “Jane Doe” told her story of alleged abuse exclusively to TRR in late November. She said Bickle used prophecy to abuse her from 1996—1999, beginning when she was 19 and Bickle was in his forties and in the process of founding IHOPKC. Doe said the abuse included everything short of sexual intercourse.
Then this week, a Michigan woman, Tammy Woods, came forward with her story of alleged abuse. She claimed Bickle sexually abused her, beginning when she was 14 and Bickle was a 25-year-old pastor at a church in St. Louis. Woods said the abuse included kissing, fondling, and Bickle moving on top of her until he “released.”
All the allegations come after an advocate group (AG), comprised of former top IHOPKC leaders, last October publicly accused Bickle of engaging in clergy sexual abuse with multiple women “spanning several decades.” TH told TRR that she gave the AG permission in October to use some of her story, but at the time, didn’t consider herself a victim.
In December, IHOPKC hired Rosalee McNamara of the Lathrop GPM to investigate the allegations. However, the main Jane Doe and the AG refused to participate in McNamara’s investigation because they doubted its independence.
In December, IHOPKC permanently separated from Bickle due to his “inappropriate behavior.”
And last week, IHOPKC released the results of McNamara’s investigation, which found that Bickle “more likely than not” abused his power.
TH said she’s speaking out now because Woods’ story—the first alleging Bickle abused a minor—sounded so similar to her own and caused her to see her relationship with Bickle in a new light.
TH said Woods’ account of how Bickle befriended Woods’ parents, gave Woods a Bible, and pursued Woods, despite her parents’ objections, sounded just like what Bickle had done with TH and her family.
“Reading Tammy’s account just really made me go back and see it so differently, just so differently,” TH told TRR. “I’ve definitely been groomed. There’s no doubt about it.”
An ‘audacious misrepresentation of the truth’
In addition to telling her story, TH also released a public statement on Thursday, blasting McNamara’s report last week as “insufficient and woefully misleading.”
In her report, McNamara states it was her “understanding” that TH, known as a “third Jane Doe,” did not want to be on any list of Bickle’s alleged victims. McNamara further states that Doe’s (TH’s) ex-husband said his ex-wife “did not want to be involved” in an investigation and would have “told him if there was a relationship or anything of that nature” with Bickle.
But in her statement, TH said she told McNamara she’d gladly share her story if the AG and IHOPKC could agree on a third-party investigation.
TH also confronted McNamara for including statements in her report about TH from TH’s ex-husband, Bob Hartley.
“In no way do the words of my ex-husband, who himself was recently banned from the IHOPKC premises over his own sexual misconduct allegations, reflect my experience,” TH wrote. “To seek out and give credence to his claims was extremely negligent and resulted in an audacious misrepresentation of the truth.”
TH also challenged McNamara’s statement in her report that there is credible evidence supporting Bickle’s claim that he didn’t tell anyone that his wife was going to die and he could be with them.
“This is simply not true,” TH wrote. “As I testified to the Advocacy Group in October, in 1983 Mike explicitly told me of a prophecy regarding the death of his wife Diane. He believed Diane’s death would happen in an earthquake in Saint Louis, and the implication of sharing the prophecy with me was that her death would open up a path forward for him and I to pursue a romantic relationship together.”
TH ends her statement with a call for an investigation by a “truly independent third party.”
TRR reached out to McNamara for comment about TH’s allegations but did not get a response.
Grooming of a 15-year-old
As Bickle did with Woods and her family, TH said Bickle would visit her home and chat with her and her mom. Bickle also became TH’s spiritual mentor.
“He was my spiritual father,” TH said. “He was just the best guy ever.”
TH said her parents didn’t approve of Bickle dating her, so the two dated in secret. The relationship became physical, which Bickle seemed to regret, TH said.
“There were a few times when he would fondle me and then be really remorseful, like he was engaged in a battle with his desire and his godliness,” she said.
The two broke up in January 1976, TH said. Not long after, Bickle moved to St. Louis, where his abuse of Woods allegedly took place.
TH finished high school, went to college, and then moved back to Kansas City. One day, she said Bickle called her out of the blue.
“He said, ‘God just dropped your phone number into my mind,’” she said. “It was a turning point in my life in that he got me reignited with falling after Jesus. It was kind of like this was part of my testimony—that God had used Mike and he got me back on track.”
In 1983, when TH was in her early 20s, Bickle moved back to Kansas City to plant Kansas City Fellowship. By this time, he was married and had kids.
TH said she heard that Bickle was planting a new church and didn’t plan to attend.
“Then I was listening to Christian radio and I heard they were having a prayer meeting,” TH said. “So, I showed up to one of their very first prayer meetings. And then, I just got swept away with all the momentum.”
She said Bickle immediately “rekindled” their “emotional connection,” even though he had a wife and kids.
“We would go on these long walks fully visible to others . . . just talking and it was all God talk,” she said. “But there was that emotional connection.”
She said Bickle told her of a girl he knew from St. Louis who reminded him of TH.
“Special, godly, heart after God, etc…” TH said. “I just never realized the extent of how ‘special’ she was to him. Now I know he was telling me about Tammy.”
One night, TH and Bickle spent time alone together, but outside, while Diane and the boys were in St. Louis. They were sitting on a hill and Bickle said his back hurt.
“I knew he wanted me to massage his back, but I was like, ‘I’m not going there,’” TH said. “I’m not doing that. And so, nothing happened there.”
But the next morning, Bickle told her he was going to call Diane and tell her they had spent time together alone.
“He had the phone in his hand, but then he decided no, there was nothing wrong with it,” she said.
Sometimes they’d go to restaurants or the movie theater with a group of people.
“I remember him kind of pushing someone out of the way in order to sit next to me at the movie,” she said.
She said nothing physical happened between them at that time. But then one day, she said Bickle told her of a prophecy.
“There was going to be an earthquake in St. Louis and that his wife, Diane . . . would be in St. Louis at the time of the earthquake and she would die,” TH said. “And because of that, there would be a way forward for us and our relationship.”
TH said the culture of prophecy surrounding Bickle was exciting.
“I was caught up in the prophetic and God’s speaking and all of this stuff,” she said. “And so, there was a big group of young adults that we’re all in this together, and it was life changing for all of us.”
Becoming a Jane Doe
During this time, TH said she met Bob Hartley, who was also involved in Kansas City Fellowship. She said Hartley told people that God told him he would marry TH. TH then believed God had also told her she was going to marry Hartley.
“It was a really big deal because he was not someone I would naturally be attracted to nor did our personalities mesh,” she said.
She said Bickle conducted the wedding ceremony.
Hartley then became a youth pastor at Kansas City Fellowship, working under Bickle, who was still the pastor. Once the two were married, she said the emotional interactions between Bickle and her ended.
Bickle and Hartley weren’t exactly close friends at that time, more like “two peacocks in the same pen,” TH said. But over the years, Hartley has been a frequent guest at IHOPKC and several pictures of him and Bickle are available on social media.
Bickle previously told TRR that he hasn’t had much contact with Hartley for the past 15 years, except for seeing Hartley in the prayer room every couple of months. But Hartley’s son, Jedidiah Hartley, told TRR recently that his dad said he’d been talking to Bickle. Also, Jedidiah Hartley showed TRR a text from his dad, stating that Bickle’s son, Luke Bickle, was living with him.
The fact that TH had “dated” Bickle in high school was common knowledge, said Michael Sullivant, a former pastor at Kansas City Fellowship, who served with the Bickles and the Hartleys.
In 2015, the Hartleys’ marriage ended in divorce, due to Bob’s pornography use, lying, and misuse of prophecies in their family, TH said.
Sullivant told TRR that in 2015, TH told him about Bickle’s prophecy about Diane dying someday and Bickle marrying TH. Then, in 2023, the primary Jane Doe met with Sullivant, his wife, and former IHOPKC leaders Dwayne and Jennifer Roberts and said Bickle had used the same prophecy to abuse her. This jogged Sullivant’s memory about Bickle’s prophecy to TH, so, he told the group right then.
The AG collected similar stories they’d heard around the theme of this prophecy, AG member Dwayne Roberts previously told TRR. Roberts compiled the information in a working document they showed to an IHOPKC leader in October.
TH said that the past few months have been eye-opening for her, especially this last week.
She said before reading Woods’ story, she viewed her relationship with Bickle as boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. Now, she realizes Bickle groomed, manipulated, and abused her.
“He was such a master manipulator,” TH said. “When this started coming up, it was just so hard to disconnect myself from thinking, ‘He’s a good guy. He’s just a good guy.’ He’s so good at being a good guy. But he was so evil.”
She told TRR that she struggled to see herself as a “Jane Doe.” But today, she said she sees it differently. “I would say, I’m one of them.”
IHOPKC apologizes
IHOPKC’s handling of the allegations against its founder has been widely criticized since the scandal broke more than three months ago. Last night, IHOPKC issued a formal apology on X, admitting some failures and expressing remorse.
“Words cannot express the anger, shock, heartbreak, and sadness we have experienced as we have learned of allegations and testimonies of sexual abuse and manipulation concerning Mike Bickle, founder of IHOPKC,” the IHOPKC Leadership Team stated.
“We believe that Mike Bickle sexually abused and manipulated Jane Doe and Tammy Woods, who was a minor at the time. His predatory and abusive actions are sick and violate the Word of God, the marriage covenant, and holiness; we condemn them in their entirety.”
IHOPKC also apologized for two messages Bickle gave at the 24/7 prayer ministry in October, which it said were “manipulative attempts to construct a narrative of innocence concerning himself.”
In those messages, Bickle used the metaphor of a “black horse” to describe an attack that would come against him. One of those messages remained posted to YouTube at the time of publishing.
IHOPKC also apologized for a staff meeting on Oct. 27 in which IHOPKC leaders announced the allegations against Bickle. The announcement did not disclose the nature of the allegations or any details, prompting former IHOPKC senior leader, Dean Briggs, to publicly object, calling the announcement “righteous bullshit.”
IHOPKC said the meeting “lacked the necessary disclosure and candor to meet the gravity of the situation. For this we also apologize.”
The leaders thanked the IHOPKC community for its “patience and perseverance in spite of our shortcomings” and committed “to do better.”
Rebecca Hopkins is a journalist based in Colorado. Julie Roys is a veteran investigative reporter and founder of The Roys Report.
12 Responses
I cannot express how revolting it is to me that a supposed man of God would use the line “my wife is going to die, making a way for us to be together” to groom his subjects.
If she stays with him after hearing all this she better hire a food taster.
How many X’s have we seen it before…..such as the fleshly Southern Baptists and all the bitter infighting, but as a way of life……taking monies $$ from the Satanic underground sea- i -A as a perk, in return for a staged agenda. This plants every legion of hell to fester. You get the idea…all the Blab it n Grab it’s.
Yes, the difference here is a “praying” people with heart to labor on in the Kings plan and so on and on…..much different, but the same Satanic strongholds just waiting to find a home.
The little boys attempting to lead (youtube video) have absolutely no idea what a true authority umbrella is and are not the least bit qualified to oversee a Spiritual “group — the man who stood up to make the “non-transparency” statement, then walk out, functions as I do and have had to for the sake of the Kingdom–we all should.
Q. How many in that congregation shouted I-2nd that, I-3rd that, I-4th that, I-5th that and so on? They’re all shell-shocked by life or are just numb waiting for anyone else to do all the work….
What to do?
Stay in your prayer closet until He brings others to you!!! No sense in going to a club where nothing ever gets done.
MB has for the first time in his life a chance to repent and seek first the Kingdom of God for 10 yrs by himself. He’ll never, never be a leader again. MB should donate back $$ to the church the last 10 yrs of $$ he received in income.
His willingness to prophesy his wife’s demise over and over again is such a creepy twist. I guess for a “man of God” the tried and true, “my wife doesn’t understand me” doesn’t suffice.
As a member of the IHOPKC community, thank you Julie Roys & team for faithfuly reporting the facts as objectively as possible. I hate to hear the news, but it’s the ONLY healthy way forward! My heart is broken over the many women & men hurt by Mike Bickle.1 Peter 4:17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
I really have a problem with this, it is happening now quite frequently, and many times I have had to explain this away which makes me feel very angry. When young people who do not have a Dad, or have a abusive Dad, and then they place their trust in you for guidance, whether they are Boy or Girl and this is how you show it. could lead them to drugs, resentment toward the Church, and Suicide. I know scripture that mentions about offending those that put their trust in you, as young people but I have to back off many times and take a very deep breath, just due to the fact the young person now needs assurance that this will never happen again. and that trust is now totally destroyed.
I think it’s worth noting that the IHOPKC apology on X did not list the names of the current “Leadership Team.”
The apology rings a bit hollow when you don’t know who it signed it.
Isaac Bennett’s subsequent apology is a classic illustration of why the church is in this state. He continually talks about how he weeps for others, yet says absolutely nothing about Bickle, Greaves, Sliker, and anyone else who either perpetrated or covered up these crimes, calling them to publicly repent.
Pro-tip: Tears + actions to defend the vulnerable is Christ-like. Tears without actions is merely weak & pathetic sentimentality. Sadly, most pastors are of this latter, soy-boy variety.
Since these events occurred when Mr. Bickle was 20, can we expect that similar stories will emerge from when he was 17 and 14? Or was TH the first one?
I’m still amazed that anyone stayed at IHOPKC after the murder of Bethany Deaton. This 2012 train wreck exposed the fallen nature of the entire outfit for all the world to see, then was swept under the rug! More details as to the true history and founding, then the infiltration and corruption of this once-great ministry on my page. Search for GospelGunslingers on YouTube and find the IHOPKC Sex Scandal playlist.
Bethany Deaton died by suicide. There is CCTV footage showing her purchasing the drugs she used. Her death was a tragedy compounded by IHOP leaders coercing a false murder confession from one of her friends.
“Her death was initially ruled a suicide, but police have alleged it may have been a murder. The cause of death was later changed to undetermined.” Someone successfully muddied the waters enough to make it almost impossible to know what happened.
IHOP was founded on a false prophecy from a false prophet (Bob Jones). False roots only produce false fruits. Wrong foundations can never support a right structure. This ministry needs to close down now after the mess all this has made. Stephen Strang from Charisma Magazine needs to publicly apologise for his stance & he needs to repent of his lack of discernment.