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 statement 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 posted online 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 The Roys Report (TRR). The other woman is popular IHOPKC worship leader Misty Edwards.

An October 2023 staff list obtained by The Roys Report (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.

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 on 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.

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.

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 statement 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.’”

The following two pages from the 50 page document that was delivered to the ELT on October 25 confirm it was not a "working document" and they were not simple "suggestions". pic.twitter.com/zBZuPrWE2J

— Eric Volz (@EricVolz) January 22, 2024

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 posted a statement 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.

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 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.