In 1996, at age 19, “Jane Doe” decided to move to Kansas City to intern with her father’s friend, Mike Bickle. The 42-year-old prophetic pastor’s preaching about King David had touched her heart.
“I just remember feeling like he knew the same Jesus that I knew,” Doe told The Roys Report (TRR) in an exclusive interview.
Soon after she arrived, she said Bickle told her he had a dream about her. After a Sunday service, in front of Bickle’s wife, Diane, Doe said Bickle prophesied that he was David and Doe was Esther.
“He gives me the biggest word of my life,” she told TRR. “It was, ‘You’re not just an Esther, you are going to lead thousands of Esthers.’”
A few weeks later, Bickle called Doe from Asia to say the Lord spoke to him about her, she said. This time, though, she said he sounded drunk.
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“He begins to tell me that the Lord has spoken to him and that Diane is going to die and that we’re going to get married,” she said. “As he’s talking to me, I’m thinking, ‘Is he drunk?’ And he did start talking about the alcohol that was in the fridge that he had been drinking.”
From 1996 to 1999, Doe said Bickle put her up in an apartment by herself, gave her a key to his office, engaged in sexual interactions with her, and told her about the dream, again and again. He also began establishing the International House of Prayer Kansas City (IHOPKC).
“That line that Diane, his wife, is going to die and that we’re going to get married—he at least said that to me 100 times,” Doe said.
TRR is referring to “Doe,” rather than the woman’s real name because TRR has a policy of not naming victims of alleged clergy sexual abuse unless they request it. But Allen Hood, former president of IHOP University, and Erin Parks, an IHOPKC founder, confirmed Doe’s identity with TRR.
TRR reached out to Bickle repeatedly for comment, but he did not respond to our requests. TRR also reached out to IHOPKC but did not receive an on-the-record response.
Doe told TRR that she provided information for a 50-page report that former IHOPKC leaders, known as the “complaint” or “advocate group,” turned over to current IHOPKC leaders last month. The advocate group alleged that Bickle engaged in clergy sexual abuse with multiple women over decades. Eight people—some former high-level IHOPKC leaders—also spoke exclusively to TRR and corroborated Doe’s allegations and Doe’s attempts to bring accountability.
Former IHOPKC staffers have called for a third-party investigation into the allegations against Bickle.
However, current IHOPKC leaders have said any such investigation is premature. Three women have publicly said they were named by the former IHOPKC leaders as victims of Bickle’s but are not. IHOPKC has also released a report, discrediting some of alleged victims mentioned in the report or named in conversations with whistleblowers.
Yet Doe told TRR she’s not just one of Bickle’s victims. She’s also witnessed his grooming of other women at IHOPKC. She told TRR she tried for years to confront Bickle on inappropriate behavior with other young women.
“I would see him do things like put his hand up one of my friend’s leg under the table at the restaurant. And I would the next day, go in and confront him about it,” she said. “Another woman—I saw her put her hand in his pocket to get ibuprofen. And she had a key to his office, and she was coming in with special drinks and herbs and essential oils. . . Anytime I saw anything with any other woman that was inappropriate, I would confront him on it.”
Several people who worked closely with Doe at that time told TRR they also noticed strange dynamics between Bickle and other young women, as well as Doe. They include Erin Parks and Doe’s brother, whose name we’re not revealing to protect Doe’s identity. However, Allen Hood confirmed Doe’s brother’s identity with TRR.
Parks and Doe’s brother say Bickle’s spiritualized explanations, the power of his fame and presence, his generosity, and the fact that they were all young—in their 20s—masked the red flags.
“He was 40-something and we were 20-something,” said Parks. “And so, I guess it felt safe to let him dote on you and to let him encourage you and to let him offer to buy you houses and things.”
Until this year, Doe hasn’t spoken publicly about what happened with Bickle, heeding his alleged warnings to her that if she did, no one would believe her. But beginning in March, she said she realized the gravity of her situation and began talking—first to family, and then, through the 50-page report, to a watching world.
Doe’s brother told TRR that after hearing his sister’s revelation, past encounters with Bickle that seemed odd suddenly made sense.
Doe’s brother said that one time, Bickle pointed out verses about King David sleeping with Bathsheba.
“He highlighted them in orange, laughed, and gave my Bible back to me,” Doe’s brother said. “I just so believe (Doe). . . . I’m grieved that it’s true, but it’s so true.”
A movement of young women
Bickle is a “larger than life” pastor whose attention toward young people and use of prophecies were exciting, Doe’s brother said.
In 1982, Bickle claimed God told him, “I will change the understanding and expression of Christianity in one generation.” In 1983, pastor and prophet Bob Jones came to Bickle with a word from God: Bickle would lead young adults in a prayer and worship movement that would have strong ties to Asia, Bickle explained in this September sermon.
A few weeks after Jones’ prophecy, God gave Bickle a prophetic word for 24/7 prayer “in the spirit of the tabernacle of David.” Bickle claimed he went to heaven in a vision—and in another vision, met with the archangel Michael, which is documented in Bickle’s sermon notes from this past October.
Bickle built up a global following while pastoring Metro Christian Fellowship (MCF), a church he founded in Kansas City in the early 1980s, said former MCF pastor Michael Sullivant.
Then in 1999, with these prophecies in mind, Bickle founded IHOPKC, which has held continuous prayer meetings for the past 24 years, drawing devotees from around the world.
But the young people Bickle gathered during his time at MCF and the early years of IHOPKC were mostly women, said Parks, who worked at MCF, and a former MCF intern who requested anonymity. This other, former intern, whose identity Parks confirmed, told TRR that Bickle groomed her but never crossed the line into abuse.
Parks, the former intern, and Doe said they were part of Bickle’s group of female disciples who were in their late teens and early 20s. He was a father figure to many, Parks said. He was generous, too, she said, buying some of them clothes and giving them gift cards. He regularly organized pizza and movie nights—usually religious movies or World War II movies—at one of the women’s homes, without his wife or kids present, Parks said.
“I don’t know why no one said anything at the time because looking back at all of this, it’s clearly inappropriate,” Parks said.
Bickle would also prophesy over the women, Parks said.
“He was like, ‘You guys are the core and the foundation of IHOP. . . People will come and go, but you are the pillars in the house of the Lord,’” Parks said. “He would do that a lot, hook people in with this prophetic vision and calling.”
One time, the other former intern said Bickle met with her and Doe in a restaurant and other young adults saw them. Right after that, Bickle said they shouldn’t meet in public anymore, and he invited a few young women to begin meeting secretly.
“We had plenty of conversations with him about what celibacy meant, and the special calling of setting ourselves aside,” the former intern said. “We weren’t supposed to tell anybody that we were invited to this mystic group to study because then people would be jealous.”
Special attention
Doe’s family revered Bickle, Doe said. In 1995, Doe’s brother said he was the first one in their family to return to Kansas City as a young adult to be near Bickle and MCF. He rarely saw Bickle until a year later when Doe also moved there. Then everything changed.
“That’s when all of a sudden, Mike showed special favor,” he said.
Bickle would invite Doe, age 19, and her brother, on outings. They would go to the park to play football, to restaurants, and to Barnes and Noble for caramel lattes, Doe’s brother said.
“The way that it was presented was that there was a call on our lives, that we had basically a special friendship,” Doe’s brother said. “I was extremely excited to obviously receive that attention.”
Doe’s brother also noticed that Bickle called his sister at the church from a trip overseas and talked to her for an hour. Bickle also expressed a special connection to Doe because on the day she was born, he’d received one of his prophecies, Doe’s brother said.
Parks said she heard Bickle prophesy over Doe at a prayer meeting. “Specifically, for (Doe), there was always language around Esther and Shulamite,” Parks said.
Parks said Doe told her something she never forgot.
“She said to me at one point, ‘There’s a married man who said that I’m going to be his wife,’” Parks said.
Another alleged abuse victim of Bickle’s, whose identity was confirmed by Allen Hood, told TRR she heard Doe say something similar: that Doe believed she was prophesied to marry a much older man. Because of the amount of physical affection Bickle showed Doe, the woman said she assumed Doe meant Bickle.
But in both cases, Doe reportedly didn’t say who it was. It wasn’t the only secret she would keep, Doe told TRR.
Doe said that in early 1997, Bickle told her that God had told him she was supposed to leave the internship she was doing with MCF and do research exclusively for him. As part of the internship, she said she was living with a host family. But with the job change, Bickle rented an apartment for only her, which Parks also confirmed.
“He actually started telling me about the sin that the leaders were in, and that it wasn’t a safe place for me,” Doe said. “He would pay me to do research where I would go to all the libraries in the city and search out everything on the return of Jesus.”
The anonymous former intern said she knew that Bickle was paying Doe to do research and asked Bickle if she could also do that job.
“Not only did he tell me, ‘I’m just doing that to invest in her,’ he was also like, ‘You know, no one’s supposed to know about that,’” she said.
Doe said Bickle gave her a key to his office, telling her to use it anytime she wanted, which both Parks and the anonymous intern confirmed. Doe said Bickle also told her that she would someday join him in a chariot in which God had invited him.
“I felt like I was the center of his world,” Doe said.
Bickle then started to control her schedule, inviting her to fast with him from Sunday to Wednesday. He limited who she could see, supposedly so she could follow the isolation of the early Desert Fathers.
“He controlled who I met with and when I met,” Doe said. “I could only have a couple of friends. When I met with them, I could only meet with them about the Bible or Jesus. It was not to be a hangout.”
In the fall of 1997, she said Bickle invited his research team—five women and one man—to travel to Europe. Bickle would refer to his wife, Diane, as Lady Di and connected Princess Diana’s recent death in Paris to his prophecy that his own wife would die, Doe said. Bickle also gave Doe a book and magazine on Princess Diana, she said.
On the last day of the trip, they were scheduled to tour Paris, Doe said. But that morning, Doe said Bickle disappeared. The team spent the day looking, but no one could find him, Doe said. When Doe finally got back to her room that night, she said Bickle called her.
He reportedly didn’t tell her where he’d been. But she said he invited her to eat alone with him at a restaurant. He also said he’d splurged on everyone having their own hotel rooms, she said. At the restaurant, she said he ordered her a couple rounds of cocktails. At the time, Doe was 20 and Bickle was 43. After dinner, she said he took her to an alley and kissed her “full on.”
“The next thing I remember, I was waking up in my hotel room the next morning,” she said. “I definitely blacked out. . . I remember I was clothed. That’s all I remember, and just being very disoriented.”
Sullivant, who said he was a close confidant of Bickle at that time, said he knew about Bickle’s travels, but had no idea Bickle was taking mostly young women with him.
“We would’ve intervened if we had known that was going on,” Sullivant said.
When they got back home, Doe said the dynamic with Bickle “progressed.”
“He would cross the line and kept crossing it more severely sexually,” she said. “And he would have me pray a prayer of Psalm 51, asking the Lord to forgive us.”
Bickle soon told her the apartment was no longer a good place for her and rented a different apartment for her, five miles away, she said. He told her that someday they’d have their own house, “but that it needs to be conservative in the front and could be bigger on the back,” she said.
The sexual interactions included everything but intercourse, Doe told TRR.
“I have a few memories in hotel rooms,” she said. “I don’t—I just—they were way worse than Paris.”
Doe said she didn’t write about Bickle in her journal entries from that time, due to the secrecy Bickle required. But in an entry a month after her Paris trip, she wrote, “I’m in a whirlwind right now. Sometimes I think I do good to just come up for air.”
Meanwhile, in 1997, Bickle “became urgent” to bring in another senior pastor to replace him so Bickle could focus on establishing the prayer movement within MCF, said Sullivant.
In 1998, Doe’s father bought a house for Doe and she soon added roommates to the house. Also, two other young women moved to Kansas City, who drew Bickle’s attention, Doe said. The meetings with Bickle slowed down, Doe said. Yet, in late 1999 or early 2000, she said she had one more physical encounter with Bickle in a hotel room in Dallas.
By 2000, Bickle had taken the prayer ministry out of MCF, Sullivant said, adding: “I think that he separated from our church because he didn’t enjoy the kind of scrutiny and accountability that was built into our church.”
Bickle, however, said in an apology email to MCF in 2005, that God had told him to separate from MCF.
“I had a dream that I believe was from the Lord,” Bickle wrote. “In it, He showed me that MCF did not establish IHOP, but rather IHOP was removed from MCF by the Lord because of the spiritual culture of MCF that evolved by 1999.”
Sullivant views the supposed prophecy differently.
“In my view, (Bickle) has regularly used claims of urgent prophetic revelations to trump the ethics of biblical love and relationally healthy processes,” Sullivant said.
Bickle also spiritualized his requirement on Doe to keep their interactions secret, Doe said.
“During that time, he would nicely threaten in his charisma way . . . that if I would ever say anything, no one would ever believe me,” she said. “He talked about lying and truth and how Jesus had a different truth than we think he did. It was very sophisticated, the brainwashing weirdness.”
Doe said Bickle also told her to delete emails from him and never to reply back, but rather to start a new thread.
When Doe started dating the man who became her husband, Bickle became angry at Doe for dating him, the other anonymous victim told TRR.
“One night we had a meeting and (Doe) and (her date) came a little late. And (Doe) walked up to Mike, and I was standing there. And Mike berated her, got very angry with her, and said she was ruining her life in God and what was she even doing with this guy?” the woman said.
Though Bickle officiated at the wedding of Doe’s brother, Doe said Bickle told her he couldn’t officiate hers. Instead, he walked up to the front during her wedding ceremony, sobbing, Doe’s brother said.
For years, throughout her marriage, Bickle sent Doe coded emails or texts, Doe said. “Praying for you for real 195 to the end,” he texted on Nov. 1, 2018. When he used “195” he meant, “I love you,” Doe told TRR.
“We both have chariot to get into in this life and we both being challenged physically,” he emailed to her on Oct. 3 of this year.
Doe said she mostly tried not to think about Bickle.
“For these 20 plus years, I would drive by the exit where my apartments was—my two apartments—and in my mind, I would wonder if I’m ever going to talk about that,” she said. “But that was as far as I would go. I would feel sick to my stomach . . . I’ve never gone to any place I’ve ever been with Mike since then, like there was no curiosity. There was no nothing. It’s like I ran.”
‘Trauma unearthed’
In March 2023, Doe said she listened to a podcast about Bill Cosby’s alleged abuse and saw herself in that situation.
“I fell to my floor and began to wail,” she said. “That was a moment of trauma unearthed.”
In May, Doe finally talked about it for the first time, first telling her husband. Her husband also confirmed this with TRR. Four days later, a friend of hers asked her a question out of the blue: “Did Mike ever do anything physical to you?”
“I literally start to cry and shake and I just shared with her my story,” Doe said. “That’s when she said, ‘You know, there’s a current woman.’”
And that’s when Doe said she knew she had to do something.
Neither Doe nor her husband had confidence in IHOPKC’s leadership or accountability structure. So, in late June, Doe told Allen Hood her story, which Hood confirmed with TRR. Hood called it “devastating” news.
“(Doe) is so credible, her fruit, the fruitfulness of her life and faithfulness, that I’ve seen her walk in for over 20 years,” Hood said. “That, to me, it couldn’t be denied. And yet to be honest, I didn’t want to believe it . . . We just wept and I said, ‘I’m with you, (Doe), I’m here and I’ll stand with you. And we’ll walk this out together.’”
By August, Doe and her husband also reached out to former IHOPKC leader Dwayne Roberts, his wife, Jennifer Roberts, and to Sullivant, both Dwayne Roberts and Sullivant told TRR.
“We’ve known her to be a person of integrity and character,” Roberts said. “It’s not in her nature to come up with something remotely close to this to gain something. (Doe) will always tell the truth and Mike will always tell his own story.”
Roberts, who was part of IHOPKC since its earliest days, told TRR that he didn’t know about Bickle’s secret meetings with women in their 20s in the late 1990s. But he said Bickle didn’t hold similar discipleship groups for men.
Roberts said Bickle commonly had young women who were 20 years younger than him around him at IHOPKC. Both Roberts and Hood told TRR that Bickle had internal deadbolts in his office.
Sullivant said Doe’s story reminded him of a 2015 conversation he and his wife had with a woman who’d been close to Bickle when he pastored at MCF.
“She told us that was the line that he used—that Diane was going to die and that they would be together,” Sullivant said. “So, when (Doe) told us that, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve heard that before.’”
The woman to whom Sullivant was referring spoke with TRR. She confirmed that Bickle, when married and serving as a pastor in her church in Kansas City around 1983 or ‘84, had connected emotionally with her. She said she doesn’t consider herself a victim of Bickle’s. But she said Bickle communicated to her a prophecy that someday his wife Diane would die in an earthquake and then Bickle and this woman could be together.
Seeking accountability from IHOPKC
Roberts said that phrase became key throughout August and September when he talked with Doe and other former IHOPKC staffers who’d noticed red flags in Bickle’s behavior through the years.
“That was the golden thread we pulled on and things began to come to the surface,” Roberts said. “That phrase has been tied to stories in three different decades. I’m 150% positive that Mike has said that to other women.”
Roberts said he met in person with IHOPKC Executive Director Stuart Greaves on Sept. 30, and told him some allegations had been made about Bickle but didn’t go into specifics. Roberts said he told Greaves he intended to meet with Bickle, and asked Greaves to be a witness to that conversation.
However, Roberts said Greaves refused, saying Roberts needed to conduct a Matthew 18 process with Bickle and initially confront Bickle one-on-one.
On Oct. 2, Roberts met with Greaves again, telling Greaves he’d involved two other pastors who had strong ties to Bickle. The exchange turned “heated,” Roberts said, because Greaves didn’t want to involve anyone outside of IHOPKC.
On Oct. 9, Doe’s husband, who TRR is keeping anonymous to protect Doe’s identity, emailed Bickle to meet that day to talk about “something personal.” Doe told TRR that she declined to be part of the meetings because she doesn’t think it is appropriate for victims to meet directly with their abusers.
Roberts planned to attend the meeting, too, but when Bickle found out, Bickle insisted that Doe’s husband and he meet alone, the emails show.
Doe’s husband told TRR that Bickle denied the allegations when they met and said Doe had misunderstood his prophecy. Bickle said God wanted Doe and Bickle to work together in ministry after Diane died, not in marriage, Doe’s husband said.
“He said, ‘I always just assumed that (Doe) was so pure, she would never take any of those things romantically,’” Doe’s husband said.
Email thread between Doe’s husband and Mike Bickle – Oct. 9, 2023
Mike-Bickle-email-Oct9-meeting_RedactedBickle followed up that night with an email, urging Doe not to go public with the accusations, and then accused Doe of “the greatest betrayal of my life.”
“I realize she has not betrayed me at this point . . . but even the chance of her doing this creates great pain in me (but not anger at her)—that a most trusted friend did this to me at the end of my life after 40 years of being in prayer meeting many hours a day (6 days a week),” he wrote.
Doe’s husband said Bickle’s foundation was a donor to their organization. But Bickle predicted that if Doe were to talk publicly about her allegations that Bickle would need to remove financial support to avoid the appearance of a “bribe.” Bickle also warned that a social media storm would bring up accusations against her.
Email from Mike Bickle to Doe – evening of Oct. 9, 2023
Mike-Bickle-email-Redacted2That same day, Doe’s husband and Roberts met with Greaves and Marci Sorge, another senior leader of IHOPKC. Doe’s husband shared what happened between Doe and Bickle in Paris with the leaders, Roberts said. But then Greaves and Sorge were “incredibly slow” to move after that, Roberts said.
On Oct. 20, Bickle preached a message at IHOPKC on a “black horse” prophecy and predicted he’d be betrayed by someone close to him.
On Oct. 23, Doe’s husband emailed Bickle and requested another meeting, this time including former IHOPKC leader Brian Kim and Wes Martin, former pastor of IHOPKC’s Forerunner Church. But Bickle reportedly refused, saying that Bickle is under Greaves’ accountability, and that Greaves had advised Bickle to meet only with Doe’s husband and not with “a group.”
“I am still waiting on ladies who allegedly have a story to come to me and Stuart according to Matthew 18:15-18,” Bickle wrote. “I am very sure none will come because they do have a real story.”
Email thread between Doe’s husband and Mike Bickle – Oct. 23, 2023
Mike-Bickle-email-exchange-Oct23-meeting_RedactedOn Oct. 24, IHOPKC executive leaders, including Dave Sliker, Greaves, Sorge, and Lenny LaGuardia met to hear Doe’s husband share Doe’s allegations, Roberts said. Brian Kim, Wes Martin, and Roberts also attended that meeting, Roberts said.
Roberts said he had written a 50-page document with a timeline and some suspicions concerning Bickle and several women. He added that the report had no names, only a couple initials, and some unnamed references. Roberts said he referenced the document in that meeting but did not give it to the leaders.
On Oct. 25, Roberts gave the 50-page document to Greaves, and talked with him about a few alleged victims he identified by name.
Roberts told TRR he urged IHOPKC’s leaders to issue a bold and transparent statement about the allegations to the IHOPKC community. But on Oct. 27, IHOPKC announced merely that there were allegations against Bickle but declined to comment on the nature of the allegations.
Roberts said IHOPKC staff were threatening to resign. So, on Oct. 28, Roberts, Kim, and Martin released a statement with details about the allegations against Bickle to IHOPKC staff, hoping more information would stabilize a frustrated community.
Greaves has publicly said IHOPKC leaders responded within 24 hours of “official notice” of allegations to meet with Bickle to remove him from public ministry. A recent statement from the advocate group refuted Greaves’ claim.
Greaves and the executive team did not respond on the record to TRR’s repeated requests for comment.
Roberts said he believes IHOPKC leaders are good people who are caught in a system created by Bickle who engages in “masterminding storylines.” They need outside help and must demonstrate transparency, Roberts said.
Doe said speaking out to the media was her last resort.
“In spite of the fact that IHOPKC thoroughly knows my story, they have consistently minimized and denied their knowledge of real evidence from the victims,” she said. “I am devastated that men and women who have been my friends for 25 years have completely shunned me since they were first made aware. I had hoped we could all work together to do the right thing. . . . How I have been treated has broken my heart.”
Correction: The spelling of an IHOPKC leader’s name has been corrected.
Rebecca Hopkins is a journalist based in Colorado.
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76 Responses
Well, well, well….another grifter for Jesus….
This time the payment is sexual….
Excellent, excellent work!!
It makes me quite happy that I’ve been financially supporting this ministry for about a year now!
Thank you for the thorough and balanced way you tell this story. That man is a master manipulator who uses prophecy and scripture to his own sinister ends. I was on staff there. The fact that there were double locks in the inside is mind blowing. We thought he was so holy and now we know he was playing us. That line about 1. No one will believe her 2. I will remove my support 3. He knows what kind of perception people have of him. He’s not sorry about what he did, he just doesn’t want his legacy destroyed. That email was atrocious and very clearly shows he was spiraling and also that he’s a malignant narcissist.
Amen, our Lord’s eyes are a flame of fire, and He will recompense this on Mike’s head, he needs to repent, the alternative of burning for eternity would be unthinkable. Lord Jesus expose and bring him to repentance or removal!!
How the heyyyyy do you know any of the things you are declaring are really true. You must not ever listen to him teach , lately. How do you know he hasn’t cried out to the only man that is “Perfect in ALL His ways” for forgiveness, deliverance, mercy and all it involves. If all of this is accurate it is shocking. It also could be a stretch. This whole thing is devastating. Your heart should be broken if you love Jesus, dear one. This doesn’t just hurt Mike it is devastating to the masses that appreciate his revelation of the word. Lay down the bitterness and learn to love. All of this is horrific news. I see a different man in Bickle now when he teaches. Or when he use to teach. 30 years later. Lord, why soooooo much time wasted between confrontation. Sounds like maybe you should do the same. Like maybe you should pray for deliverance. Don’t you love Jesus enough to try to listen to his way forward. It’s definitely not this approach. No mercy, no humility, just judgement will take you to a place you will wish you had avoided. Have you read Proverb’s 6 lately… The church is a freaking MESS and it’s not just Mike … Check out 2 Timothy 2:3. This letter is talking about the church friend. The whole counsel of God matters here. But of course Christians??? Love to destroy one another. It’s SIN friend. All of this Doe has said could be a tad either way. You just don’t know friend. A haughty soul is abominable to the Lord. Proverbs 6 would do you good.
My friend, exposure of sin, while painful, is ALWAYS a mercy. The truth is only a threat to those invested in lies. Exposure destroys what needs to be destroyed. The worship and adulation of men needs to be exposed and destroyed, for it destroys both the adulated and the adulator. Men are not God. If the revelation of a man as a sinner devastates the masses, then the Gospel is devastating. God does not delight in the cover up of sin, nor in the silencing of the oppressed. This kind of exposure is what is restoring my own faith in God, which was dashed on the rocks of my own exaltation of the teaching of men above the Word of God. He is such a good and just Father that He shows no partiality, in fact He tells us as His Church that we are to be holy and blameless in our lives, that not a hint of sexual immorality ought to be found among us, and to root it out if it is. May God continue the exposure and rooting out of the sin within our camp, for our good, the good of the watching world, and for His glory.
This is such a ridiculous comment. If you don’t think the Lord loves justice and will uncover dark and evil things, then you don’t know a very real part of Jesus. Mike is CLEARLY not repentant whatsoever and the Lord VERY much cares about these victims and their voices being heard even if there is still a group of people unwilling to believe a hero of theirs is actually a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Denial isn’t a good look. Stop worshiping people
“For when they speak swelling words of emptiness, they allure thru the lust of the flesh… they themselves are slaves of corruption…those listening will be brought into corruption too.”
2 Peter 2
There is all danger and no benefit to listening to false teachers.
Re Ravi revisited:
– And a leader who manipulates vulnerable trusting women using spiritual language
Take off your blinders! I am praying for you, Dawn. That God will open your eyes, deliver you from hero-worship (biblical idolatry), bitterness, and worldliness and set your eyes upon the Lord of glory so that you may take up his yoke and learn of him. The fact that you are using euphemisms for actual cuss words in your text reveals a lot about the condition of your heart. There is One who is very good at cleansing our hearts and our lives from sin. His name is Jesus Christ and he is the only one who can do this.
Joy, could you please pray for my family’s salvation.
My name is Laurel, Thank you
Bickle in summary: “I will cancel my financial support of your family if you talk.” A few lines later: “I will continue to seek financial support for your family if you don’t talk.” Wink, wink.
Thank you for shining the light of truth.
Lord Jesus expose expose expose, I know people close to this situation, very close, this is true. Lord Jesus bring this man down, bring your judgments which are true and righteous altogether, that he may be caught in his craftiness and repent, or the hammer will really fall if not. Repent Mike, repent, it’s your only hope, His eyes are a flame of fire and He sees all that you have done!!!
Thank you for your excellent work. Praying for the victims as it is so scary and life-altering to come forward. Lord, please bring all the darkness into the light and free the captives.
Why do people follow a leader like this? What need is being addressed in their lives? The only power he has is the power people are willing to hand over to him.
Because we didn’t know…we came because we loved Jesus, we loved prayer and wanted to lived extravagantly. Mike happened to lead it, trust me when I say there is so much regret and thank God I’m out but that took years of questions to come to that conclusion. Just pray that eyes will be open to the deception within that ministry.
Most in the room came for Jesus and not MB or the ministry. I joined staff in 2002, and because of all this now being exposed as leadership is trying its best to hide it, I will enter the new year with a brand new beginning….not because my calling to pray has changed, but because I refuse to remain where these precious ones who are sharing their testimony are being so disgraced and dishonored, and lies being fabricated anew almost every day to keep the prayer room going!
Is there a pattern with IHOP — Jones, Cain, Bickle? All patterns of sexual abuse and hypocrisy.
I was thinking those 3 are more along the lines of Jim Jones, David Koresh, Rasputin, and others. I wonder how long before all the die-hards in this IHOP cult end going to some South American country and drinking a flavored beverage with some added ingredients.
Nah… Mike is nothing like Koresh … David Koresh, who is Really, little, quite, low key, musician Vernon Howell who I knew and shared stages with and hung out at music stores he frequented in the late 70’s … how he ended up an anti-government lunatic I will Never know. His Theology was a brand of deception that is 100% darkness. Mike has grown so far away from the unsettling 90’s … I don’t think he’s over as the wise … allow the Holy Spirit a role to Shine the Light on him and his secrets instead of destroying him pre-maturity. Whatever the case, God NOT the darkness will win and restore broken lives.
The courage it takes for a survivor to tell her story is incalculable. The predatory nature of this abuse is sickening. The emotional, spiritual, and physical impact of abuse by a spiritual leader is hard to comprehend if it hasn’t been personally experienced. I’m glad to know that attention is being paid to the system that either intentionally or unintentionally allowed this abusive behavior to continue.
Doe, thank you for choosing to share what you endured so this pastoral predator can be held accountable for the grooming and abuse he intentionally afflicted. You are a hero and are paving the way for other survivors to speak and find healing.
Julie Roys, thank you for continuing the good and hard work of reporting the truth.
It’s imperative the Holy Spirit is the doing and bringing the correction and exposure friend. Wisdom will win. 30 years later. Now that’s The Ridiculous part. I do pray for ALL the Truth and the healing to come to this lady through God’s ways of exposure. I know exactly what this feels like. I have been there too!
Yes, Shades of the Ravi Zacharias situation anyone?
-Women finally, courageously coming forward ( from the securuty of loving marriages with loving husband/protector/advocate)
– Executive management circling the wagons to protect the brand
– Denial and re traumatising those who have been abused through denial and inaction
– Internal Whistle-blowers who are now awake to the evil
– Intrepid reporters speaking the truth, and shing the light in the darkness
– Those inevitably who cannot believe the truth that their idol is capable of evil
– The pain of fallen idol
– Jesus is Lord , Holy Spirit leads us into all truth.
Everything’s NOT up to date in Kansas City! Allegations of false and self-serving prophecies and revelations by Mike Bickle have been a matter of controversy for many decades. For instance, see this statement issued by Derek Prince in July, 1990:
“At this time I was asked by Mike Bickle to counsel with him and some of his leaders. I spent nearly 3 hours in discussion with them. I told them that I felt they were receiving and propagating error. . . .
“Very briefly, I can sum up the main conclusions I have reached:
“The material circulated by Kansas City Fellowship contains many statements which have no basis in Scripture and are frequently contrary to Scripture. Some of the purported ‘revelations’ could be described as absurd and even blasphemous. Much of the material is permeated by what I consider to be occult influence. The overall affect of the material is to divert attention away from Jesus Christ and the Scriptures and toward subjective experiences and human personalities. The circulation of the material from Kansas City Fellowship has exposed the Body of Christ to much error and confusion.
These errors are deep-rooted and longstanding, dating at least as far back as 1983.”
https://banner.org.uk/kcp/Gruen_Recant.html
Christian people need to wise up and stop listening to any and all phony prophets who claim to be getting new revelations directly from the Almighty. The Bible is our final authority – we don’t need any new “words of wisdom from Mike Bickle or anyone else.
I forgot that —- much of this is what pushed John Wimber to disconnect them from Vineyard — may be mutual disassociation as MB didn’t want to have accountability?
No at TP Campell. The Toronto revival and its effects forced Metro Vineyard Fellowship to withdraw and it became Metro Christian Fellowship.
Not exactly. John Wimber withdrew from Mike Bickle and MCF separately from his withdrawal from John Arnott and the Toronto Airport Church. Different churches, different issues.
Some similarities between the two, though.
Bickle was more into false prophecy without false manifestations. Arnott wasn’t particularly into prophecy but did enjoy false manifestations (people barking like dogs, roaring like lions, slithering like snakes, etc.)
I believe Arnott’s motivation was likely good, but he was just intellectually incapable; whereas Bickle was smarter, but I never believed his intentions were good.
Bickle platformed the false prophets of Kansas City (Bob Jones, Paul Cain, et al), paving the way for most the Toronto manifestations and much of the false prophetic movement that still exists today.
All other pastors were kicking Bob Jones out of their church in the 80s, as a rambling pathological liar, who would burst into false prophecies in the middle of their services, but Bickle found in him a useful idiot to build his empire.
Ok yes…that’s right. I stand corrected. Thank you.
Absolutely. Besides the alleged predatory behavior, the doctrinal error is equally damaging, if not more so, to the Body of a Christ.
Hi Thomas,
I too reviewed some past information from IHOP and M.B including the words from Derek Prince. You are right, so much to say. But The doctrine of IHOP or i should say Bickle’s movemement since the 80’s has a lot of heresy, it could have been denounced as such if for a long time but i believe the Vineyard gave some legitimacy to it. The Prophetic History which has been corrected many times is another proof of that. You guys can google the angel Emma and you can see the people who are connected to that. Since we know that Mike Bickle is potentially a sexually criminal that can explain a lot of things…including the lack of discipline for the likes of Bob Jones or Paul Cain. The abuse of the prophetic is really regrettable and put a bad reputation for those who are sincerely charismatic in their faith. I sincerely hope this can shake the church and help to reform the governance and the management of the finance.
We are reaping the harvest of what we have sown. A man centered, scripture void gospel will always produce this fruit. Maybe now, people will sit down and began to read and learn their Bibles for themselves and let God through the Spirit reveal the truth to them, rather than running to and fro to this ministry or that, believing a man can teach them, when only one Teacher is guaranteed to never lead us astray. Maybe . . . . but sadly likely not. They will either return to the lies of this group or find another group with other lies that tickle their flesh and do not challenge their self-life. For this story (and all other stories we read about in the Roys Report) is all about the self-life thriving and the Spirit’s quenching, or, if I may be so bold, His absence with these ridiculous manifestations of Babylon pretending to be the church.
I didn’t know much about Derek Prince. In fact, I still don’t know much about it, but he’s completely correct. This sums up Pentecostal Charasmatic theology in toto. The difference is they generally good at fellowship relationships. Where as the reformed Evangelicals are terrible at them
If proven true, this is a classic case of the ‘coverup being worse than the crime’.
Looking back over fifty years saturated in evangelical (and at the end, more traditional) church ministry it is not hard to now realize how many were presenting one side from the platform and living another underneath. Religion is a powerful construct for mind control, and we were taught not to entertain doubt or criticism of a leader, to put “God’s anointed” on pedestal, to explain away behaviors that made us cringe, to overlook crude talk and unseemly joking. Now it all makes sense. Thank you, Julie Roys, for doing the hard and often unappreciated work of investigative reporting. The reckoning is just beginning. (And, it is so good to be fully out of it all. Highly recommend finding a place of peace and rest outside of the church.) IHOP is, as it turns out, as ridiculous as it sounds.
To my observation, the Deep Charismatic subculture is manifesting serious disfunction and error with real implications to those who are under its influence. This is not entirely new, but it seems to be spinning into a higher and higher gear of late.
Many of the “prophets” are, at best, questionable while others, IMO, seem mentally ill. To be clear, I am someone who has been around the best of (and the worst of) this subculture for some fifty years and have “seen it all”. I am not a disbeliever in the work and gifts of the Spirit (on the contrary, I embrace the authentic expressions of such grace, but I am distressed by the level of narcissism and license that goes with being considered special and anointed and how that spills over into serious injury to individuals, the church-at-large, and the overall Christian witness. It’s about time the light gets shined on the cult of personality, the doctrinal and experiential lack of discernment, and get back to the precious foundation of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as well as the authority of Scripture and the wisdom from above. This is one reason I support and read TRR – even when it hurts (which is fairly often)!
Bill,
I suspect most of them are narcissists at heart. If you speak for “God” as prophet, you can start a movement, and get all the power, money, and s** you want. Looks like that was the MO for KCP/IHOP from the get-go. But then it goes back further, just look at Aimee Semple McPherson for starters.
To be fair the past five years showed that every tribe of the Christian/Evangelical world has proved to have shown questionable leaders. Bill Hybels, Ravi Zacharias manipulated using spiritual language and they are not Pentecostals or Charismatic.
Terrence: True enough, but the difference is that in the Deep Charismatic subculture, there is a unique “God told me” or “God picked me” aspect that heightens the potential for followers to elevate their heroes to a level where accountability and humility are hard to maintain. It’s painful to have seen it up close and watch it twist the sensibilities of sincere believers. Then, in order to maintain this elevation of the anointed, it is not uncommon for hype and legends to grow around them which coaxes any who truly are narcissistic into taking greater and greater liberties with the truth and with their vulnerable followers.
I am so heartbroken reading this!
So pleased The Roys Report exists. The alternative news source would be Charisma News, owned by Stephen Strang, a spiritually weak Mike Bickle apologist. The unvarnished truth would not get out without TRR.
How is this also not a case of a grown woman consenting to have an affair with a married man for four years, and then a year or two later when it ended she dabbles in it again? She was “only 19” the first year. The whole thing seems to have lasted until 5 years later. At what point is she also accountable? I think the narrative isn’t totally embracing the whole picture. I would have liked to have seen some cross-questioning from the journalist on that point. She’s been in ministry partnership with the man for over 25 years, even as recently as October per the email link. It’s scary to say, “I was a stupid young WOMAN that had an affair with a married man I idolized.” But is that also truth?
I encourage you to educate yourself about clergy sexual abuse. Here’s one definition:
“Clergy Sexual Abuse happens when a person with religious authority intentionally uses their role, position, and power to sexually harass, exploit, or engage in sexual activity with a person. This involves sexualizing conversations (including on the phone, through social media or email), asking for or transmitting unwanted sexual images/text, touching or hugging people who do not want to be touched, pushing for sexual involvement, creating pressure and hostility when boundaries are set, using sexual language and jokes, pressing or rubbing up against a woman, or invading personal space. The sexual activity can include but is not limited to touching sexual organs (over or under clothing), kissing, oral sex, masturbation, intercourse, and rape. Clergy Sexual Abuse is about the misuse of power by the perpetrator and the inability of the victim to provide consent because of the power differential.”
It is difficult to argue “consent” when there’s a huge differential of power, especially when the victim believes the perpetrator speaks and acts for God.
Thank you, Julie. I am educated. If it’s difficult to argue consent, I hope the challenge is taken up by someone who will ask those questions of intent in pursuit of the entire truth. There are holes in this story. What was her background like? Did she grow up in a solid home? How was her mental state during the time of their relationship? It’s clear her mental faculties are being praised since day one, until present. Did she choose this in anyway as a young woman? If there is consent here, it changes the narrative. She would need to have accountability as well. It seems very hypocritical if she’s been praising and working with him for the last 25 years. How did she benefit? Looking forward to a further investigation. Thank you. Much respect for the work you are doing.
I’m not sure why the focus is on a woman who allegedly was preyed on by a powerful man in Christian leadership when she was late teen/young adult. Her background, mental state, etc… is irrelevant to the issue at hand. Mike Bickle is the one in a powerful leadership position and why this is a story to begin with.
Your own Josh Shepherd (so grateful you have him on your team) just wrote a piece about the FAI scandal. That report references affairs within FAI that discloses a scenario with similarities. In it the woman involved in an affair with the director cared to “own the part of the relationship that she was complicit in and recognizes clearly and with a repentant heart the components of the relationship that she is responsible for. The power dynamics present in the relationship between the married founder/president of a Christian organization and a single female volunteer under his leadership…leaves room for more discussion about who is responsible for what.” I’ll include the link for reference.
It matters if Jane Doe was complicit, no? If so, has she gone through the accountability process as a leader in this ministry (then and for the last 25 years)?
The key is this scenario holds MUCH more weight in the responsibility and response of Jane Doe because she is such a leader in the movement. That’s evident by your report. Who she is matters.
I will just say this, please have the team look deeper. I’m not on any side. Just for truth.
https://www.mikereynolds.me/writing/fai
I don’t think it’s irrelavant at all. She stayed in ministry with him many years, writes a book with him, obvious continues in a minstry partnership where there are many communication exchanges, receives money from him. gains an international platfrom through being associated with him and IHOP. And she doesn’t tell her husband anything this whole time. That all points to much more of a consensual affair. I don’t think painting her as 100% victim is honest or really fair at to people that have been truly victimized.
She was an adult woman old enough to know that what she was doing was wrong also. I agree he took advantage of his postion in her life and manipulated her, based on what has been shared here. But her continued association and interaction with him all these years raises a lot of questions.
She is a leader over a global ministry. She also should be held accountable for her sins. She made poor choices. She committed adultery. This is a double-standard, Julie.
Jane Doe and her husband had not communicated about this UNTIL MARCH! They did not live in the KCMO area. Once the husband first learned of her abuse, THEN he sees the need to dig up this cesspool. By April, May he knows how much it affected their marriage. The secret hurt them and “Jane” knew it affected others.
The October emails were not part of Kansas City area ministry. Allen Hood knew for many more years, apparently. This husband read the account to the ELT: see the Dwayne Roberts answering the ELT. It’s a different scenario than you thought.
So let me get this straight. Mike Bickle would watch Hitler movies and eat snacks with teenage girls who he told that his wife was going to die and they were going to become his wife. Also, he had padlocks on the inside of his office door to keep out any satanic false accusers. All of this actually sounds totally normal to me.
Thank you for this / are you finding out about all the homosexual stuff there? Thanks. I also gave a warning word to Mike and co about a spirit of elitism which would open the door control and manipulation
This is incredibly disheartening. After experiencing different kind of abuse in a different major ministry, I have not attended or had a home church since 2009. I was feeling very much like I had found “home” again in the prayer room, and now this. Dear God what hope is there for the church when our leaders are engaged in such serial sin and cult-like deception. This is really hurting the church, and is confusing those who already struggle from post traumatic church syndrome and were just beginning to open up or have done so already. God have mercy.
I think that leaders need to stop being viewed as more spiritual and holy than anybody else. They really aren’t. And Husbands and wives need to share their sexual desires with each other and keep it in the marriage.
To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.
You save the humble, but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
You, Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.
With your help I can advance against an army; with my God I can scale a wall.
Great journalism. This is so heartbreaking! and sickening. But it shows God’s mercy to expose, and begin healing ALL affected. What compounded tragedy Ms. Doe had to go to such lengths to push this out…but may her courage (and that of those holding her hand!) inspire others who were injured to reach out for help and restoration. Many are weeping with you. Jesus sees and loves every one of you. He is righteous in all His judgments. And He alone has power to make it all new. Love that someone posted Psalm 18.
I wonder how committed to Christ’s body would Mike Bickle, Lenny LaGuardia, David Sliker, Stuart Greaves, and Isaac Bennett be if their salaries were stopped immediately and they were to work and ‘minister’ to the people without any financial remuneration. I think we would all see them as the true hirelings they are.
Rebecca- very informative reporting. Only critique is I think you may be under-selling what Mike Bickle meant by “Praying for you for real 195 to the end”. If you look back at the screenshot, the email Bickle sent right before the one in question, he titles it “Ps 19:5”. Psalm 19:5 refers to the sun emerging like a triumphant bridegroom coming out of his chamber: “It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course”. So, Bickle is basically saying “I’m praying for you for real. Bridegroom coming out of his chamber until the end.” This substantiates Doe’s claim that Bickle would say that he and Doe would ultimately get married. It’s such an awkward verse to quote for any other reason
Michael, thanks for connecting the code to a Bible verse. As I understand the analogy, a bridegroom feels like a champion because he has consummated the marriage in “his chamber” shortly before exiting that room. An interesting comparison to our solar system, yes. For a sexual predator, however, it’s beyond awkward. More like sickening and creepy.
Sounds like they just want money from Ihopkc.
They have no proof, no facts so they will never be a third-party investigation.
I’m surprised their not suing over prayer abuse.
How did you get that from the story?? It sounded more like she turned down money from Mike Bickle to stay quiet.
We will ALL have to remain cautious about salacious details of encounters between grown adults (predators against Children are a different situation – criminal – altogether) – I am reminded of the vile Kenneth Starr report which documented severely intimate unspeakable details of inappropriate sexual encounters between two adults: President William Clinton and adult Monica Lewinsky, and of the sullying of the minds of all people young and old on the earth who dared to read this Starr Report … This is serious. May we think upon pure and lovely and noble thoughts, dear Chabarim, and abstain from all appearances of evil. And may women every where stay off of “stages” and not lead men, is my prayer. (We are commanded in Torah to not enter an altar – place of worship to YHWH – where there are “steps” so that nakedness is not seen. Exodus 20:26. Many if not most of the Christian world today are ignoring Torah. Women may testify in gatherings where there are men and women – but never lead, especially on a “stage.” This is sin. Yahshua knew. He obeyed YHWH His Father in all details.)
“Many if not most of the Christian world today are ignoring Torah.”
I blame Paul, particularly his epistle to the Galatians. This whole “putting the bible in the hands of the common man” thing has turned out to be a two-edged sword.
That’s the spirit, let’s blame the women for this situation. If only they hadn’t walked up those steps and been on those stages then leaders like Bickle would’ve found satisfaction in their own marriage beds and never taken advantage of anyone. If you believe that you are incredibly naive.
What about the steps Bickle himself walked up when he placed himself above everyone through such outlandish prophecies? What about all the women praying humbly in the prayer room minding their own business with God?
Discussing the Torah and “steps” is a red herring. The issue is a male leader using his authority to prey on young women. If proven true the blame lies squarely on one person- Mike Bickle.