Outside group with law enforcement expertise investigates handling of IHOPKC scandal

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described who is launching an investigation of the International House of Prayer-Kansas City’s handling of a sex abuse scandal. The investigation is being launched by Tikkun Global.

A company with law enforcement expertise has been hired to conduct a third-party investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against International House of Prayer-Kansas City founder Mike Bickle and others in the ministry.

Firefly Investigations will examine the scandal plaguing the 24/7 global prayer movement, according to an announcement by Tikkun Global , a network of Messianic Jewish congregations and ministries that serves eight congregations in Israel and about 30 in the U.S.

The announcement caps a monthslong effort by former IHOPKC leaders, known as the Advocate Group , who have called for an independent investigation into the allegations. Tikkun Global will oversee the investigation, the Advocate Group said, to ensure independence.

“With many other leaders in the Body of Messiah, we have felt that only a third-party independent investigation, where the results would be made public, could bring clarity and justice,” Tikkun Global said in its announcement.

“Someone once said sunlight is the best disinfectant. It seems that most independent congregations are not prepared to deal properly with allegations of sexual misconduct/abuse. They don’t have a plan and often just ‘wing it.’ In the process, the truth rarely comes out, and many innocent believers are wounded.”

Firefly, based in Pennsylvania, has a team that includes current and retired law enforcement investigators, experienced therapists and forensic interviewers from across the country, its website says.

“Our team is experienced in investigating sexual and physical abuse, along with working to heal the trauma that often follows,” it says. “Our mission is seeking justice for sexual abuse victims, searching for the truth, and shedding light on the darkness victims have endured for years. Our team is also aware there are always two sides to a story, and we will strive to uncover the truth.”

Tikkun expects the investigation to cost at least $100,000 and is asking for donations to help pay for it. Fundraising will be handled by Tikkun International, with all donations going through the National Christian Foundation . Tikkun said it would not receive any part of the donations and also plans to donate to the fund through the NCF.

“We want to ensure transparency and will publish a complete financial report,” Tikkun said in its statement. An external financial audit will be conducted as well, it said.

The sexual abuse allegations against Bickle were made public in late October, leading IHOPKC to “immediately, formally and permanently separate” from him and causing upheaval in the charismatic prayer movement. Bickle is accused of using prophecies to groom, sexually abuse and manipulate women over multiple decades, one starting when she was just 14.

Bickle, 69, issued his only public statement on Dec. 12, admitting that he had “sinned” and “my moral failures were real.” But he was vague on details. In a lengthy note posted on X, Bickle said his “inappropriate behavior” occurred more than 20 years ago, but he did not admit to engaging in any sexual misconduct.

A ‘long and painful’ year

The Advocate Group said the investigation had been a long time coming.

“Since allegations of sexual misconduct were made against Mike Bickle in October 2023, there has been an ongoing call throughout the Body of Christ for an independent, third-party investigation into both Mike Bickle’s misconduct and the handling of all other situations of sexual misconduct at IHOPKC,” members said in a statement.

The past year, they said, “has been long and painful as many victims and eyewitnesses to wrongdoing have come forward and told their stories publicly to journalists and privately to advocates.”

“It has become increasingly evident to more and more that we need a trusted investigation where survivors can tell their stories to a trauma-informed investigator that establishes the facts and produces a public report.”

Members of the Advocate Group realize that they, too, will come under scrutiny during the investigation. They talked about it when a group of them got together in December and made a series of videos about the IHOPKC crisis and again in June when they made some Q&A videos about why a third-party investigation was needed and what it would entail.

“If that neutral third party comes, guess who’s going to be investigated as much as anyone?” asked Allen Hood, former associate director of IHOPKC and a member of the Advocate Group. “Me. I was the associate director for almost 20 years. Do I want that? Absolutely. Because I want to be clean — I want to repent of anything that was unwise or sinful or harmful. It’s the only way to move forward.”

The former leaders noted their frustration that IHOPKC declined to help with the investigation.

“The past eleven months have also been particularly heartbreaking due to the repeated meetings with representatives of IHOPKC leadership who have continually stated they are open to a mutually agreed upon investigation but then, after long deliberations, have repeatedly not backed up their initial overtures with any agreement of substance,” they said.

The Advocate Group members said they asked Tikkun to oversee the project because without IHOPKC’s commitment, the investigation would not be seen as independent if the Advocate Group was the contracting party.

“We also do not want our history as former leaders of IHOPKC to inhibit any victims of sexual abuse and misconduct from sharing their stories with the investigator,” they said. “To be abundantly clear, the investigation is completely independent of any of the Advocate Group’s involvement. Since we are not the contracting party, we will not be receiving any updates from the investigator.

“We will also not have any access to information concerning survivors and witnesses that contact Firefly. Any communication between the investigative team and any member of the Advocacy Group will be the same as any other member of the public — as witnesses to pertinent information.”

IHOPKC’s current leaders did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the investigation. But last month, they issued a statement saying IHOPKC had hired Telios Law, a Colorado firm, to investigate how leadership responded to allegations years ago that former youth group leader and musician Larry Lucky engaged in inappropriate sexual contact with teenage boys.

The statement came a day after The Star published the story of Justin Werner, who said he was sexually abused by Lucky in 2010, and others who described alleged sexual misconduct by Lucky. IHOPKC said it had hired Theresa Sidebotham of Telios Law weeks earlier “to help us build a culture that prevents sexual harassment and child endangerment.” IHOPKC said Sidebotham would begin leading a training series in September on how to ensure children are safe and protected.

Scope of the investigation

The scope of the new third-party investigation , according to Tikkun, is to examine any and all allegations of clergy misconduct by Bickle from 1999 to the present, whether IHOPKC had any knowledge of such allegations and if so, how IHOPKC responded. Firefly also will investigate allegations of sexual misconduct perpetrated by IHOPKC leadership, staff, IHOP University students and interns from 1999 to the present, how IHOPKC responded and the impact those responses had on alleged sexual abuse victims.

“The investigators will not look into every aspect of IHOPKC’s management over the past 25 years,” Firefly said. “However, allegations of clergy sexual abuse and cover-ups are serious in nature and cannot be ignored. In addition, it is reported by the Advocate Group that there are more than a few alleged victims who have not yet spoken to an investigator.”

Elizabeth Herder, a member of the Advocate Group, said on one of the videos made in June that they’ve heard many stories “that the public has no idea of, even that IHOP leadership has no idea of.”

“For a long time, there was just a kind of constant march of stories coming to us,” she said. “It was utterly overwhelming for us, and we had to say to many of them, ‘We need you to wait … I am not trauma informed. I don’t want to hurt you by taking your story.’”

Herder said the issue goes “far beyond Mike Bickle.”

“And that’s been something that has been our heart to make sure that the public understands that there’s kind of this flagship horror, which is the Mike Bickle horror, but there’s many others,” she said. “And a system was built that allowed terrible, terrible abuse to happen to people and have it not only not dealt with, but because it wasn’t dealt with, more abuse happened.”

Firefly has posted a confidential survey on its website to help identify those who may have information relevant to the investigation.

Among the questions are whether the person responding has any knowledge of alleged misconduct committed by Bickle, other IHOPKC leaders or any staff member or volunteer, whether the alleged misconduct was reported to IHOPKC leaders and if so, how it was handled.

Updates will be provided every few weeks during the investigation, Tikkun said. When the investigation is complete, it said, Firefly will produce a detailed report that will be made public.

Tikkun said it will gather “a group of senior leaders in the Body of Christ” to review the results of the investigation. Any potential criminal activity that is uncovered will be referred to law enforcement, it said. The review group will then make recommendations to IHOPKC for corrective actions.

Tikkun said when the Advocate Group asked it to oversee the investigation, it was reluctant at first.

“It has been difficult for us even to consider being involved in such a sensitive and time-consuming task, particularly while our own country is at war,” Tikkun said. But board members met and prayed about it, Tikkun said, and decided to help.

“We are not policemen or judges,” it said. “Like many of you, we simply want to see the cloud dissipate and for clarity to emerge, so we can all move forward.”

Tikkun said it had been close to IHOPKC and its leadership for decades and contacted the board to ask if it was open to endorsing the investigation. Tikkun met several times with IHOPKC leaders, it said, telling them that “the investigator was solid” and that the Advocate Group “was fully submitting to this investigation and is turning over all material they have to the investigator.”

Tikkun said IHOPKC leaders had more questions and concerns, and some met with them to interview the investigator together.

“As the process continued, we let the IHOPKC board know that we felt it was right for us to move forward with the investigation,” Tikkun said. “We explained our belief that the best thing for all involved would be a thorough and transparent investigation into the allegations.”

But during its meetings with the IHOPKC board, Tikkun said, “it became apparent that it was too difficult for them to come to an agreement to endorse this investigation.”

“We are hopeful that they might embrace it at a future point.”

Conflict of interest?

Tikkun said the IHOPKC board raised a conflict-of-interest concern because Tikkun had received significant financial support from IHOPKC over the years. Tikkun said it was grateful for the support and had sent “quite a few of our young people” to participate in internships at IHOPKC.

But it said that “the Advocate Group trusted us and believed that our relationship with IHOPKC would increase the probability that the results (of the investigation) would be accepted.” And it noted that IHOPKC was going through “a difficult time financially and has informed all our emissaries that they will no longer be able to support us.”

“Simply put,” Tikkun said, “this is not about money but about victims of sexual misconduct, calling leaders to high character standards, and believing God for purification in the Body of Believers.”

The Firefly investigation is the first to examine the sex abuse scandal at IHOPKC that doesn’t involve a law firm.

IHOPKC originally hired the Stinson LLP law firm to investigate, but quickly reversed that decision after critics questioned whether it could be impartial. Then it hired Kansas City attorney Audrey Manito, who had close ties to IHOPKC, to conduct interviews with those alleging abuse.

When that action was heavily criticized, IHOPKC in December hired Rosalee McNamara of the Lathrop GPM firm to conduct an outside investigation. But Bickle’s alleged victims and the Advocate Group declined to talk to McNamara, saying she couldn’t be impartial because her firm has represented defendants in sex abuse cases, including those involving clergy.

At the end of January, IHOPKC released the results of McNamara’s investigation , which found Bickle “more likely than not” engaged in inappropriate behavior that included sexual contact and clergy misconduct. That behavior was “an abuse of power for a person in a position of trust and leadership,” a report of the findings said.

Though IHOPKC called it an independent investigation, critics — including the Advocate Group — complained that it was far from impartial. They said the alleged victims did not participate in the investigation because they didn’t feel safe doing so.

Shane Holden, an IHOPKC board member who resigned on April 17 , said he tried for months to broker an agreement between IHOPKC and the Advocate Group to get a new investigation going. But he said IHOPKC’s perspective was that “‘we have done an independent third-party investigation, and on top of that, we have permanently separated from Mike Bickle. Let’s move on, you know, let’s just get on with what we need to do next.’”

Holden, senior pastor of First Free Church , a congregation of several thousand in Onalaska, Wisconsin, told The Star that he resigned in part out of frustration that the talks were going nowhere.

Who is Firefly?

Firefly was founded by Jim Holler, a former police chief with the Liberty Township Police Department in Adams County, Pennsylvania.

The company conducts “discrete investigations into allegations of sexual abuse,” according to its website.

“Using highly skilled investigators,” it says, “we aim to provide a consistent, competent, and comprehensive response to sexual abuse and related crimes.”

Holler specializes in crimes against children, training thousands of attorneys, judges, social workers as well as law enforcement and medical, mental health and public health professionals on issues related to crimes against children and social worker safety.

He also has conducted independent sex abuse investigations for several large religious organizations in the country, the company’s website says.

“Our loyalty in any investigation lies in exposing the truth.”