Cindy Jacobs ‘deeply grieved’ by Mike Bickle scandal as IHOPKC co-founder urges ‘full confession’
As allegations of spiritual and sexual misconduct continue to mount against International House of Prayer Kansas City founder Mike Bickle, Cindy Jacobs, a self-professed prophet and author, said she is "deeply grieved" by the scandal and is praying for the 24/7 prayer ministry and Bickle's victims.
"As a leader in the prayer movement, I am deeply grieved at the sexual misconduct of Mike Bickle," Jacobs wrote in a statement on X Monday night. "There are many pure and wonderful people who love 24/7 prayer, and I am praying that their intercession will not be lessened. I am also praying for IHOP and the victims."
Jacobs and her husband, Mike, founded the prayer-based Generals International organization in 1985, which "exists for the purpose of changing lives and transforming nations." She is a prophet of C. Peter Wagner's Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders.
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Her comments come less than two weeks after Lou Engle, a co-founder of IHOPKC who currently leads Lou Engle Ministries and founded TheCall prayer movement, expressed grief over the allegations against Bickle. Engle said he is praying that Bickle will come forward with "a full confession of all that is hidden."
"I do believe that fathers in the Body of Christ must take responsibility. I believe Jane Doe. I am burdened for the pain she and her husband and others have endured. I pray that women who may be afraid to share their stories will be afforded a safe place to do so," Engle wrote in a statement shared on X on Feb. 6.
"I have prayed and hoped that Mike would come forward with a full confession of all that is hidden. I am hoping that it could bring a measure of peace for his own heart and a measure of justice for the hearts of those who have been affected by this trauma in the body of Christ. I know it would not take care of all the pain, but it would possibly give us a window to healing, forgiveness, and restoration for all involved," he explained.
"I feel it's only right for the confidence of all parties and the watching world, to have a mutually agreed upon, impartial, independent, third-party investigator," he added. "This is a time when the fear of the Lord must come upon us all. For months, I have been crying out for the fear of the Lord. I believe the Lord is calling all of us to search our hearts and enter into confession, repentance, and accountability like never before."
For months, IHOPKC and a group of former leaders known as the advocate group have butted heads over an investigation into allegations of abuse against Bickle since they were made public last October.
A change.org petition launched last November, which has more than 4,400 signatures, calls on IHOPKC "to conduct a true third-party investigation into the sexual abuse allegations and the systemic environment at IHOPKC in order to protect the interests of the alleged victims and current congregants."
The two sides never agreed on a third-party investigator, and IHOPKC went on to hire an independent investigator and attorney, Rosalee McNamara, to conduct a review of the allegations against Bickle. She presented the findings in a seven-page document on Jan. 31.
Since the publication of McNamara's report, another woman, Tammy Woods, alleged in an interview with The Kansas City Star that Bickle groomed and sexually abused her in the 1980s when she was 14.
Using her maiden name, Woods, a now 57-year-old mother and grandmother, told The Kansas City Star that Bickle abused her in St. Louis, where he pastored a church before moving to Kansas City and starting IHOPKC in 1999.
Woods said Bickle abused her in his car, at her home, in the church and office. She said the abuse, which began when she started babysitting his two sons, involved sexual contact but not intercourse.
She revealed that the IHOPKC founder also told her several times that his wife would die young and suggested that she could be like a mother to his sons.
"He would kiss my neck, he would kiss my cheeks, he would kiss my forehead," Woods was quoted as saying, recalling the time Bickle kissed her at her house when she was just 14. "The first, like, 'kiss' kiss was in my house. He kind of pulled me into my bathroom. And he kissed me like a man kisses a woman."
Another woman, identified as "TH," alleged in an interview with The Roys Report this month that Bickle began grooming and sexually abusing her when she was 15 and he was a 20-year-old church intern in the mid-1970s.
TH said she is the ex-wife of self-styled "prophet" Bob Hartley of Hartley Hope Ministries, who was recently banned from IHOPKC's 24/7 prayer room after he was publicly accused of sexual assault and a pattern of predatory behavior impacting multiple alleged female victims.
In his statement earlier this month, Engle said many of the members of the advocate group are his personal friends, and he believes spiritual leaders need to be accountable.
"When I heard the allegations against my friend, Mike Bickle, I found myself mourning and weeping for my brother whom I love deeply and was shocked and grieving over the whole situation and all those affected," he said.
"From the beginning, I have believed and trusted the advocates, many being personal friends and even a spiritual son, and have prayed over the process and situation. But as things have developed and with the release of the recent videos and reports, I felt compelled to share my heart as a father."
Engle believes the "church is in a Revelation 2 moment."
"The blazing, jealous eyes of God are searching the hearts and minds of the Body of Christ right now for toleration of moral laxity and of sexual immorality — especially clergy abuse in the church," Engle said. "There are many thousands of women who have lifted up their cries and voices to God who have been wounded by leaders in the Body of Christ, and God has heard them. I'm recognizing that we as leaders need to hear that cry like we never have before."
"The way forward must be one of extreme contrition," he concluded. "It has been my deepest conviction that fathers are to protect and prosper their children. Therefore I want to ask those who have been wounded by the failings of the spiritual fathers from my generation, for forgiveness for the way we have generally failed to hold each other to greater accountability."
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