Investigative report on Mike Bickle to be released ‘very soon’ IHOPKC reveals

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Tuesday, January 30, 2024

After months of unsuccessful negotiations with a group of former leaders known as the advocate group over a third-party investigation of abuse allegations against founder Mike Bickle, International House of Prayer Kansas City's Interim Executive Director Gen. Kurt Fuller said a report from an independent investigator hired by the ministry will be available to the public “very soon.”

“I know in my heart that this investigator is absolutely independent. She's a professional. She's got decades of experience doing these kinds of investigations. She's trauma informed and she understands abuse in the context of a ministry setting.  So I don't believe there's any reason for another investigation,” Fuller said in an interview with Charisma magazine founder and CEO Stephen Strang on his "Strang Report" podcast last Thursday.

Fuller made the announcement shortly after revealing that he had ended all negotiations with the advocate group after they published a series of videos making even more allegations against Bickle that blindsided the ministry.

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“My statement last night was just to say I've had enough negotiating,” Fuller told Strang.

“The concept (behind the advocate group’s approach) is the victims themselves who we don't know, we don't know their identities, the advocate group says they have them. And then, the advocate group themselves get to decide for us who does the investigation, and if we don't agree to that then we're at a stalemate,” Fuller explained. “On the other hand, if we pick our own investigator and they don't agree to that, we're also at a stalemate. So that's how we've arrived at three months of negotiations trying to sort this out.”

Fuller, who explained that he didn't understand why the advocate group chose to publish the videos publicly instead of submitting them as part of the ongoing investigation against Bickle, said when IHOPKC’s independent investigator, attorney Rosalee McNamara, releases her report on Bickle, he is “certain” it will show that the ministry was not involved in influencing it.

“The statement I made last night, we're going to press ahead with the person we've already hired, and we still urge everyone, anyone, who has any relevant information, to provide it to our investigator Rosalee McNamara and her report will be out very soon,” Fuller said. “And I'm certain it's going to show that we had no influence over her during the course of her investigation.”

Strang, who counts Bickle as a personal friend, defended him and IHOPKC on the podcast and called the scandal a “spiritual attack.”

“I believe that it's a spiritual attack. You know the Bible says we wrestle not against flesh and blood. This isn't about people who have brought accusations. It isn't about different leaders in the ministry. I believe this is a spiritual attack to bring down what for many years has been a very, very, effective ministry to call the entire Body of Christ to a deeper intimacy with Jesus focused on 24/7 prayer in a way that no other ministry has,” he said.

“This is a spiritual attack, and we need to recognize it for what it is now. Spiritual attacks use circumstances and people. You know it doesn't mean one side is all right and the other one is all wrong, but we have to recognize that this is a spiritual attack, and we need to take authority over those spirits in the name of Jesus,” he asserted.

“And I like to believe that the Scripture, that all things work together, is true even in horrible situations like this. I hope that IHOPKC comes out stronger. I hope that Mike Bickle, this is my opinion as his friend, I hope that he reemerges in ministry stronger than he has before,” he added.

“This is a humbling experience to have your name thrown all over social media. To his credit, he has been very quiet and doesn't defend himself. This has been his stance over the years, and I respect him for that. I think that other Christian leaders and other organizations can learn from this.”