Has the IHOPKC Prayer Room Become a Golden Calf?

Queue the hate messages

Many of us have been watching IHOPKC for the last 10ish months closely. Waiting to see how the Mike Bickle scandal would unfold.

I assumed that people would do the right thing. That the leaders I’d known my whole life would surely do the right thing. Whenever there was a change in the leadership of IHOPKC I thought “NOW they are going to repent! They are going to protect the victims and search for justice!” But nope.

I don’t even remember what iteration of leadership we’re in at this point. Everyone has been a disappointment.

One of the biggest disappointments was earlier this year in April / May. A leaked audio was released that stated that IHOPKC was going to close down its departments, including IHOPU and the church. The only thing that was going to remain was the Prayer Room.

Isaac Bennett and Matt Candler shared that they were attempting to limit liability and that they would open a new organization and church in the future and rebrand. But for now, only the prayer room would remain.

This was radically different from a staff meeting earlier where Isaac supposedly apologized for choosing “mission over people”. When I heard that he’d said that I was encouraged. I thought they were finally recognizing the toxicity of the culture deep within IHOP.

But nope.

In my mind the “mission” is the prayer room and the “people” are the church. They shut down the church and kept the prayer room open.

They deliberately chose the mission over the people in their community.

The mission to pray for Israel, to keep the fire on the altar, and to pray 24/7.

Cause you know if IHOP stops praying then half of the prayer in the United States would stop (thank you, Eric Volz).

IHOP has made it clear that stopping the 24/7 prayer room, even for one day, is too great a cost. Protecting their church community is not worth shutting the prayer room down.

This, my dear reader, is why I am likening the current prayer room to the golden calf.

In Exodus 32 the people of Israel get bored. Moses is up on the mountain and they have the patience of a toddler. So they call Aaron over and convince him (although it didn’t seem like he needed that much convincing) to make a god for them to worship.

They wanted something they could control, something they could “worship” on their own terms. They wanted something in their own image. God was taking too long up there on the mountain, so they made a god of their own.

They decided to worship a golden calf instead of waiting on the Lord, or even for Moses.

Their idol became more important than God himself. God of course whooped their butts for this.

How does this connect to IHOP?

IHOP has chosen its sacred prayer room at the cost of the gospel.

The prayer room is their security blanket. The words from Paul Cain, Bob Jones, and Mike Bickle (all sexual predators by the way) have taken precedence over the commandments of the gospel.

“Love your neighbor as yourself.”

They have not made amends for the harm they have caused hundreds, if not thousands of people. They have not made amends to the Jane Does and other victims in their own backyard.

They shut down their church, the avenue to serve the body of Christ, to keep their sacred prayer room open.

They’ve put their fingers in their ears. Ignored the cries of justice, the cries of the afflicted, wounded, and hurting. All of this is so they can pray for Israel.

God is in control of Israel’s destiny. He is going to do what He wills when He wants to. IHOPKC is not the only one responsible for Israel.

They are ignoring massive parts of the Bible to uphold their “mandate”. Their mandate is now at the expense of the gospel.

“Defend the poor and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy; Free them from the hand of the wicked.”

Psalms 82:3-4

It breaks my heart that this is what the prayer room has become. This is not the prayer room that I grew up attending and loving. It used to be a house filled with joy.

This is harsh, I know. But I’ve seen and experienced churches and ministries elevate their brand, way of doing things, models, and DNA above the Bible and godly character before. It never ends well.

We are called first and foremost to be like Christ. What did Christ do?

He reached out to the poor. He stood up for broken. He taught a message of love, forgiveness, justice, and righteousness.

He didn’t ignore the cries of the sick and needy. He didn’t lock himself in a room and ignore the people clamoring on the door for help and justice.

The leadership of IHOP has chosen to turn a blind eye to the suffering of their people and community, people they used to call friends, to maintain the prayer room.

This is why I call the current version of the prayer room a golden calf. They are worshipping their own model and greatness at the expense of the gospel.

I believe there are still good people on staff at IHOP serving in the prayer room. I am not placing the blame for this situation on their shoulders. The over-emphasis of the prayer room has always been on Mike Bickle. Even though he is not leading the organization anymore, his protégées are. And they have not turned from the over-emphasis of the prayer room—the overemphasis at the expense of people.

The only way that IHOP has kept the fire on the altar going has been by throwing more bodies on the altar. I didn’t coin that, it’s a phrase that I first heard at the beginning of the scandal, but it rings true.

The prayer room has made it this far because they sacrificed people for their vision, and this is now more true than ever.

They sacrificed their own church for the sake of the prayer room.

Instead of making restitutions for all the harm they have caused, they have hunkered down, keeping their $25M in assets close to the chest.

I wanted to see them do the right thing. I prayed for them to do the right thing.

I wanted to see them shut down the prayer room, even for a day, to mourn and repent for what had happened. I wanted to see them use their financial assets to make restitution to victims.

But nope. Gotta protect the prayer room at all costs. Their golden calf.

It hurts my heart to even say this. This is not what the prayer room of my childhood was like. This is not what the 16,000 thousand staff and students who came through IHOP worked for. There was so much good in that prayer room.

But it’s not what it used to be.

P.S. Check out a recent Remant Radio interview with my mom, Jennifer Roberts, where she shares some similar thoughts to mine.

Photo by Juli Kosolapova on Unsplash