The Odd Phenomenon of Blind Loyalty

I experienced what I would call an odd phenomenon last year.

It was August or September last year before the scandal broke about Mike Bickle and IHOPKC. I already knew about some of the accusations against Mike and was grappling with all the implications. But I would myself do something odd.

Whenever someone would talk negatively about IHOP or Mike my instinct was to defend IHOP and Mike. I would get annoyed hearing people talk bad about them.

I remember at one point feeling so conflicted. Knowing about Mike’s abuse and immorality, I would still feel an urge to defend Mike and IHOP.

As the weeks went on I started noticing this feeling more.

For years I would defend IHOP and Mike. That place was my home, the people there were my tribe. Even after moving to Brazil as a teenager, I would defend that place. I am naturally a very loyal person so it felt personal whenever someone would speak out against them.

But last year I started questioning that instinct to defend IHOP when they shouldn’t be defended.

I had to make a conscious decision to begin to let that feeling go. Whenever someone would say something negative about IHOP, even before the scandal broke, I would feel the instinct to protect IHOP. Then I would let it go.

I was starting to realize that I didn’t want to defend them anymore. I had been betrayed on a deep level by the very place I had called home. Even before October 2023, I was starting to see that the sickness inside of Mike had seeped deep within IHOPKC. The initial response of the IHOPKC leadership and ELT further proved to me my time defending IHOPKC was done. And as time went on their actions confirmed that I was right to let that feeling go.

The layers of betrayal were intense. They still are really. Month after month new stories, hate messages, and IHOPKC statements made it easier and easier to let go of my instinct to defend them.

I had moved away from IHOP 10 years earlier (in 2013). We had stayed very connected with the community and would visit annually. But I had 10 years of distance and my instinct was still to defend.

Imagine someone who was still on staff when this all came out?

I believe it all speaks to a bigger problem. It’s normal to defend a place that you love and care for. But what IHOP produced in people was blind loyalty, sometimes at the cost of the gospel.

The loyalty to the mission and the cause has caused so many people to be fooled, manipulated, and abused. The fact that after all the stories that have come out, including a sickening story of minor abuse that came out this week, they haven’t closed their doors or made massive restitution is disturbing, to say the least.

I don’t have many words this week. I was beyond sickened by the Kansas City Star article that came out on Friday. I was once again disappointed by the leaders that I used to look up to. I’m still grappling with seeing how two-faced people I once called family are.

The blind loyalty to the mission, once ingrained in me, has caused many to ignore every red flag, all the stories of abuse, and counsel from those around them.

It makes me so sad. People I used to call friends are now strangers to me. People I used to think I knew deeply have surpassed my wildest imagination of insanity. I am attributing a lot of it to that blind loyalty.

The blind loyalty that was sewn into the culture from day one. A blind loyalty that groomed people to never ask questions, to never look twice.

The loyalty to IHOP and the instinctive need to defend them has cost everyone too much. Too many friendships have been lost.

I wonder who is to blame for that?

Photo by Cherish Smith