For those who have followed the drama of Bicklegate for the past few months, you will know of Misty Edwards' involvement. Edwards is the internationally renowned recording artist and worship leader with eight released albums since 2003. This fantastic career is due largely to Mike Bickle, so it is of little surprise that when the story broke about the IHOP founder being a serial sexual abuser and predator for decades, that Misty chose to defend him. How she did this however always appeared forced and contrived. Initially, someone "leaked" that Misty and a couple of other women were named as victims by the advocate group, who was representing a group of at least eight women. These advocates were former IHOP leaders, who were well respected up until this point. Misty and a Facebook person known as April Rose, both vehemently denied any wrongdoing from Bickle to them, and both swore he was all about pious puppies and righteous rainbows. Then a couple months later, despite the Bickle news growing worse and worse, Misty put out an additional statement that made her sound very unhinged. In it, she claimed she was the true victim of Bicklegate for having to answer charges she had already said were untrue. Except it was then confirmed by the advocate group that Misty Edwards had NEVER been named as one of the victims. This means that what I had speculated in November was true. The story about her being named was a technique known as poisoning the well, where you float easily debunked stories to dismiss the real ones.
No doubt that is exactly what the Bickle-backers did. Steven Strang still points to this Edwards deception as proof that something is not quite right and even used it to declare Bickle "exonerated" in an absurd December article. The overarching point however as it pertains to Misty Edwards is we must conclude one of two realities. Either she was lied to and manipulated, in which case she has no discernment and needs to apologize immediately to the victims, or she has been purposefully deceitful this entire time. There has been pushback because she is apparently well-liked but as I have been saying - God is cleaning house in Kansas City. He is dismantling and eradicating the blight of IHOP on His bride. All associated sins are being exposed. Misty tried to claim the high road and was caught as a liar when it came to Bickle but now new reporting from the Roys Report (linked above) indicates a far deeper problem with Misty Edwards. The above linked reporting is detailed and carries with it receipts. It is very long, so instead of responding line by line, because it does get very twisted, I will try to simply point out the obvious problems and maybe some that are not being spoken of yet. Let us reason once more together beloved.
1. Misty Edwards had an adulterous relationship with another worship leader for many years. This man, Kevin Prosch was married at the time to Mike Bickle's sister. Prosch came out of the Vineyard movement and had previously confessed to a string of adulterous affairs back then. Despite this he was restored to ministry and served as a pastor from 2002-2013. This brings into sharp focus the overemphasis on the restoration of ministry as opposed to the restoration with one's walk with Christ. All sin and fall short and all are allowed the same access to forgiveness, grace and mercy. That applies to our walk however, not our ministry. In the Charismatic church however, the evangelical industrial complex is all about protecting the brand and getting the money makers back in business. That is why you had heard calls for Bickle's return to ministry, before it was revealed there were to more victims, who were abused as minors. Ted Haggard used to be the head of the National Association of Evangelicals until it was revealed that for 20 years he had a homosexual relationship with a prostitute who he liked to do crystal meth with. Within a few years however, he was back running another church for the next decade. He recently ended that run with new allegations of sexual assault with underage boys in the congregation. James MacDonald left California in disgrace after charges of excessive gambling and scheming to plant childhood pornography on a rival's computer. He recently had tried to start over until he had to face a new felony assault charge. These are just two examples off the top of my head. Heck, Brian Houston is trying to start a new church!
Beloved the bible is very clear on qualifications for ministers for a reason, yet we continue to ignore it at the peril of the sheep. Recently Dr. Michael Brown and seven other false teachers came out with a statement that Bickle should not be in ministry. You think? The arrogance to assume people were waiting with bated breath for Patricia King to rule Bickle's fate is staggering. The sad thing is they only came to this conclusion because of the stories of the two minors. As if the initial victim, who was 19 when groomed and abused by Bickle, was not disqualifying! This directly applies to Misty Edwards, whose church career should be over now. There should be no restoration to the title of worship leader, nor recording of music. Israel Houghton was winning Dove Awards while having an adulterous affair. I am sorry, but that is not being a "friend of God." Listen, I saw him once and his show rocked but that was before I knew he was a liar and adulterer. I used to love the song Healer until it was revealed the writer did not actually have cancer but rather a porn addiction. Writing and singing worship music should at least indicate a Christian life. Especially at the worship leader point, where you are leading other people into God's presence. At this point, why not have Ozzy Osbourne come lead your worship? Or do like Perry Noble did years ago and play Highway to Hell during corporate worship? The first lesson here is that Prosch and Edwards should be done in ministry. We pray they find Christ in all of this and focus on their own salvation with fear and trembling but why in the world would we want to be led by either of them?
2. In 2018, Prosch and Edwards were pulled over in a traffic stop where both were extremely drunk and failing sobriety tests. Prosch, who was shirtless for some reason, and Edwards who admitted to drinking a lot of wine and some vodkas, both received deferred sentences after completing probation. Brent Steeno, a former IHOP staff member and confidant of Edwards, went to the IHOP Executive Leadership Team (ELT) because he was concerned about Edwards. Despite this, they allowed Misty to continue to serve on the ELT for 19 months, and retaliated against Steeno by evicting him from his apartment at IHOPKC, while Bickle and Edwards started smearing him in the community. That is your pastor and worship leader mind you. In 2023, a different IHOP staffer told Stuart Greaves of the ELT the same thing and Greaves responded said he wanted nothing to do with it.
This chunk of the story reminds us that whenever the true outside investigation into IHOP occurs it needs to be very broad in scope. Most there have resigned themselves to being ok with throwing Bickle's body on the table but there is obviously more that was going on at IHOPKC, including the corrupt leadership that buried this problem, covered up the Bethany Deaton murder as well as defended the hiring of a minister with previous sexual abuse against a minor at their previous church. Those who have escaped IHOP all tell stories of cultish behaviors as well. The leadership at IHOP initially tried to bury the Bicklegate story. They held false witness against the former IHOP leaders and consistently doubted the victims. They promised to bring in an outside investigative body and then reneged. The bottom line here is that Mike Bickle could not have pulled this off for decades without some people enabling it. We need to know who knew and did what.
