As the founder of the International House of Prayer Kansas City, or IHOPKC — not to be confused with the International House of Pancakes – Mike Bickle led a successful campaign against the professional porn industry. His idealogues formed the anti-porn evangelical group Exodus Cry in 2008, and over a decade later, in 2020, Exodus Cry’s then-“Director of Abolition,” Laila Mickelwait, birthed the hashtag #TraffickingHub, accusing the platform of being a sex trafficking hellscape that must be killed (even though Facebook and other platforms reportedly host far, far more child sexual abuse material). Everyone from The New York Times to Fox News parroted these anti-porn zealots, leading to years of litigation against Pornhub and threats to legal porn performers’ livelihoods and lives. States sued Pornhub. Performers lost the means to sell their content and faced endless rounds of doxing.
As a porn performer, these were far and away the most stressful years of my career. People doxxed me. I had to migrate from one platform to another as company after company banned porn stars. Some of my friends lost control of their bank accounts — all of this as we followed every law on the books.
The media tends to broadcast every allegation against a porn industry official or performer, so you’d expect journalists to aggressively cover the scandal currently devouring Bickle and his followers. But the media has largely stayed silent as Bickle faces sexual misconduct allegations that span decades that, if leveled against porn stars, would cause Bickle and his media enablers to demand retribution for years.
Evangelical Christian Twitter — a subculture I wish I didn’t know about but follow closely because they regularly target my profession — erupted recently as allegations surfaced against Bickle. The allegations are vague, but according to The Christian Post, a group of male former IHOPKC officials came to the church with “serious allegations including sexual immorality” that were made by multiple women.
“The scriptures inform us that leaders in the church, especially those who teach the word of God, are held to a higher standard,” the male officials stated in an open letter.
Mike Bickle, founder of IHOP, sings along with the band on stage during a worship and prayer session at the International House of Prayer on June 23, 2009, in Kansas City, Missouri.
The men allege that Bickle leveraged his church position to manipulate his female accusers. The church is investigating, and Bickle stepped down from his post. (He denies any wrongdoing; IHOPKC tells Rolling Stone they are “conducting an examination of the facts and an inquiry into the circumstances” and that “International House of Prayer does not represent Mike Bickle. The allegations are between the alleged victims, and Mike Bickle. IHOPKC has stepped forward to shoulder the burden of stewarding this examination in the facts.”)
But the church has failed to even hold Bickle up to his own standards. For years, he has demanded to know every detail — all the ins and outs — of professional porn companies. Now, his church remains vague about what he’s done, and the media figures who’ve laundered his message are even quieter.
Anti-porn crusaders and journalists might argue that Bickle’s downfall doesn’t make his and his followers’ porn allegations less reliable. But this isn’t IHOPKC’s first rodeo. The Kansas City Star reported that in 2018, a woman accused IHOPKC’s missionary Brad Tebbutt of sexually abusing her when she was a teenager in 1988. (Tebutt settled with the woman and IHOPKC said they conducted an investigation that found no further wrongdoing on his part.)
So far, the recent allegations against Bickle have yet to hit the mainstream media, where he and his acolytes peddled his porn conspiracy theories, but his church may not survive the scandal. After he resigned, the remaining IHOPKC leaders reportedly held a meeting. Standing on a concert arena-like stage, they uttered platitudes about anonymity. David Sliker, a church official, announced their refusal to disclose more information. Outraged about the silence, Dean Briggs, a former IHOPKC leader who recently resigned, is said to have stood up and stormed out, screaming, “I do not consider this an acceptable level of transparency. There is more to be shared, and what David just said is well-intended, righteous bullshit.”
In other words, IHOPKC, Bickle, and Exodus Cry were never reliable sources. From the get-go, one of their guiding lights seems to have led a hypocritical life.
The anti-porn brigade will try to distance itself from Bickle, and the media may get in line. Over the years, Exodus Cry has done their damnedest to separate itself from IHOPKC. (The church’s role in pushing cruel anti-gay laws in Uganda made it a public relations problem for the porn haters, as featured in the 2013 documentary God Loves Uganda.) Many outlets have refrained from mentioning IHOPKC when peddling Exodus Cry talking points. If they had done five minutes of googling, the connection would be clear: Benjamin Nolot, the CEO and founder of Exodus Cry, lists his time at the church in his bio, and he wrote a detailed report that explained how he and Bickle birthed Exodus Cry during a December 2008 “Mission Briefing.” (Exodus Cry tells Rolling Stone they were “shocked and saddened to hear of the recent allegations of sexual misconduct against IHOPKC founder Mike Bickle” and allege that “Mike Bickle has no affiliation with Exodus Cry.”)
In other words, IHOPKC, Bickle, and Exodus Cry were never reliable sources. From the get-go, one of their guiding lights seems to have led a hypocritical life. Yet most major media outlets have remained largely silent about the scandal engulfing one of their main sources on why porn is evil.
After years of pushing Bickle’s beliefs about the porn industry, editors and reporters need to reflect on their reporting of the past half-decade, which has harmed numerous lives throughout the porn industry. Next time they push an anti-porn story, they need to ask themselves tough questions about their sources. Porn stars’ lives are at stake.