Checkers, not chess: Bickle's FOTB reveals amateur financial, media moves
Analysis of plays made prior to recent tax submissions suggest prior knowledge may have guided FOTB, Bickle's decisions regarding Form 990s, especially post-Covid deed payoffs
Mike Bickle openly admits Friends of the Bridegroom (FOTB) is his organization, but manages to deny the inextricably link to IHOPKC in tax returns ostensibly representing a time prior to the allegations against him or his purported separation from IHOPKC.
Please do stop and read that post if you’ve not yet:
Background and disclaimer
In addition to the close to $50,000 in benevolence gifts, both to Matt Candler’s new(ish) nonprofit, and to several unnamed individuals, other changes from last year’s FOTB taxes further pique the curiosity of anyone asking questions, fiscal or otherwise.
A reminder that, although the tax returns filed for FOTB were for the fiscal year (FY) ending Jun. 30, 2023, is prior to the sexual abuse allegations against Bickle, according to a shocking confession by former spokesperson/ crisis manager, Eric Volz, aka “The Whippersnapper,” he knew a full five months prior to Oct. 27 that the allegations would be coming forth. Though Dr. Dénouement cannot know happenings behind the scenes; she has spent enough time there to know if one person knew enough to call The Whippersnapper and tell him, more knew. After all, his friend heard from someone. Thus, knowing it is impossible that The Whippersnapper and his friend were the only two people who knew prior to the end of FOTB’s FY Jun. 30 is vital.
What we know from early to mid-2023
-this timeline matters now and maybe more later, so read closely here-
Before we look at the FY 22-23 inconsistencies, we should examine what we know, and what seems likely, prior to Oct. of 2023, when the allegations became public. Some of these facts may not be directly connected, yet timelines prove helpful, for now or later. (Details follow).
March 2023- FOTB changes its registered agent to the shady anonymized Registered Agents; FOTB appeared to be the first of the IHOPKC ministries to do this.
March 2023- FOTB/Bickle staff upload most of his Charisma Published books (likely in violation of US Copyright laws) to his “ebook” link on his site, allowing illegal downloads of books in print and for sale. (Note: some were uploaded other dates, but most were 3/4/23).
March 2023- Jane Doe listens to a podcast about Bill Cosby’s alleged abuse and later tells Rebecca Hopkins of The Roys Report, that she saw herself in that situation: “I fell to my floor and began to wail,” she said. “That was a moment of trauma unearthed.” (More on potential connection soon).
March 2023- Sometime prior to the end of 3/31/23, Servant Foundation (a public charity philanthropic organization, mostly known for funding the “He Gets Us” ads, in the past, and has donated large sums to many IHOPKC ministries) again grants FOTB money, which is typical, but this year in the amount of $100,000. The FY for this organization ends 3/31, so it had to be sometime prior.
May 2023- FOTB submits its FY 21-22 Form 990 to the IRS, and for the first time, seemingly, omits IHOPKC as a related entity (yet still includes IHOPKC’s URL as its own).
May 2023- Doe talks to her husband for the first time about Bickle’s alleged serial abuse; she tells a friend four days later, who asks Doe if she knows there’s another woman (Hopkins, TRR, 11/30/23).
May 2023- House of Prayer Ministries, Inc. also moves its registered agent to Harrisonville, MO agency, Registered Agents, meant to hide names and addresses more easily—by design.
June 2023- Doe and her husband tell Allen Hood, one of the leaders at IHOPKC, who has openly disclosed he resigned after inaction regarding removing a known sex offender (Brad Tebbutt) from staff.
June 2023- The FOTB (and other IHOPKC affiliated organizations) fiscal year ends, meaning all tax information is—theoretically—available, or will be mailed soon.
August 2023- Advocate Group members Dwayne and Jennifer Roberts (and daughter Chloe) learn of Doe’s story. In their podcast, Green Room, Episode 3 “Mike Bickle Did What?! Chloe Roberts and her sister Sydney Nwadiuko relay the agony of Chloe and her parents, Advocate Group members Dwayne and Jennifer Roberts, of knowing the allegations in August, but not yet being able to tell Sydney when she and her husband came to visit.
September 2023- Dwayne Roberts and then Executive Director of IHOPKC, Stuart Greaves, meet face-to-face to discuss Doe’s accusations.
October 2023- Series of ranting and disturbing emails between Bickle and Doe’s husband, as well as the public allegations by month’s end—but not before Bickle got one more “Black Horse betrayal” message in before he stepped/ was forced away.
November 2023- IHOPKC flounders poorly, hires and fires Stinson LLC, and likely realizes a good writing and comm professor for IHOPU would have been a great idea.
December 2023- The Whippersnapper arrives in a blue shirt. He introduces himself to the staff and church, saying he has actually been around over the years. This is fact. He lived at Herrnhut several years previous. And in the past few years, he rented the “Airbnb” style apartments at least two times, a source confirms (which, of course, means IHOPKC was not in compliance with its tax-exempt status since he was not staff, student, or intern, but that is something that can’t be blamed on TW). He did pay full price, however. A press release that uses A LOT OF CAPITAL LETTERS informs us all that The Whippersnapper is forming “The Truth and Reconciliation Commission.” It appears not to work.
February 2024- The day after Rosalee McNamara’s “independent unredacted” report is released, The Whippersnapper is thanked for modeling his blue shirts to the viewing public and, reportedly, departs the Sheraton. Later that month, he sits down with Tyler Feller, his pastor, and gives the interview, in which he spills the tea about knowing for months. An important note is that this interview was planned and recorded, so if The Whippersnapper said “five months,” he meant five. Nothing was off the top of his head here.
Also in February 2024- The Whippersnapper declares “the crisis is over.” And Tammy Woods comes forward on the record, and oxygen masks drop from the overhead bins.
Taxes tell more stories in crisis
While ostensibly FOTB (and HOPM) tax returns would have had all their data wrapped up prior to any of the crisis events occurring, it grows increasingly unlikely the narrative—as Bickle would say—transpired that way.
First, both FOTB and HOPM appear to have filed their most recent 990s in January 2024, despite the fiscal year closing months earlier. That’s not a crime, of course. And HOPM, which did not see as many changes for this tax year, is more likely to show more in the upcoming FY, since it was HOPM that played musical land with some of the Shiloh property in March, as it transferred ownership via quitclaim deed to a for-profit LLC, with new IHOPKC Executive Director Joseph Taylor listed as the organizer. (HOPM was originally incorporated by Board Member, Ed Hackett, and included Bickle and his wife, and others, some of whom are still with IHOPKC and some who have had the good sense to hightail it closer to me in the Highlands). Meanwhile, we’ll save HOPM’s games for another time, since Diane Bickle is busy managing renovations of the Shiloh house, purportedly for her son(s) to dwell. It’s a massive home where 2-3 families could comfortably dwell and live independently.
Onward to FOTB-
Despite, FOTB’s FY 22-23 closing on June 30, 2023, four months before the public Bickle allegations, we see the 22-23 Form 990 is signed by its Executive Director, Hyaeyang Kim, (who serves as a dual director for HOPM) signed this year, in late January:
Knowing that the allegations were known among a small group a month before the end of the FY, and possible other comments were swirling as early as three months prior to the end of FY 22-23, it’s worth examining some differences occur in this Form 990, which should not be reflecting some of these changes.
A curious disassociation before the official disassociation-
First, if we assume what legally should be assumed—and what the IRS and any investigator will examine—then the most striking aspect of the last two FOTB returns, both filed after the knowledge of the accusations—but I also acknowledge that is a stretch, pointed out more for time factor more than direct connection—compared to HOPM. Line 34 from Part IV asks about related tax-exempt entities. Heretofore, the answer was yes. Here’s FY 21-23 for FOTB:
Huh? If nothing changed at IHOPKC and with Bickle until Oct. 2023’s allegations and Dec.’s separation, then are we to assume this is from Bickle’s “resignation”? Even so, Can FOTB legitimately deny its “related” tax-exempt entities, when records in Jackson County, MO, as well as land records, board members, and more, all connect them?
In FY 21-22, HOPM answered Part IV line 34 and completed Schedule R, but only listed IHOPKC-FCF, and did not include IHOPKC, though both are separate entities (not DBAs/fictitious names)within the state of Missouri. Thus, it’s unclear which, if any party claimed IHOPKC as a related entity, though both HOPM and FOTB seemingly should have and have prior to 1) the Covid windfalls and payoffs of properties Remember this? Lots of deed releases happening after Christmas 2020:
But changes may have been more related to the word of the abuse allegations coming—which hit word of mouth in May 2023, and maybe even a month or two prior
Either way, here’s what Here is FOTB’s FY 20-21 return with Schedule R reported on it’s 990, submitted in 2022:
That was the last time FOTB would claim association for IRS-related purposes.
In the next two FOTB returns, FY 21-22 and 22-23 filing, FOTB said no on line 34. In both years, however, FOTB answered Schedule A, question 7 the same way, by ticking the box which says:
An organization that normally receives a substantial part of its support from a governmental unit or from the general public described in section 170(b)(1)(A)(vi). (Complete Part II.)
Because it said no to 34, though, there was no need for a Schedule R at all in this year’s filing. This was something we could see in the last post when I showed that Bickle’s compensation and housing allowance was still the same, but worded differently this year. In the dropdown menu, there is no R; the schedules stop at O this year.
Further, in past years, both HOPM and FOTB have listed IHOPKC-FCF as a related nonprofit and Glad Heart as a related corporation. HOPM still does this past year, but not FOTB. This appears odd because there is plenty of visual, audio, and financial evidence available for anyone to see that FOTB had “Related Tax-Exempt Organizations” and likely even “Related Organizations Taxable as a Corporation or Trust” in Glad Heart not dissolving until 12/31/23, which is the date on file with the states of both MO and KS. As always, Dr. Dénouement is well aware she is not a tax attorney or specialist, and, thus, puts these posts out for public view. Some readers are, and you should look.
Tax filings are, by their nature, a reflection of what was; therefore, they cannot serve the same way a teacher might “write history” and teach something before turning in a lesson plan she forgot. Taxes are data, not creative arts (they better not be at least). Since FOTB is a public charity, perhaps we need to compel the board to act upon this section, listed at the end:
Apart from a couple years where FOTB filed 990-EZs so further detailed information was not included, this year serves to deviate from the organization not declaring its affiliation with any other organizations—with which it is affiliated. The reported severing of ties did not occur until Dec. 22, 2023, and even Bickle being asked to step away for a time was past the point of the tax year filed here.
Further considerations—the same director/chair
Hyaeyang Kim, Chairman of the Board of FOTB—as well as HOPM. Further, like the private LLCs which IHOPKC shifted its assets to in order to cover them, FOTB also now has moved its registered agent from Kim and the Cleveland address used on all FOTB, as noted above, shifted first to the Registered Agents address.
A further curiosity about FOTB’s changes come not only from these shadow shell agencies, but from the annual registration report due each August. Last year’s, accessible here, was a simple one page document, with everyone except Kim listed at the Harrisonville Registered Agents address. But in 2022—before a hint of any allegations—this two-pager included two board members, in addition to more members in general, see below for page 2, which vanished by March 2023, and the 6/28/23, annual report, but note that the FOTB taxes submitted for the same period (21-22) did not reveal any IHOPKC connections, but the taxes were submitted in May of 2023. (This absolutely could be a coincidence; I concede this.)
Friends of the Bridegroom—or Mike Bickle?
As we can tell, even before a hint of any misdeeds had hit the airwaves—or the air conditioning unit of the prayer room—FOTB’s ducks were hidden from the row well before the shooting gallery opened.
You may recall the story by Rebecca Hopkins published in The Roys Report where Bickle tells Doe’s husband in an Oct. 23 email,
“FYI- as you know I resigned from board, ELT, all leadership and from the staff I am fullyFOTB but love going to GPR and very happy to help in an advisory way whenever Stuart wants me to… The vast majority of my world now is my app, podcasts and zooms [sic]”- Bickle to Doe’s husband Oct. 23, 2023
Could this is an on-the-record statement of distancing financially, or is it possible that FOTB was 100% unassociated and disconnected by 6/30/22 (FY 21-22 taxes, or even 6/30/23, the next year’s) since he “resigned”? Due to Dr. Dénouement not being a magical psychic type, she cannot say with 100% probability; however, she doubts it with 100% doubtability.
There exists too much overlap with IHOPKC and official connection to seem there could be legal plausible deniability on IRS forms.
Although FOTB is clearly a religious organization, it’s received some grants from the aforementioned Servant Foundation in Overland Park in the past, it has been quite generous to IHOPKC in general (check the whopping donation for the church last year—also Covid tax year), but also to FOTB. Here are the past couple years, which lists FOTB as “community development,” causing Dr. Dénouement to wonder how FOTB applied for grants/awards?
Servant Foundation is not the sole donor to IHOPKC-related ministries; it serves as a single illustration for now (some donors have Form 990s with over 20K pages).
Back to that Bickle App
Meanwhile… Oopsie! Bickle clearly forgot to tell his app that he and FOTB are not at all connected to IHOPKC or IHOPKC-FCF.
The app announces:
“The purpose of the Mike Bickle App is to equip Friends of the Bridegroom through weekly and monthly meditations and teachings focused on Intimacy with Jesus and the End Times message. You will have access to weekly 10-minute video sessions where Mike Bickle will lead you deeper into the Forerunner Message, monthly audio tracks where Mike Bickle teaches you how to pray with Biblical passages, and also, all of Mike's books as E-books and AudioBooks within the app, and much more!”
Within his LinkTree, one or two areas require a password, but most of Bickle’s teachings are available (at least until someone sees this post and locks them down, so download now if you want access). I saved quite a few on a 1TB drive, especially some staff meetings.
Springtime did not come for Bickle last year
For all his icky gross (that’s an official writer term, by the way) Song of Solomon talk about the lover coming up out of the wilderness and springtime coming, it doesn’t appear Bickle made it out of winter last year. If Dr. Dénouement had to hedge a bet, she’d bet it was just prior to spring, in late March 2023, that the house of cards was blown over with a late winter snowstorm similar to the one in April 2013 that prevented Dr. Dénouement from reaching a Diet Coke from 7-11 for several hours in her little Corolla (which was a model five years older than Bickle’s, for the record).
Returning to the Hopkins story, from TRR1, here’s what Hopkins reported and Doe said, after it reports Doe talking to her husband in May (emphasis added):
Four days later, a friend of hers asked her a question out of the blue: “Did Mike ever do anything physical to you?”
“I literally start to cry and shake and I just shared with her my story,” Doe said. “That’s when she said, ‘You know, there’s a current woman.’”
When was that current woman? March of 2023 brought a number of changes in the Bickleverse. But the laws remain the laws, in all areas.
But their copyright may not be your right to copy
Meanwhile, similar to the acceleration of anxiety present in Bickle’s emails to Mr. Doe, a similar exigency seems present on his own app. While FOTB doesn’t show royalties claimed, we don’t know where we would assign them anyway—perhaps his personal bank account—it’s also possible since Bickle is giving a publisher’s copyrighted books away online he isn’t getting any at all. These are for sale, and copyright licensed, not by Bickle.
Wait! Wait! “Our copyright is the right to copy!” We all know that line too. However, that always had a caveat. Teachings, notes, etc. were allowed to be copied and distributed. “Put your name on them, put your mom’s name on them! Change them around. Do what you want,” Bickle would say it all the time. Most of the notes and old tapes and CDs say “our copyright is the right to copy.” But Forerunner Music, books published by publishers? That’s a different story (as it should be; and yes, Dr. Dénouement’s promised ghostwriting haunt is coming sooner rather than later). Publishing and editing are highly skilled industries (and spoiler: if you are not a writer and don’t think you can write, 1) learn or try, 2) don’t take credit for someone else doing it, even if you pay them—use your ethical sense).
While Stephen Strang and Charisma Media/Publishing have shilled for IHOPKC and Bickle specifically, I’d love to know how the staff at Charisma Publishing feels about Bickle tossing the books still under copyright on his personal app and website for free. In fact, I checked the links for each of the books published by an outside publisher, ghostwritten by paid authors with contracts to that publisher. I am not privy to whether those authors had one-time lump sum payments or receive royalties. Either way, as little regard as I have for Strang, and the folks who carry out the prophetic winds of whatever floats the dollar boat, this is pretty bizarre—seeing numerous copyrighted books with full text editions, uploaded for anyone to download. If you click on this gallery, you can easily see that when I attempted to view each book, it loaded all of it on my screen—from Bickle’s app. All but the Growing in Prayer and the color copy “Prophetic” title below were uploaded the afternoon of 3/22-23/23 (the latter were 4/17/23) using Adobe InDesign 18.1 (Macintosh); the Growing in the Prophetic is the only one that was at least uploaded farther back, though it predates his app: 7/27/09, via Adobe InDesign CS2 (4.0.5). Look, I don’t care for Strang as a person, nor do I patronize his books and media; however, this is effectively stealing from his company, and as a writer, I do not support that.
Other books on Bickle’s site even include the one Dana Candler wrote on fasting (she probably wrote most of it, with Bickle dictating some thoughts). Do IHOPKC staff receive royalties for any publishing sales? If they do, then by placing the book on his site, he is also taking potential sales from her (though he did donate an $18K “benevolence donation this past tax year, so there’s that).
Look, I am the first to admit I don’t know the whole story. If I tried to call Strang now, he would not take my call (also, one conference call with him was enough… and that was over 10 years ago). If Strang’s company has granted Bickle permission to toss copyright to the seagulls on the Scottish beaches near Dr. Dénouement today, then Strang, frankly, is nuts and needs to leave the publishing industry. If he has not, then someone at that company needs to get those books offline. Copyright laws are explicit for the most part, and you can have a look at US copyright law here.
Further, Bickle cannot write a complete paragraph of prose without sounding like a ranting lunatic, it certainly seems like in the wake of all that’s happened. Maybe when he is not upset with Jane Doe’s husband or asking Tammy Woods’ advice he does better. Far be it from me to know for sure. All I ever saw was emails “WHERE THE WHOLE SUBJECT LINE WAS INTENDED TO BE THE EMAIL. [Body is blank]. “ ← yes, like that.
My point is this: Bickle uses ghostwriters. I know because before I understood the unethical nature of ghostwriting, I tried to do it for another leader (and still have that text on my hard drive), and I applied for this job. I saw the “application.” One had to apply to be “Mike’s voice.” As a professional writer, career English teacher then professor, and journalist, and person now so disenfranchised from the community of Christianity I once loved, the idea of becoming someone else’s voice is utterly abhorrent.
By the way, as a professor and even middle and high school teacher, I had a pretty good record of catching plagiarism. You know what the dead giveaway was? The student’s voice always changed. There’s a reasons Bickle’s books don’t sound like him—or Dutch Sheets, or well, most of the big name leaders that love to tell you how to walk upright. Yeah, right.
But Bickle may simply think his message is so vitally urgent that exigency precedes legality. Many ask about his teaching on eschatology—study of end times—and whether or not he actually teaches that Christians bring judgment to the earth and release the terrible destruction and violence of the antichrist. You can be the judge of what he did or did not teach right here. Captions link to the notes and/or recordings until someone removes them.
Here is one outright statement that may explain some of the nightmares your friends had:
“Therefore, the Church must be on earth for the saints to be killed during that time... The saints must be on earth during the Tribulation for the Antichrist to war against them.” - Mike Bickle, April 10, 2023
Click on the entire document, to see the scriptures he justifies here. If it is removed from the site, Dr. Dénouement is actively using her 1TB HD and storing many things on a secure server. Watch the “mediation” here.
Should you really want to learn all about his eschatology, he is full of it. And black horses and betrayal, too. You’ll even find full IHOPKC staff meetings on Bickle’s app, which show exactly zero separation from IHOPKC. The Whippersnapper may have even intended to speak truth when announcing a permanent separation, but a permanent separation is not changing tax forms; it’s not posting all your teachings on a stage with IHOPKC all over them.
It also is not IHOPKC launching a new church with the false words (since Anna Cain did not die on 4/18 and the whole thing has been a lie, just like the acquisition of the Truman Property on the “exact day” was too). Bickle’s reality appears disturbingly real to Bickle. The emails we have seen and the doubling down behind the scenes both speak to the fiery comeback he is planning with his “friends of the bridegroom” and his cache of cash.
The question is whether he is inviting Jesus to that wedding, or a false version. The Bible says that the spirit of the antichrist is already in this world. Whatever side of the eschatological end times war you are on, testing the spirit of the prophets is an important landing spot:
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. - (1 John 4: 1-3, NASB)
Amen. Let’s stand.