Recent tweets from former IHOPKC crisis manager create more questions
Volz shout-out to IHOPKC board member and TN pastor reopen dark doors
It began with a typical Whippersnapper tweet. Earlier last week, IHOPKC’s former “Crisis Manager” Eric Volz, aka The Whippersnapper,” snapped on social media, tagging pastors Greg Locke and Malachi O’Brien 1. The latter is also a board member at IHOPKC. The post itself created pain for many, as we will see in this edition of the newsletter; however, it also led Dr. Dénouement on an adjacent investigation into the connections of the men involved.
Whether it was a play for ratings during July sweeps or attention, no one can say, but if advertising rates were set for promotion of Israeli alliances or child abuse accusations, ratings would be high—no matter the cost. And if viewers are what these folks wanted, it’s what they received. Please bear with me as I take you through this web of connection. It’s vital to see how the IHOPKC connection is close to all of this.
Later last week, Volz denied having financial ties remaining to IHOPKC. This may, in fact, be true. Regardless, as this newsletter shows, Volz, Bickle, O’Brien, Pastors Greg Locke and James McDonald, all weave together into one scandalous covering of frightening authority, or even insurrection.
Act 1- The Whippersnapper’s Wide Open Trap
We begin our show with a redundant scene. In a tour of the tired and trite, The Whippersnapper enters Stage Right, opening his trap wide.
Many IHOPKC survivors are fed up with him feeding Jane Doe, et al., to the wolves—especially while joining others in this dysfunctional institution as it hijacked the biblical nation of Israel and turns it into a golden calf, making Israel now nothing more than a sacred form of idolatry. Not a single piece of IHOPKC’s communication post-sex scandal has not used Israel as a justification for “ministry” (please do excuse Dr. Dénouement’s use of a double negative here). The claim is clear: Israel needs to survive and IHOPKC is the institution God made for its survival (no matter how many women and children including babies in the womb are slaughtered in the process because the “pro-life” mandate does not count for Palestinians, and especially Gazan Palestinians). See, IHOPKC possesses a divine, sacred call, a Special Mandate from God, which must be held at all costs. For this reason, above all reasons—even criminal ones, if need be—the prayer room must stay open.
(An aside: Friends, this is how a cult talks.)
Former IHOPKC staffer Andy Hailstone was not keen to see his friends eaten alive again. Here’s TW’s post with Hailstone’s righteous indignation.
Not everyone responded to TW on the OP—or Hailstone’s thread—though. This gallery (click to expand) is a sampling only:
Later, longtime (former) IHOPKC staffer, now local pastor and fierce critic of the way the accusations have been handled, Randy Bohlender, had his own visual response, which might be termed “colorful” reply. (Click to expand and see his whole “question.”)
TW then followed up with Hailstone and the hailstorm of replies—largely supporting Hailstone—by writing a lengthy explanation.
This post could be consumed with the replies here, but for now, I will satiate you with this reply from TW to Hailstone, linked here, and remind you that if you have been blocked by TW, it’s simple enough to log out and still view all his post replies here.
The fact is, TW’s post and reference to O’Brien and Locke actually appeared to be a reference not only to IHOPKC’s nonstop justification to its need to remain open due to its call to pray for Israel, but also seemed to be a picture taken recently—or Photoshopped in to appear as a support (more on that and why in a moment)—at Global Vision Bible Church in Mt. Juliet, TN, the Christian Nationalist church with a hyper-focused obsession on Christian nationalism and Messianic focused nationalism/eschatology is the home of Greg Locke. Locke is the pastor, who has made some terribly troubling headlines nationally, and hosts IHOPKC Board Member O’Brien regularly to speak at conferences, including this past week. O’Brien spoke last week, preaching on the value of politics to the Christian, the importance of voting, and how absolutely, positively, without-a-doubt, this coming election is a key to the future (because we have never ever heard that line before).
Therefore, The Whippersnapper was telling the truth in saying that he was “winking” at more than just IHOPKC with his “IYKYK” (if you know, you know) comment; however, this is not a good thing at all. In fact, Locke is known by some as an “insurrectionist” for his part in the Jan. 6, 2021 role at the Capitol events regarding the belief that former President Donald Trump won the election and had it “stolen.” Most insightful is this Washington Post profile on Locke, which is also most disturbing. Keep in mind that IHOPKC Board Member O’Brien not only shares a stage with him regularly by preaching at Locke’s church, but that Volz made this shout out as a stand of alignment to them both.
But that’s not even close to all of the story.
Act 2- A Conflict of Interest Meets a Culture of “Honor”
With apologies to those who probably felt triggered by even reading the aforementioned phrase, the post by The Whippersnapper lent itself to some investigation, resulting in a fascinating find—with the name of “Honor” in it. While it’s unclear where (or if) Honor Church (HC) has other ties to IHOPKC, apart from board member O’Brien, The Whippersnapper’s certainly triggered IHOPKC members, victims of abuse.
It also recognized two Honor Church board members, which sent Dr. Dénouement on an interesting trail. Let’s start with the church’s incorporation and board.
If you missed this post recently, which included a timeline of events, I suggest reading the start at least, and hovering over the early 2023 time period:
Here we see that Honor Church falls in that same time frame. While O’Brien and Volz are the only correlating factors here, it’s still an interesting and notable coincidence as we see the Charismatic church alignments.
Besides Locke, whose reputation precedes him and is, frankly, so disturbing to Dr. Dénouement that, being a woman of color, from a nation constantly facing discrimination by a majority of the Evangelical church, she would run from him in a heartbeat. Locke’s Facebook profile alone is hurtful.2
But who or what is Honor Church then? Despite its landing page saying “In North Orlando As It Is In Heaven,” a search through the people who make up HC led me to tears, for other reasons. I wanted to be careful here to not blame the staff for its board; after all, maybe they didn’t understand just how serious these alliances were (yeah, I know that was way too generous…). The reality as far as the board and top leaders of HC seems to be a vehicle created for a combination of celebrity clergy, and hipster Jesus (maybe it’s a nice way to funnel those tithes, I dunno, but I am not remotely impressed).
The rest of the board, besides self-styled insurrectionist Locke and IHOPKC Board Member O’Brien (who probably needs his own profile piece here, since he keeps appearing), is also cause for concern. Before I get to staff members, who also serve on the board, Ronald Samuel Lopez and Jon L. Groves (aka “Jon Leighton”), you may see another familiar name: James MacDonald.
Yes, that MacDonald, who helped “restore” Mark Driscoll to the pulpit, but was booted from his own. You may be familiar with his infamy from Harvest Bible Church in the Chicago area, where he was fired—for multiple reasons. Further, Christian news journalist Julie Roys of The Roys Report, has also written a solid opinion piece here, which explains the discredited leader’s incredulous claims—and why they remain so outlandish. This makes it more egregious that in the middle of MacDonald’s self-imposed troubles, HC appointed him to its board.
Besides the non-staff board members, Locke, O’Brien, and McDonald (there’s a team, friends), plus Neal—about whom I must withhold comment since I have no information, but since he is one of three treasurers, it hardly seems to matter; the church money is in safe hands, after all, with three handlers), the staff members on the board are not looking like their purpose is to proclaim the fame of Jesus to north Orlando, but more to proclaim their own fame. Groves and Lopez are both represented by the M.I. Artists and Speakers Group. The weblink, though, is a Squarespace page to Lopez’s name.
Why did I cry? Because every day it gets harder to believe there are ministers out there who exist to serve the Lord and his people. As I skimmed the list of speakers, I saw a name I personally knew from a small place where I lived, not a celebrity, but just a person I thought was an ordinary Christian—a local who had an incredible testimony, had been called into ministry, and truly was there to serve and love. Can a person be a pastor and be represented by a speaker’s agency and travel around? Sure. There’s no rule. But at the same time, it reminds us all that the pulpit has become a perch for celebrities to launch their TikToks. And that, dear readers, is why Dr. Dénouement burst into tears.
Groves and Lopez have entertainment-styled resumes, and you can peruse their pages if you desire. In face, good ole’ “Jon Leighton”:
With years of various ministry experience, Jon Leighton brings a wealth of hands-on experience to a leader who may feel plateaued, burned out, or desires to re-tool for a greater work. (From his Coaching Page, for which you can even a consult book via Skype)
If you genuinely want to grow sick at the selling of the “gospel,” I encourage you to be sure you have digested your last meal, then click this link to learn how you can support “Digital Missions” with Groves, who says:
God has given us a vision to raise up 1,000 young people to be “Digital Billy Graham’s” [sic] to engage the next generation with the truth and love of Jesus.
Act 3- A Conflict of Honor
While TW’s post with the background of the Israel conference where O’Brien spoke last week at Locke’s church was a hat tip to being there physically or only in spirit, his later acquiescence in tweets, acknowledging his “wink” to other ministries with “false accusations” was clear. What is unclear is what TW thinks is false. This post is too long to delve into his later discussion with Gracia, one of the first known IHOPKC abuse victims,—who deserves her own post because that response was shocking in itself. A new post addressing both this and some troubling publication from both Locke and an IHOPKC department, which feed into this issue, will follow.
But what else does Eric Volz Lineiro think were “false accusations” to ministries he “winked at” in his post.
Was it Locke inciting people toward insurrection on Jan. 6, and claiming the election was stolen?
Was it James MacDonald, Locke and O’Brien’s fellow board member at HC, and the accusation of him possibly threatening to plant child pornography on the computer of then-editor of Christianity Today magazine, among multiple other accusations?
Was it the fact that between them, Locke and O’Brien, obviously friends of Volz, are two key members of this brand new church launch and maybe there are accusations flowing there?
Whatever the “IYKYK” was, it ultimately was an inappropriate reference to the many connected to Volz via IHOPKC. In the United States, we are fortunate to have a right to free speech, but certainly Volz realizes that the implications of comments like these may have ripple effects for his audiences? Whether intended or not, these comments shine a light—with a heavy shadow—on IHOPKC Board Member O’Brien and his alliances, which lead also to Locke, Honor Church, and James MacDonald.
(BLACKOUT)
Hi Dr Denouement,
Throughout this Substack post, the references to “TW” had me thinking Tammy Woods rather than “The Whippersnapper.” It did dawn on me finally and I went back to the top of your post where you did the “aka,” but since so many of us that follow your Substack entries may have some past or present involvement with IHOPKC, I just thought I would share my initial misunderstanding to the reference. I may be the only one.
Thanks for having the courage to delve into the underbelly.