"A Heart for God":

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it would indeed be nice to see Bickle under recognized accountability

Agreed.

Doesn't Mike Bickle essentially head the "whole organization"?

Bickle is "director." There are also over 400 other people on full-time staff some of which are in charge of various aspects or "departments." He is also founder of FSM (Forerunner School of Ministry). I'm not sure if he or Allen Hood is currently president of FSM. There seems to be conflicting info between IHOP's website and FSM's website. One of the two are likely out of date. Strange that the FMA (Forerunner Music Academy) is connected with IHOP pretty tightly, but not with Bickle. FMA is responsible for training IHOP's musicians & singers (though not exclusively by any means).

Statement of faith at FSM is slightly different than at IHOP, too. Not sure why. Looks like they just left the raw basics at FSM, though I didn't sit down and compare the two. I just found it interesting.

Who can fire Bickle?

Nobody (to my knowledge). Considering it's not a "job." As Mr. Fitzpatrick pointed out, it's not technically a church, so it doesn't have members (other than staff), which limits the whole election scenario, right? As I've pointed out, this situation isn't bad "just because." And you never said if he was involved with the claims you've received or not. It makes quite a difference, in my opinion, because it gives insight into whether the organization endorses such behavior, which I doubt.

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Nobody (to my knowledge). Considering it's not a "job."

Right. Mike Bickle has essentially assumed the role of a king.

But he does take money from the ministry funds (no one knows exactly how much), which is salary and compensation.

Many ministries are run with democratically elected boards and financially transparent.

See [www.ecfa.org]

But not IHOP.

I'm aware of the ECFA. I don't imagine too many small churches are registered with them (as a guess). IHOP started as incredibly small, and has apparently grown quite a bit in the last couple of years. As I briefly mentioned, it looks as though they are preparing their website for posting financial reports. Only time will tell.

The prayer room alone costs approx. $1700 a day to fully operate (according to their website.) If that's accurate, we're talking about $620,500 a year, plus the rest of the organization's costs on top of that. I thought that sounded a little unlikely at first, but then I realized my own much smaller church's sanctuary costs around $50-$100 a day, especially with heating, A/C, and sound systems sucking out lots of electricity. Fortunately, we're not open 24/7. They have quite a larger setup going, and more features besides (like webstreaming and other broadcasts).

I also mentioned they were migrating from old accounting systems to new. I got that information from here: [www.ihop.org] (item 25). Charitable donations appears to be the last thing getting moved over to new accounting systems.

You say he takes money from IHOP. What does that mean exactly? Are you referring to donations to IHOP, or revenue from sales of stuff? Mike makes quite a bit of money selling his books & DVDs - more than you might expect. I did a little math from my visit to the OneThing conference last December on one of the packages he was selling. Let's say the amount was decent for the timeframe, but not excessively bloated. Around $10,000 in a somewhat short time frame. Add that with other stuff he's selling, it's probably decent.

Anyway, I'm going to e-mail their financial department and see (hopefully) what their plans are. I never did get anything back from their generic e-mail address. I'd also like to bring up how FSM has a course on business that teaches, among other things, financial transparency, but IHOP has none itself. They might find that interesting, maybe even convicting (if they aren't already planning for it).

"Heart for God":

There are churches/ministries both larger and smaller than IHOP that belong to the EFCA.

The most obvious explanation as to why IHOP doesn't belong to the EFCA, is because Mike Bickle doesn't want to.

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prayer room alone costs approx. $1700 a day to fully operate (according to their website.) If that's accurate, we're talking about $620,500

That's quite a cash flow Bickle controls without any meaningful transparency and/or detailed disclosre.

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old accounting systems to new. I got that information from here:

Nothing meaningful disclosed there.

I hope this meets criteria for financial transparency. IHOP is registered at:

[www.guidestar.org]

(You will have to register there, which is free, to view any info. Guidestar is not affiliated with IHOP.)

There are PDFs of Form 990s going back to 2000, the first year after IHOP was formed. (Sept 19, 1999) You will not be able to view anything older than (I believe) four years without a premium account, which is unfortunate.

Just a couple of questions, where can I find in the scriptures of any church being able to fire the pastor? I realize people do this, but what is the scriptural basis.?As for financial accountability, I agree, it is probably a good idea, but the example we have of this, is actually an allegory for something else that's in Luke 16, now 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 is a little bit clearer. Romans 14:12 pretty much says it all, and if you [i:d8be2c470e]carefully[/i:d8be2c470e] read 1 Corinthians 6, I think some insight is to be gained there, a lot of people want to give a "gift" to some ministry, as long as it goes to where they decide, I have attended a church in Florida which gave checks for thousands back to the giver, because of restrictions on the money, simply put, if you cannot trust the ministry you are giving to, DON'T GIVE. This same church would by-pass the old plate from folks who were writing checks, because scripturally your stuff should have been ready, they actually prefered that you had already sought God over the amount, if any, and had prayed over the judicious use of the funds, before bringing it in on the first of the week, some people actually have a problem with this and take offence. Granted, there are just way too many people out there who are stealing from God's people, [i:d8be2c470e]almost[/i:d8be2c470e] everybody on the apostate TBN, my opinion, but I don't think you would find me far wrong. But I cannot find a scripture which asks for financial accountability, maybe there is one, I didn't really look, but one does not immediately come to mind, all this being moot, since it seems IHOP-KC [i:d8be2c470e]actually[/i:d8be2c470e] is hooked up somewhere with an accountability group. We can't all be in charge, we must submit, it's just a regular christian dynamic, but that means everybody submits to eachother, across the board, those who have rule over us [b:d8be2c470e]will give an account[/b:d8be2c470e]. Now if somebody is teaching out and out heresy, or telling you to do something wrong, contrary to the Word, or 'extra-biblical prophecy' (propheliars) get out, or follow scriptural mandates on handling it. But check your own heart first, don't be the one to be offended. This prayer movement which is 24/7/365, is everywhere, all over the globe, ask why, ask God.

"Heart for God":

No. The reference to Guidestar is meaningless.

See [www.guidestar.org]

Guidestar is not an accountability organization and IHOP is not a member.

Guidestar states, "Financial information comes from the IRS Business Master File of exempt organizations and IRS Forms 990, 990-EZ, and 990-PF. Other information, such as an organization's programs, accomplishments, and goals, are obtained directly from the organization or from the organization's Form 990 or 990-EZ."

This means whatever IHOP files publicly through the IRS is available through Guidestar and nothing more.

A detailed disclosure of all salaries and compensation is not required by the IRS. And Religious tax-exempted organizations are only required to disclose very basic financial information.

However, most ministries do disclose detailed information to supporters and the public through financial statements, reports and budgets, such as Navigators, Campus Crusade, the Billy Graham Crusade, Prison Fellowship etc.

IHOP does not.

Ministry Watch is another monitoring organization similar to the ECFA.

See [www.ministrywatch.org]

IHOP is not listed in its files.