Amid scandal, IHOPKC wants staff to sign a confidentiality agreement. Here’s what it says

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The parents of a woman who alleged earlier this year that International House of Prayer-Kansas City founder Mike Bickle sexually abused her starting in the 1980s when she was 14 have issued a warning to staffers.

Do not sign a non-disclosure agreement with the 24/7 global prayer ministry.

To do so, say Gary and Jerilyn Woods, "you will be legally silencing your own voice, forfeiting your right to free speech."

News that IHOPKC is asking staffers sign a non-disclosure agreement spread quickly last week after a leaked copy that former staffers say the organization has been giving some workers to sign began circulating on Facebook and X, formerly Twitter. The news, which came as a third-party investigation gets underway into sexual misconduct allegations against Bickle and others in the organization, raised concerns that the NDA could undermine the investigation.

The Woodses posted their warning Sept. 16 on social media. Their daughter, Tammy Woods, came forward in February with shocking allegations about the grooming and sexual abuse she said began when she was a babysitter for Bickle's small children at the time he led a church in St. Louis before founding IHOPKC.

"Alerting all IHOP Members: You have been asked by the IHOPKC leaders to sign an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement)," the Woods' note began, saying they should think before acting on it.

Workers may be in denial about the allegations of rape, sexual grooming and other serious issues that have been raised dating back to 1999 in connection with IHOPKC, the note said, "but that doesn't make them any less true."

"Jesus said, 'You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.'"

The truth needs to come out, the Woods' note said, "and the victims damaged by these heinous acts deserve to be heard and upheld by fellow believers."

"So, please do not sign this document that silences your voice. If you have doubts about what we're saying, ask an attorney to read the document. If Mike Bickle isn't stopped, his next victim could be your own son, daughter, or grandchild."

A non-disclosure agreement, or NDA, is a legally binding contract between parties that is designed to keep sensitive information confidential. Under an NDA, the parties agree not to disclose matters such as proprietary information or trade secrets with a third party.

The leaked IHOPKC non-disclosure agreement prohibits staff and volunteers from talking about all information they gain access to, "either directly or indirectly, in connection with IHOPKC" and says a person who breaches the agreement may have to pay IHOPKC's court costs and attorney fees that arise from the breach. Critics say the NDA is punitive and intimidating and could undermine the new investigation.

IHOPKC leaders, who declined repeated attempts by former leaders to get them to join in on a mutually agreed-upon independent investigation, did not respond to requests for comment.

Last month, they issued a statement saying IHOPKC had hired Telios Law, a Colorado firm, to investigate how leadership responded to allegations years ago that a man who was a former youth group leader and musician engaged in inappropriate sexual contact with teenage boys. The law firm also is training staff on "how to identify individuals with predation in mind" and how to safeguard vulnerable children, IHOPKC said.

Terms of agreement last 'indefinitely'

The IHOPKC non-disclosure agreement says that staffers or volunteers "may have access to or may come across information that is confidential in nature" and that "ALL information I receive or gain access to regarding any of IHOPKC's staff members, employees, prospective employees, volunteers, and business-related information shall be kept in the strictest confidence."

Once workers leave IHOPKC, the agreement says, they must abide by the confidentiality terms "indefinitely."

A breach of the agreement, it says, "will cause IHOPKC irreparable harm," and IHOPKC has the right to seek a court-ordered injunction "and any other equitable relief in court to prevent further breach of this Agreement."

It goes on to say that the staff member or volunteer agrees "to indemnify and hold harmless IHOPKC from all fines, levies, suits, proceedings, claims, actions or causes of actions of any kind whatsoever including, but not limited to, all costs, court costs, litigation expenses and attorney fees arising from, growing out of, in connection with or incidental to my breach of confidentiality."

And in the event of legal action, it says, the signee agrees "to pay all of IHOPKC's costs, court costs, litigation expenses, costs and expenses of appeal, and reasonable attorney's fees."

It's unclear exactly when IHOPKC started using the non-disclosure agreements. Some former leaders who left in recent years said they'd never heard of them. But a 2016 email provided to The Star indicated that they were being given at that time to staff in the human resources, accounting and IT departments.

While it's not uncommon for religious organizations to require NDAs, the practice isn't fully embraced.

In January 2022, the National Council of Evangelicals reported that over recommending non-disclosure agreements for staff of churches or other Christian organizations. Fifty-four percent of the leaders responding said "it depends" when asked if formal agreements should be implemented, 21% said yes and 25% said no.

"NDAs are tools that can be helpful to maintain confidential information, but they can also be inappropriately used to conceal information that should be shared, particularly but not limited to cases of abuse," said NAE President Walter Kim. "Evangelical leaders understand this tension. While there may not be consensus on the use of non-disclosure agreements, they agree that transparency and accountability are essential within churches and Christian organizations."

Could NDA impact new investigation?

Former staff and others following the scandal fear IHOPKC's non-disclosure agreement could prevent employees and volunteers from speaking out or participating in the new outside investigation.

"To me, it shows a lack of concern for their staff and volunteers," wrote Jennifer Verdery on X, formerly Twitter. "I was in full-time ministry for almost a decade, NEVER have I signed anything like this. How can we trust them to protect the vulnerable if they are having volunteers sign this?"

Earlier this month, Tikkun Global , a network of Messianic Jewish congregations and ministries, announced it had hired Firefly Investigations , a company with law enforcement expertise, to conduct the outside investigation into the troubling allegations involving IHOPKC.

The move was endorsed by former IHOPKC leaders, known as the Advocate Group , who had been calling for an independent investigation ever since the scandal broke last fall. Bickle is accused of using prophecies to groom, sexually abuse and manipulate women over multiple decades. The allegations led IHOPKC to "immediately, formally and permanently separate" from Bickle in December.

Tikkun Global will oversee the investigation, the Advocate Group said, to ensure independence.

IHOPKC's current leaders acknowledged in an email to staff and supporters that they'd been working with the Advocate Group and more recently with Tikkun Global to engage an outside party to conduct an investigation.

But those leaders said that "while we are excited that this is finally happening, we have some deep concerns."

They said the choice of the investigator wasn't totally independent, because Tikkun had chosen Firefly based on recommendations from the Advocate Group. And they complained that the scope of the investigation was too wide. They said they had agreed to investigate allegations against Bickle and other leaders accused of sexual abuse as well as anyone who knew about sexual abuse but covered it up. But Tikkun revised its language of the scope statement to include all IHOPKC staff and volunteers, they said.

"While we will not discourage or criticize any of our current staff or community members who choose to voluntarily participate in the investigation, we also will not allow or condone any attempts to extract information from those who choose not to participate," the IHOPKC leaders said.

The current problems, they said, "reflect a culture that no longer exists here."

"The leaders responsible for those failures are no longer with IHOPKC," they said. "Our current leadership is fully focused on creating a culture of transparency, accountability, and care."

'It's almost coercion'

John Ferrell, a Silicon Valley patent attorney with a popular YouTube channel on intellectual property, said IHOPKC's non-disclosure agreement raises several concerns.

The document "is very broad and it's vague as to what's covered," he said. "This feels a little desperate to me, honestly. It makes people suspicious, it makes people uncomfortable. It makes people feel like somebody's going to turn you in for speaking something that shouldn't have been spoken."

He noted what he called a "snitch clause" that requires workers to report others within IHOPKC who violate the agreement.

"That just seems like a bridge too far for me," Ferrell said. "This bothers me a lot, that somebody is making me sign an agreement like this, where I can lose my job if I don't snitch on someone who's maybe giving information about something like child sex abuse."

Another troubling issue, Ferrell said, is that if employees want to keep their jobs, it appears they must sign the NDA.

"It's almost coercion," he said. "It's almost like holding a gun to somebody. These are contracts that you don't really have much of a choice to sign or not to sign. And I think in many jurisdictions, these kinds of contracts would be really frowned upon, and they also may be in violation of state law with respect to employment."

But even if the agreement is found to be unenforceable, Ferrell said, it still would have an impact.

"It would chill speech in the workplace," he said.

Gregory Germain, a law professor at Syracuse University College of Law and an expert on NDAs, said all states have laws recognizing a "clergy penitent privilege" that renders conversations between ministers and those they counsel inadmissible in court. The purpose, he said, is to allow pastors to provide spiritual guidance without being afraid they'll be summoned to testify against the penitent.

One example is the confidentiality of confession, which has been subject to special confidentiality and legal protection for centuries, Germain said.

"The law, and these confidentiality traditions, are to protect the member and the free flow of information and advice between the clergy and the member, and not to cover up wrongdoing by the church administration," he said. "There is, of course, a big difference between protecting confidential communications with members and covering up abuse or other crimes committed by the clergy or administration."

'Pushing the boundaries'

Germain said the language in IHOPKC's non-disclosure agreement that focuses on keeping member information confidential is consistent with the clergy penitent privilege. But the language that claims any other information that an employee or volunteer might learn, including information about other employees, he said, "seems overly broad and vague, and I suspect would be hard to enforce."

NDAs that would prohibit workers from complying with the law, disclosing information about criminal acts to authorities, or answering questions about wrongdoing in legal proceedings, Germain said, "would likely be invalidated on public policy grounds."

"So I don't think they will be able to use this NDA to prevent a criminal investigation into wrongdoing or to cover up criminal acts if that's what they are trying to do," he said of IHOPKC. "However, it might be effective in preventing employees and volunteers from talking to the press even if the provisions were unenforceable on public policy grounds."

In late 2022, Congress passed — and President Joe Biden signed into law — the Speak Out Act, which restricts the enforcement of NDA clauses when workers report sexual misconduct. That means employers are prohibited from using NDAs to prevent victims of sexual harassment and assault from speaking out. Legal experts, however, say that employees who sign NDAs often aren't aware that such protection exists.

Mark Schloegel, an attorney with the Popham Law Firm in Kansas City who specializes in injury, employment and sexual assault cases, said IHOPKC's non-disclosure agreement "is pushing the boundaries."

NDAs are used to protect information such as private financial or personal data and business trade secrets, Schloegel said. But such agreements, he said, should only be used when it's crucial to protect truly confidential information.

"Covering up sexual abuse or church secrets is not legitimate confidential information worthy of protection," he said. "And, I would argue, any information related to sexual abuse or church secrets is (not or) should not be covered by an overly broad and generic NDA."

In Missouri, Schloegel said, "public policy supports, and in fact, certain folks have a duty, to report suspected child abuse."

"I don't think a Court would be persuaded by an NDA attempting to protect sexual abuse or church secrets," he said.