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The Rise and Fall of the Kansas City Prophets
Prophecy is perhaps the most controversial of all the spiritual gifts listed in the New Testament. Many in the charismatic community welcome its presence as one way in which the Holy Spirit strengthens and encourages believers. Others insist that God no longer provides this gift, insofar as it would threaten the finality and sufficiency of Scripture. No other group promoted and practiced this spiritual gift with greater impact than did the so-called Kansas City Prophets. Their claims of a variety of supernatural and revelatory experiences have exerted a massive influence on the body of Christ, not only in the US but globally. This book describes who they were, where they came from, and what they insist were genuine prophetic events, together with a critique of their validity. Both their rise and fall contribute to a deeper understanding of the nature of this one spiritual gift as well as insight into the inner dynamics of the charismatic movement itself. Sam Storms writes as an insider within the movement and provides a fresh and honest evaluation of both the alleged success and obvious failures of this controversial chapter in the history of charismatic Christianity.
310 pages, Paperback
Published January 30, 2026
About the author
Sam Storms
84 books142 followers(Some early works written as C. Samuel Storms)
Sam has spent 39 years in ministry as a pastor, professor and author. He was visiting Associate Professor of Theology at Wheaton College from 2000-2004, and is currently Lead Pastor for Preaching and Vision at Bridgeway Church in Oklahoma City. He has authored 22 books and founded Enjoying God Ministries. He's a graduate of The University of Oklahoma (B.A.), Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.M) and The University of Texas (Ph.D.). He and his wife Ann have been married for 40 years and are the parents of two grown daughters and have four grandchildren. On a more personal level, Sam loves baseball, books, movies, and anything to do with the Oklahoma Sooners.
Sam has spent 39 years in ministry as a pastor, professor and author. He was visiting Associate Professor of Theology at Wheaton College from 2000-2004, and is currently Lead Pastor for Preaching and Vision at Bridgeway Church in Oklahoma City. He has authored 22 books and founded Enjoying God Ministries. He's a graduate of The University of Oklahoma (B.A.), Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.M) and The University of Texas (Ph.D.). He and his wife Ann have been married for 40 years and are the parents of two grown daughters and have four grandchildren. On a more personal level, Sam loves baseball, books, movies, and anything to do with the Oklahoma Sooners.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 6, 2026
I don't even know what to rate this.
The book is built off years of Storms compiling a "prophetic history" of God's work in the life of Mike Bickle and associates, which he was going to release as a book at some point. But now it's also factoring in that Bickle has recently been outed as pedophile and lifelong manipulator and abuser of women. Storms tells the story of what was going on as far as he knew, and then ends each chapter with the abuse he now knows was happening. It's hard to know what to make of this. Speaking to the approach, I think there are instances where it's a super impacting read. It reminded me of that Ted Bundy movie Netflix put out from the perspective of his wife a few years back. She's absolutely convinced there's nothing untoward until right at the end. But there were other instances where it felt a little clunky to me, as though Storms is still really wanting me to believe the prophetic history and that Mike Bickle is a remarkably good bloke and that Storms himself hasn't finished processing all of this. And maybe that's kind of the point? The tension that the book highlights is still the tension he's working through in his mind.
Aside from the obvious horrific nature of the abuse, the book did trouble me. Let's just say none of the dodgy stuff happened and this book was merely the "prophetic history:" I still think I'd feel uneasy. I've really benefited from Storm's writings over the years. I grew up cessationist, and Storms has played no small part in my embrace of continuationism/charismatic theology. But from where I'm sitting, even assuming Mike Bickle is a great guy, these are not people I'd be easily working together with. I believe in the continuation of the gifts (including prophecy), but the prominence of it in this origin story and style of ministry is way outside of not only what I'm comfortable with (which I understand is not ultimately relevant), but even what I see in the book of Acts. I struggle to see how the preeminence given to prophecy in this approach squares with the strong case that continuationists like Storms can make for the compatibility of their view with the sufficiency of Scripture. Are we supposed to ground the legitimacy of what we're doing in this prophetic word over here, which we interpret in light of this strange providential occurrence and this numerical confirmation? Maybe a little. But don't we already have our mandate? Don't we know what that mission of the church is? Don't we already know what gospel ministers are supposed to be about? Don't we already have a great commission? Don't we already have a faith once for all delivered to the saints?
Perhaps to attack that some point from another angle, I think what concerned me is what I didn't hear emphasised: Bible exposition, reformation doctrine, sound theology, exegesis, biblical ecclesiology etc. I've long been of the opinion that the problem with the charismatic movement is not that it affirms prophecy and tongues, but that it seems to be either unintentionally clueless or absolutely unconcerned about the above list. I would be far less concerned about this prophetic history if I knew that, while it's going into all the supernatural stuff, obviously at the same time they were preaching expositionally through Romans. But I don't think that's the case. There's a website that has 3000 of Mike Bickle's messages and they're largely end times, revival, the supernatural, Israel, the prophetic etc. To cite another example, quite shocking to me was that Bob Jones, an influential prophet in this movement didn't even know that Song of Solomon was a book in the Bible. How? My three year old knows this. Storms makes the case that Bickle didn't deny any core doctrines of the faith, which is good as far as it goes. But it doesn't go far enough. Can you enthusiastically and competently make the case from Scripture for core doctrines and facilitate an environment where others can do so as well? It guts me that I pretty much assume that if I hear a sermon from a charismatic that it's not going to be any good. It's no wonder then, this movement consistently seems to be an incubator for wild theological takes and unethical pastoral practice. What I really appreciate about Storms is that he seems to emphasise both. He believes in prophecy but also reads Michael Kruger and GK Beale. I don't think that's an unreasonable expectation.
To take it from yet another angle, I struggle to see how this approach wouldn't produce an unhealthy arrogance and pride toward the run of the mill, ordinary churches out there preaching the gospel and loving one another. It's important to maintain a humble spirit of (small c!) catholicity. Believe in what you're doing, have convictions to be sure, but at the same time, know that God is at work in all true churches and celebrate that. I would struggle to see how you could do that if you view your church as this diamond in the rough compared to all the other ones. To be clear, I'm not saying that a prophetic history is the only thing that can fuel pride and arrogance. But approaching ministry with a mindset that says, "God is with us in a way that's different than anything you've ever seen," frequently prompts stupid and arrogant statements about other people and how "effective" they are. It also means you're likely to ignore accurate and reasonable criticisms of what you're doing, because after all, "we have a prophetic mandate," and also, "we had a prophecy that anyone who criticises us is bad."
These are a few of the many thoughts I had reading this.
It was an eye opener.
The book is built off years of Storms compiling a "prophetic history" of God's work in the life of Mike Bickle and associates, which he was going to release as a book at some point. But now it's also factoring in that Bickle has recently been outed as pedophile and lifelong manipulator and abuser of women. Storms tells the story of what was going on as far as he knew, and then ends each chapter with the abuse he now knows was happening. It's hard to know what to make of this. Speaking to the approach, I think there are instances where it's a super impacting read. It reminded me of that Ted Bundy movie Netflix put out from the perspective of his wife a few years back. She's absolutely convinced there's nothing untoward until right at the end. But there were other instances where it felt a little clunky to me, as though Storms is still really wanting me to believe the prophetic history and that Mike Bickle is a remarkably good bloke and that Storms himself hasn't finished processing all of this. And maybe that's kind of the point? The tension that the book highlights is still the tension he's working through in his mind.
Aside from the obvious horrific nature of the abuse, the book did trouble me. Let's just say none of the dodgy stuff happened and this book was merely the "prophetic history:" I still think I'd feel uneasy. I've really benefited from Storm's writings over the years. I grew up cessationist, and Storms has played no small part in my embrace of continuationism/charismatic theology. But from where I'm sitting, even assuming Mike Bickle is a great guy, these are not people I'd be easily working together with. I believe in the continuation of the gifts (including prophecy), but the prominence of it in this origin story and style of ministry is way outside of not only what I'm comfortable with (which I understand is not ultimately relevant), but even what I see in the book of Acts. I struggle to see how the preeminence given to prophecy in this approach squares with the strong case that continuationists like Storms can make for the compatibility of their view with the sufficiency of Scripture. Are we supposed to ground the legitimacy of what we're doing in this prophetic word over here, which we interpret in light of this strange providential occurrence and this numerical confirmation? Maybe a little. But don't we already have our mandate? Don't we know what that mission of the church is? Don't we already know what gospel ministers are supposed to be about? Don't we already have a great commission? Don't we already have a faith once for all delivered to the saints?
Perhaps to attack that some point from another angle, I think what concerned me is what I didn't hear emphasised: Bible exposition, reformation doctrine, sound theology, exegesis, biblical ecclesiology etc. I've long been of the opinion that the problem with the charismatic movement is not that it affirms prophecy and tongues, but that it seems to be either unintentionally clueless or absolutely unconcerned about the above list. I would be far less concerned about this prophetic history if I knew that, while it's going into all the supernatural stuff, obviously at the same time they were preaching expositionally through Romans. But I don't think that's the case. There's a website that has 3000 of Mike Bickle's messages and they're largely end times, revival, the supernatural, Israel, the prophetic etc. To cite another example, quite shocking to me was that Bob Jones, an influential prophet in this movement didn't even know that Song of Solomon was a book in the Bible. How? My three year old knows this. Storms makes the case that Bickle didn't deny any core doctrines of the faith, which is good as far as it goes. But it doesn't go far enough. Can you enthusiastically and competently make the case from Scripture for core doctrines and facilitate an environment where others can do so as well? It guts me that I pretty much assume that if I hear a sermon from a charismatic that it's not going to be any good. It's no wonder then, this movement consistently seems to be an incubator for wild theological takes and unethical pastoral practice. What I really appreciate about Storms is that he seems to emphasise both. He believes in prophecy but also reads Michael Kruger and GK Beale. I don't think that's an unreasonable expectation.
To take it from yet another angle, I struggle to see how this approach wouldn't produce an unhealthy arrogance and pride toward the run of the mill, ordinary churches out there preaching the gospel and loving one another. It's important to maintain a humble spirit of (small c!) catholicity. Believe in what you're doing, have convictions to be sure, but at the same time, know that God is at work in all true churches and celebrate that. I would struggle to see how you could do that if you view your church as this diamond in the rough compared to all the other ones. To be clear, I'm not saying that a prophetic history is the only thing that can fuel pride and arrogance. But approaching ministry with a mindset that says, "God is with us in a way that's different than anything you've ever seen," frequently prompts stupid and arrogant statements about other people and how "effective" they are. It also means you're likely to ignore accurate and reasonable criticisms of what you're doing, because after all, "we have a prophetic mandate," and also, "we had a prophecy that anyone who criticises us is bad."
These are a few of the many thoughts I had reading this.
It was an eye opener.
February 14, 2026
In my opinion the book mostly does what the author set out to do (stated in quote below.) Certainly his account provides numerous opportunities for lessons learned. Mostly I think better editing would have helped the account be easier to follow. The documentation is very thorough. It’s not pleasant to wade through the profound sins and mistakes, but I believe it’s vital so we can learn and set up better structures to protect the innocent and vulnerable.
“I pray that the many lessons we have learned along the way will serve to encourage biblically based prophetic ministry in the church. My heart also longs for greater facility in spiritual discernment so that we might more readily see the difference between sheep and goats, between those who serve themselves and those whose only desire is to exalt the name of Christ and to bless his people. If this aim has been achieved, if only in part, I will consider this book a success.”
“I pray that the many lessons we have learned along the way will serve to encourage biblically based prophetic ministry in the church. My heart also longs for greater facility in spiritual discernment so that we might more readily see the difference between sheep and goats, between those who serve themselves and those whose only desire is to exalt the name of Christ and to bless his people. If this aim has been achieved, if only in part, I will consider this book a success.”
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews