The Rise and Fall of the Kansas City Prophets

by Sam Storms

434 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 3, 2026

About the author

(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.

Reviews

[Gabriel G · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have been in a church or group influenced by IHOP, you should read this book. It is not mature, wise, or just to ignore facts.
Talking about or reading this book or other similar media is NOT gossip.


In my opinion this book can’t be rated. It is a personal story and research presented with a: draw your own conclusion.
I will default to a five star rating because I deeply appreciate Sam Storms.
I would highly recommend listening to Remnant Radio’s review of this book. The hosts are both personal friends with Storms, but review it honestly and bluntly.

Storm’s explanation of discernment in the intro was super insightful and almost a mic drop in my opinion. The same goes for his conclusion.
I really appreciated him including Tammy Woods Substack interview in the addendum. That one will bring you to tears and justified anger.

Overall, my personality would have been more clear about my opinion on what I believed was true pertaining to the history of the movement.

[Meredith Hammer]

I wanted to learn more about the history of IHOPKC and this helped me do that. The conclusion is awesome.

I usually don’t rate books that are deeply personal to the author and find it hard, so I won’t. The book probably could have been shortened in half but I can appreciate a desire to be clear and thorough on the matter.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sam Storms, as a former close friend and self-proclaimed fiercest defender of Mike Bickle, retells the alleged 'prophetic history' of IHOPKC in light of the scandals and crimes of Bickle, Bob Jones, and Paul Cain. While repeatedly expressing his shock, disgust, and betrayal he felt when learning that Mike Bickle has been a sexual predator for 40 years, he remains somewhat neutral in telling key moments of the history leaving it up to the reader to decide what they believe.

As in his other works, Storms goes into great detail and has done his research including extensive interviews and reviews of material created by Jack Deere and others.

I was expecting to read a lot more about the full team of Kansas City Prophets: James Goll, John Paul Jackson, Michael Sullivant, Jill Austin, etc... and was disappointed that they were only mentioned in passing.

Overall, the work is comparable to Bob Scott's (Bickle's brother in law) Some Said they Blundered except that Scott was much more willing to express skepticism.

[Jill · Rating 1 out of 5]

Odd book that is hard to review. He clearly states he had discernment issues when it came to Mike Bickle and the horrific things he did. Yet he still believes in his ministry and much of the things that happened.
However, my discernment keeps pinging saying if he was that wrong about Mike Bickle what else is he wrong about and why should I trust him?
I decided to quit reading.

[Matthew C.]

It was important for this book to be written, especially by a semi-insider like Storms.