I was an IHOPKC kid. My family moved to Kansas City to do the intro to IHOP internship in 2010 and be involved in the ministry. I was eleven years old at the time. In the following years, I was enrolled in the Children’s Equipping Center and Student Ministries. In my middle school and early high school years, I sang on sets in the student prayer rooms, Hope City, and the Malachi 4:6 prayer meetings. I also attended IHOP affiliated home school co-ops and an IHOP affiliated high school. During my time in CEC, I encountered teachers that were unnecessarily cruel to the children in attendance. I was enrolled in the children’s track for the internship while my parent was at class. Often times myself and the other kids in my class were with our parents late into the night while they attended prayer meetings and completed prayer room hours. In light of the late nights, it was a common occurrence for myself and other children to doze off during “class” (which consisted of teachings regarding the book of revelation and Jesus coming back to “kill all of the wicked”, which I hardly think was appropriate for a children’s class consisting of 6-12 year olds). When we would doze off, one teacher in particular would scream at us and slam furniture around to wake us up. Because of financial struggles, I wasn’t enrolled in the children’s track further, and I aged out of CEC and began to attend student ministries. When I attended Student Ministries between 2012-2014, it was overpacked with teenagers and hilariously unsupervised. There were many instances of bullying, and grooming, within the group of teenagers. It was very common for older teenage boys (17-18 year olds) to pursue the younger girls (13 year olds). Myself and many of my friends were victims of these inappropriate relationships. Luckily, I was very skittish and managed to escape any pursuits before they got too intense or crossed lines. But many of my friends were not so lucky. These instances of bullying and grooming were reported to leaders, but ignored. Unfortunately these incidences only increased in the summer during the awakening teen camp, when hundreds of teenagers would flood in from all over the world. There was never adequate or age appropriate staffing for these camps. This lack of supervision led to chaos, and unsafe situations. In 2014 I was ostracized from the student ministries group for standing up for myself after myself and a friend were being mistreated. I left student ministries, but was enrolled in a high school that was loosely IHOP affiliated. The school was ran by a person that was married to a leader in IHOPU. During this time, I was body shamed regularly for being a teenage girl. I was never dressed “immodestly” but I was still taught to be ashamed of the way that I looked because, at the end of the day, I was a teenage girl in a small school with only a few other boys. The attention I received from them was portrayed by school leaders to be a sign of my own negligence. Over all, I experienced negligence in the children’s and student ministries at IHOPKC. IHOPKC prioritized ministry and “the fire on the altar” over keeping their families together. As a result, myself and many others were without parental figures, and good spiritual leaders, for our formative years as children and teenagers.
- Student2010-2015