KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One by one, the speakers walked up to the small table early Wednesday, then sat and faced the panel of lawmakers in front of them.

Several came from across the country — Michigan, Minnesota, Tennessee and Texas. For some, it was their first time in the Missouri Capitol building.

They came to testify in support of two bills under consideration by Missouri lawmakers dealing with child sexual abuse. One would eliminate the statute of limitations in lawsuits involving child sex abuse. The other would prohibit the use of non-disclosure agreements in child sex abuse settlements.

But the hearing was also a chance to share their stories.

“The child victims of Missouri, including me, ask for your help today in leveling the playing field,” said Tammy Woods, who came forward last year to allege that she was sexually abused by Mike Bickle, founder of the International House of Prayer-Kansas City, in the 1980s starting when she was 14. “Allow us to do what we couldn’t do as children; fight back and pursue justice.”

Woods, now of Kalamazoo, Michigan, told the committee of state lawmakers that “the journey to awareness of child sexual abuse is long; trauma repression and memory loss are real, especially when spiritual abuse is involved.”

“Shame and fear are paralyzing,” she said. “The manipulative and deceptive frames of predators can take decades to unravel. After all, we were children. There should not and must not be a timer on this process.”

Woods, along with seven former IHOPKC leaders and supporters, several people who had attended or had loved ones who attended Kanakuk Kamps near Branson, and other sex abuse survivors testified in favor of the measures in a packed Senate hearing room.

Wednesday’s hearing marked the entry of IHOPKC survivors and their advocates into the political arena. But many were frustrated when all but the committee chairman left the hearing long before it ended. And even though the hearing was extended by 20 minutes, several of those who planned to speak had to cut their testimony short.

SB 589 calls for abolishing the statute of limitations in civil cases involving child sexual abuse. Under current Missouri law, survivors can only sue their perpetrator up to age 31 or within three years of discovering that their injury was caused by child sexual abuse. And they can only sue an institution up to age 26.

The other measure, SB 590, also known as “Trey’s Law,” would ban the use of nondisclosure agreements, or NDAs, in child sexual abuse settlements. Proponents of the measure say NDAs have become standard practice in civil settlements involving child sexual abuse. As a result, they say, perpetrators end up being protected while the survivors are prohibited from telling their stories.

Uphill battle to becoming law

Proponents of the bills cite research that indicates it takes an average of 20 years for child sex abuse survivors to first disclose their abuse. Many don’t disclose it until their 50s and 60s, they say, and a large number of survivors never disclose the abuse.

But opponents, including the insurance industry and the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said eliminating the statute of limitations could make it difficult to set rates and hurt some businesses by making insurance cost-prohibitive.

“We don’t want to protect the perpetrator,” said Rich AuBuchon, a lobbyist for the Missouri Civil Justice Reform Coalition, a group that advocates for business interests in the face of litigation. “We want to make sure that insurance is affordable to all companies. We also want to make sure that the individuals have the opportunity to bring their claim, no doubt.”

The bills’ sponsor, Sen. Brad Hudson, a Cape Fair Republican, said he proposed the measures because “I want to protect kids.”

“I’m a pastor and in my church, we have families, children, I have the opportunity to visit with folks and talk to families and families go through a lot, they face a lot,” he said. “I believe it’s our responsibility, myself as a pastor, as someone that is a member of the Christian community, to make sure that we speak out and say this stuff cannot be tolerated.”

The bills face an uphill climb with less than two months left in this year’s legislative session. Similar proposals have been introduced in the previous three years but have failed to advance. But Hudson told The Star that he’s added similar language to two other bills and there’s another bill in the House that he could possibly work with as well.

“So there are several vehicles that we’re keeping an eye on, and I’m optimistic that we’ll be able to get something to the governor this year,” Hudson said. “Of course, there are no guarantees, but that is my goal, and I think that is a definite possibility.

“The public knows that we need to do something about this issue. We cannot continue to tolerate a legal system in Missouri that allows this state to become a sanctuary state for pedophiles,” he said.

Sen. David Gregory, a Chesterfield Republican who sits on the panel of lawmakers, told The Star after the hearing that the measure was “a great bill.”

“I think we’ve got to move it forward responsibly,” he said. “But it needs to move forward.”

“It’s likely that the bill in its original form won’t pass because it’s a little late, but once it gets out of committee, it is well-vetted. It can be tacked on to other bills, other busses, on the floor.”

Sen. Karla May, a St. Louis Democrat, told supporters of the bills on Wednesday that “I hope that we can do something and get it across the finish line.”

Lawmakers did not take action on the two bills on Wednesday, but the committee could vote to send the legislation to the Senate floor as early as next week.

‘Secret horror’

Among those testifying was Elizabeth Carlock Phillips, whose brother, Trey Carlock, died by suicide in 2019 at age 28 after settling a lawsuit against Kanakuk Kamps. Former camp counselor Pete Newman is serving two life sentences plus 30 years in prison after being convicted in 2010 of sexually abusing multiple boys.

Phillips, of Dallas, said Trey’s settlement included a restrictive non-disclosure agreement.

“My brother was forced by the state to file his civil lawsuit against Kanakuk before he was ready in his early 20s, and opposing counsel’s gaslighting and depositions eventually led him to a psychotic break,” she said.

“It’s no exaggeration for me to claim that these issues are a matter of life and death. When you survive a childhood crime, you should have the freedom to decide if and when you want to seek justice through the civil courts. Victims should have full control of their own narratives and the pace of their healing journey.”

Deborah Perkins, the original “Jane Doe” whose allegations of sex abuse against Bickle in October 2023 shocked the IHOPKC community, said Bickle was a “renowned Christian figure” who began grooming her when she was 12.

From age 19 to 23, she said, “I endured a dark secret life of sexual abuse that involved my own pastor taking my faith and twisting it and confusing it into belittling and degrading lies that held me in a prison of torment and shame.”

She said Bickle controlled every aspect of her life and coerced her into sexual activity, then made her pray and repent for it.

“I lived a secret horror that no one knew about, while protecting him with my silence, because I believed it all,” she said. “I thought somehow his work for God was more important than what I was enduring.”

Similar to having an NDA, Perkins said, she felt she had no choice but to keep silent “for the sake of shielding his ministry and church.”

She said it was hard to describe today “how deeply dark these webs of entrapment truly are.”

“This so-called Christian pastor was using cult-tactics and spiritual language in his sexual abuse, which is the reason it took so long for me to unravel it all and understand the nature of what had happened,” she said.

More than 20 years after her abuse, Perkins said, she heard the story of one of actor and comedian Bill Cosby’s victims, “and I suddenly realized the nature of what I had experienced.”

“I knew for the first time that it wasn’t my fault … I began the process of confronting him, but at the helm of his organization, he fought back, taking to his pulpit and using it to discredit and bully me. Right now, he has all the power. Because of the present laws, I and many abuse victims in Missouri have none.”

Passage of the bills, Perkins said, “would give the children of Missouri the legal footing needed to fight back against predators and step out of the silent shadows of victimization.”

Bickle, 69, issued his only public statement about the allegations in December 2023, admitting that he had “sinned” and “my moral failures were real.” Eleven days later, IHOPKC announced it was “immediately, formally and permanently” separating from Bickle.

Last month, an independent investigation found that Bickle committed sexual abuse or misconduct against 17 women — including minors — over decades, amid a thriving culture of systemic abuse and coverups.

Woods told the committee that Bickle began sexually abusing her when he was her pastor in St. Louis.

“He devastated me by taking my innocence at 14 years old … Though he moved to Kansas City when I was a junior in high school, he continued his sexual abuse during his visits and his emotional and spiritual abuse all throughout high school and college.”

She said she was 57 years old, which was 43 years after the abuse began, “before I could see with clarity and begin to articulate what had happened to me.”

“Unfortunately, for victims who are silenced for decades, when we are finally able to connect the dots and summon the courage to share our story, the legal system fails us by saying it is our fault; we waited too long to face the repressed trauma within,” Woods said.

Meanwhile, she said, “our abusers are empowered to continue their abuse.”

Another former IHOPKC staffer told senators that after moving to Missouri at 18 to join the 24/7 prayer movement, she “was systematically groomed, sexually assaulted and gaslit into silence.”

“It took me years to realize I had the right to go to the police,” said Gracia, who asked that her last name not be published in this story to protect her privacy. “In the following years, while I was finding my voice and untangling their web of lies, the clock of justice kept ticking — and by the time I truly understood what was done to me, it was too late. The statute of limitations had closed just nine months earlier. Justice slipped through my fingers before I even knew it was mine to claim.”

She said she had been sharing her story and advocating for clergy sex abuse victims for nearly seven years. She recently founded an organization called the Rise and Reclaim Advocacy Group.

“In doing so, I have cried alongside countless survivors, many of them Missouri-born women in their 50s and 60s suffering from complex PTSD — they grieve not just their stolen childhoods but their rights to justice,” she said. “The truth is, the pain of trauma has no expiration date — why does accountability?

“Predators must learn that the law will no longer be their shield. With your help, it can be their reckoning.”

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