Insider’s look: Charismatic Christian leaders’ mishandling of corruption

After being rescued by Jesus from the world of the occult, I saw early on that God’s mercy and grace are greater than I could ever fathom. But I never imagined that I would later be faced with confronting abusive and unrepentant ministry leaders in the charismatic world whom I looked up to so much.  Amid increasing calls for accountability from within these streams and ministry networks, allow me to offer an insider’s perspective, as one who saw some of the problems first-hand. 

In 2007, I was a zealous evangelist who had just returned from Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in South America when my wife and I ran into Todd Bentley at the airport in Los Angeles. I had seen his testimony on television, and it profoundly impacted me. We both happened to be flying to Auckland, New Zealand that night, and he invited us to minister with him upon our arrival. 

When we arrived at his meeting, we were immediately pulled up onto the platform in Auckland. We were plunged into an intense world of signs, wonders, and miracles that we had never experienced before. Shortly thereafter, the Lakeland Outpouring (led by Bentley) broke out in Florida, and we headed back to the States to serve there. 

We were given behind-the-scenes positions, including running the call center and training prayer teams, but we were shocked by some of the questionable things we saw behind the scenes. We were young and weren’t quite sure how to respond or navigate these matters, but we trusted that God was in charge and that the many godly leaders with whom we were meeting on a weekly basis would straighten out the troubling things we were seeing.

We were not surprised when those revival meetings came to a screeching halt. But despite what I perceived to be a lot of poor judgment, I believed that God’s grace was bigger than what happened, and I reached out to Bentley to let him know that I was praying for him and believed that God could restore him.

As we grew in friendship, the following years would be full of powerful encounters with God coupled with confusing and disheartening interactions that left me bewildered. On numerous occasions, I reached out to those who considered themselves to be responsible for Bentley, but I always seemed to be met with indifference and silence.

As a young minister, some of the behaviors I witnessed were a cry for help — a brother in distress, a brother who was struggling and needed prayer. But when the disturbing trends continued, my attempts to share my concerns with leaders at MorningStar Ministries (where Todd was allegedly restored) were met with silence.

In light of this, we pulled away from Bentley for some years until reuniting in 2016, only to see that his issues had worsened. In 2019, when I was made aware of the extent of the damage he had caused, I made an open inquiry on social media that anyone who had been abused by Bentley’s ministry come forward. Many people responded and I forwarded them on to a private investigator. 

It was around this time when a Charlotte-based journalist who was scrutinizing Bentley's actions informed me that he had sent files full of evidence of his offenses to the senior leadership at Bethel in Redding, California. I do not know to what extent the leadership saw those documents if they ever did. They had previously also supported Bentley but when the troubles arose we asked questions but received no answers. 

In early 2020, as we all waited patiently for Rick Joyner’s response to the investigative panel concerning Bentley, my heart sunk to read, “I am writing this by request, but as one who has no direct authority or responsibility for Todd, or the panel that put out the statement of their findings concerning accusations about him” and “the way some have tried to deal with Todd is much more terrifying than anything Todd may have done or is accused of doing.”

Bentley has since been exposed for many egregious sins, many times over.

How could someone suddenly take no responsibility for Bentley when things got tough, but continue to attempt to platform him even now in 2025? Victim shaming is the opposite of being a voice for the voiceless, and it needs to stop in our pulpits. Our efforts to reveal the truth were met with threats, harassment, and false accusations. In the end, well-known charismatic minister Patricia King stepped in and helped to bring closure to the chaos. For this, I was incredibly thankful. 

All this to say, the bar absolutely must be raised in the church of Jesus — in all streams and tribes. 

1 John 1:5 declares that “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” We must thus conclude that if those who call themselves brothers and sisters are harboring darkness, it is not God’s fault. It is humanity who became dark, not God (Colossians 1:21–22). Peter tells us that we have been given everything that we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of him that called us to glory and virtue (2 Peter 1:3). Let us recognize, however, that it is our responsibility to steward what has been given to us.

We cannot afford to have charismatic Christian leaders sweeping egregious sin under the rug while referencing the sins of King David. We cannot selectively highlight verses of Scripture such as “Love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8), or “Do not touch my anointed” (1 Chronicles 16:22) while also refusing to “Expose the unfruitful works of darkness” (Ephesians 5:11) and “Expel the wicked person from among you” (1 Corinthians 5:13). Is it not the grace of our Lord to protect the sheep from certain slaughter?

I have seen much in my 24 years of being involved in charismatic Christian ministry, 18 of which are full-time. While there are many wonderful leaders in the Body of Christ globally who are excellent spiritual fathers and mothers, others who have been trusted to protect the sheep from wolves have failed to do so and the children’s trust is broken. The near-total silence from many has spoken volumes. 

By God’s grace, I believe we can and must do better and that our best days are yet ahead for Spirit-filled believers. But this passive leadership and lack of accountability must change.