On June 9, 2026, Ron Harding sued the International Christian Church (ICC), the City of Angels International Christian Church and the Dallas Fort Worth International Christian Church in Los Angeles Superior Court (case no. 26SMCV03170). He claims whistleblower retaliation and wrongful termination.

Harding says he served as the ICC's lead "CyberEvangelist," in effect its chief technology officer, from 2009. His complaint alleges that, starting in 2013, he repeatedly reported sexual misconduct by Kip McKean to church leaders. It says the misconduct included explicit images bearing the faces of female staff, and that each time he was told the matter had been "handled." In 2024, it alleges, he found material he believed showed financial wrongdoing, the cover-up of sexual abuse, and what he believed was child sexual abuse material, and he reported it to ICC leaders and to the FBI. The complaint says McKean admitted the misconduct at a meeting of the ICC's World Sector Leaders in April 2024. It also quotes an instruction it attributes to McKean: that Harding's email be destroyed, because if it were ever released it "would be divisive which is disfellowshipable." Harding says the ICC fired him on December 3, 2024.

These are allegations in a complaint, and none has been proven in court. A case management conference is set for December 8, 2026.

For context: when the Restored Church Worldwide (RCW) broke away in October 2024, its open letter accused ICC leaders, Harding among them, of using old information about McKean to force him out. The ICC disfellowshipped McKean on November 22, 2024, and fired Harding on December 3. On January 10, 2025, the RCW restored McKean.

Questions to consider

  1. When a staff member reports a leader's misconduct, what should happen next in a healthy church?
  2. Have you seen the word "divisive" used to keep someone from speaking up?
  3. What does 1 Timothy 5:19-21 ask of a church when an accusation involves a leader?

Sources