House of Prayer Christian Church

The House of Prayer Christian Church is a religious organization based in Hinesville, Georgia. The organization, described by one of its members as a Pentecostal church, was established by Rony Denis in 2004 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. By 2022, the organization was operating 12 local churches, including its mother church in Hinesville, and multiple seminaries in several states.

Starting around the 2010s, multiple former members have accused the church of being a cult and have alleged a series of wrongdoings against the organization and its leaders. These allegations have included verbal abuse, manipulation, fraud, and forgery, among others. In 2020, a veterans' advocacy group submitted a letter to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs requesting that the department investigate the church for potential abuses regarding the G.I. Bill programs, accusing the church of defrauding veterans out of their educational benefits by offering courses without granting certificates of completion, among other charges. In one example, the advocacy group noted that one student had been enrolled in a House of Prayer's educational program for 12 years, completely draining his educational benefits without receiving a degree or certificate from the program.

In June 2022, the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided several church locations, and by November 2022, multiple states had barred House of Prayer educational programs from receiving G.I. Bill funding. In January 2023, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) filed papers with the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia seeking the forfeiture of roughly $150,000 in funds owned by the church and accusing the organization of engaging in a "criminal scheme" to "defraud the United States of money" and "its military veterans of monetary educational benefits".^[1] The filing alleged that over 500 veterans were involved in the scheme, which involved roughly $22 million in government funds. In April 2024, the DOJ accused the church and several leaders of stonewalling their investigation efforts.