There is A LOT written about this. I'm just going to put the highlights here. You're welcome to go research and see if I described it correctly. Or just God if I'm telling the stories straight.
In 1983 a young pastor named Mike Bickle had recently moved to Kansas City from St. Louis. He says that he had a tremendously powerful experience with God where he heard His audible voice. God asked him if he wanted a chance to bring revival to Kansas City. He said, "Yes." God told him that if he would preach 1) holiness of heart, 2) steadfastness of faith, 3) day and night prayer, 4) extravagant giving to the poor, and restore the Church of Kansas City - that revival would come and it sweep all over the world and change the understand and expression of God in one generation. And he was to get 500 people together to fast and pray for 21 days.
He has less then 100 people in his congregation and is basically a nobody. But then Bob Jones shows up, tells him what God told him, tells him that they must get 500 people together to fast and pray for 21 days, and that God is going to send "signs in the heavens" to confirm that it's him. So they set a date for May 7, 1983, got 500 people together, pray the first night - and woke up the next morning to newspaper headlines of the closest comet pass to the earth - that no one saw coming.
Andrew Strom writes in his "Kansas City's Lost Revival" about how it stands fairly alone as the biggest kick-off for a revival ever. Andrew also details a lot of what went wrong and why God sent him to Kansas City to pick up the pieces. Andrew, although in New Zealand, had been carrying a burden for Kansas City since at least 1994.
Soon after, people started coming from all over. Like "Field of Dreams" - they are just driving here because God was doing a thing. They got given a building. Big guns started showing up from all over. They start the "Kansas City Fellowship" in Grandview, Missouri in a Southeast suburb of Kansas City. Controversy explodes in 1990 after Ernie Gruen's 233 page expose (See HERE). In 1990 John Wimber steps in and puts it under the Vineyard umbrella and it changes to Metro Christian Fellowship.
According to the story, God also tells Mike to be watchful, that there will be false prophets in their midst from the beginning. He's very impressed with the prophetic, soon being surrounded by people that can tell you what your day has been like or whatever. Now, if God tells you to do something that will sweep all over the world, FOR SURE the enemy is going to send witches and warlocks and divination and distraction and lust and whatever to try to stop it. And if God tells you to do certain things that will mightily move the Kingdom forward - and you make it about your CD's and programs and DVD's and money instead - then God is going to turn you over to something REALLY nasty.
Most every crazy manifestation in "charismania" that has rolled out over the last 30+ years tracks back to people that were here in the 80's when it went sour. The short of it is that Mike felt a restored "Church of Kansas City" would consist of 50 Spirit-filled congregations all reporting to him. But that's not at ALL the right model. And there is evidence that they even read Watchman Nee's "The Normal Christian Church Life" - and ignored it completely. They never really did preach the personal application of those four pillars.
Go to the next page - 1999 International House of Prayer