Michael Brown, host of the nationally syndicated Line of Fire radio programme, who can be president, founder and professor of practical theology at FIRE School of Ministry, admitted to a “definite lack of judgement” but denied allegations he engaged in sexual misconduct with a former female staffer he said he treated like a “member of the family” 23 years ago.
“Both Nancy and I were shocked and horrified by the combination of accusations, allegations, false statements, and mischaracterisations. That’s why we wholeheartedly supported our board’s immediate decision to launch an intensive third-party investigation,” Brown said in an announcement to The Christian Post that was also shared with The Roys Report, which published the allegations Monday evening.
“Nancy and I did have a relationship with the girl in query and regarded her to be like a member of the family, and she or he conducted herself as one who viewed our relationship the identical way. But she was not a member of the family, and elements of my interaction along with her, although totally non-sexual in every way, reflected a definite lack of judgement on my part,” Brown added.
The former female staffer who was only identified by her pseudonym, Erin, by TRR, said she quit working on the FIRE School of Ministry in 2002 when she was just 21 because she had grown uncomfortable with Brown’s frequent slapping of her buttocks, kisses on the lips, and hand-holding episodes.
“He was presupposed to be a spiritual father,” Erin told TRR. “He was presupposed to take care of me.”
Erin said that when she was 18, she attended the Brownsville Revival School of Ministry in 1999 where Brown served as president until he was fired in 2000. Brown then began the FIRE School of Ministry in Pensacola, Florida, where the college operated until 2003 when it was relocated to North Carolina.
Erin explained that she followed Brown to his startup school, and he asked her to call him “Dad” and she or he obliged.
She recalled that because she had endured a difficult home life, she initially enjoyed the eye Brown paid her. She said they might write endearing notes to one another.
“I checked out it as a blessing due to the respect that all of us have for him,” Erin’s sister told TRR.
According to Erin, in lower than a 12 months of her working at the brand new school, Brown — who was involved with providing guidance to the International House of Prayer Kansas City as they navigated founder Mike Bickle’s sexual misconduct scandal — began holding her hands.
“He lifted it up within the truck … and he’s like, ‘You all know that I believe of (Erin) as my daughter,’ and said, ‘That’s why we’re holding hands because she’s like a daughter to me,'” Erin said.
The handholding eventually progressed to other contact including kissing. Erin said she was alone in Brown’s office sooner or later when he asked her to kiss him on the lips. She said she didn’t need to kiss him, so she gave him a peck that day. Kisses on the lips, nevertheless, would turn into a component of their goodbyes once they hung out alone.
“It was now not (Brown) was asking for a kiss,” she recalled. “It was (Brown) leaning right down to get a kiss. … I knew I could not stop it, or I felt I could not stop it.”
Brown later began slapping Erin’s buttocks habitually, Erin said.
The publication cited multiple former employees of the ministry who say they witnessed what gave the impression to be inappropriate behaviour between Brown and Erin, including Erin sitting in his lap.
Erin also told TRR that she found a letter while house-sitting for Brown and his wife Nancy, wherein he confessed to having an inappropriate relationship with a married woman.
“The letter mainly stated that they were having a talking relationship and the way they might dream about having sexual relations with one another and what they desired to do with one another, how she desired to wrap her legs around him, how he played into it,” Erin said.
In his response to CP on Monday, nevertheless, Brown denied ever committing adultery but said he had previously confessed the emotional affair and believed the matter to be settled.
“I can categorically state that in my 53 years within the Lord and greater than 50 years with Nancy, I even have never committed adultery or been sexually intimate with one other woman, nor do the fees allege that. Yet I need to ask, in all humility and within the fear of the Lord, if an article on the Roys Report is the very best strategy to address these allegations and accusations,” Brown said. “Does this glorify the Lord, edify the Body, bring healing and restoration, or advance the reason behind truth?”
Despite Brown’s denial, two weeks ago the Line of Fire Board reportedly hired the law firm Mitchell, Stein, Carey, and Chapman to conduct a third-party investigation, the outcomes of which they may make public once complete.
Erin said the experience she had with Brown has made it difficult for her to trust ministry leaders. Brown insists he was not aware that his behavior had impacted her as reported and is willing to work to make amends so healing can happen.
“The fact is that my actions towards her were actually silly and irresponsible — but neither sexual nor amorous in any way — and my highest priority, in addition to Nancy’s, is to have the chance to fulfill together in a setting acceptable to her and convey healing, where I can take full responsibility for the things which apparently hurt her so deeply, things which I assumed we addressed 23 years ago,” Brown said.
“Unfortunately, when Nancy and I learned through the Roys Report that there was an offence towards me on this woman’s heart, we weren’t allowed to follow the mandate of Jesus in Matthew 5:23-26, but only given the choice of offering a response to an article that may be released online. What happened to biblical process?” he asked.
“That being said, if it’s true that for 23 years she has carried this pain and I’m chargeable for it, I’m beyond mortified and would plead forgiveness and the chance to bring healing and restoration. Her wellbeing stays our priority.”
