Michael Brown, host of the nationally syndicated Line of Fire radio programme, who is also 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 "family member" 23 years ago.
"Both Nancy and I were shocked and horrified by the mix of accusations, allegations, false statements, and mischaracterisations. That's why we wholeheartedly supported our board's immediate decision to launch a thorough third-party investigation," Brown said in a statement 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 woman in question and considered her to be like a family member, and she conducted herself as one who viewed our relationship the same way. But she was not a family member, and aspects of my interaction 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 at 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 supposed to be a spiritual father," Erin told TRR. "He was supposed to look after 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 started the FIRE School of Ministry in Pensacola, Florida, where the school 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 obliged.
She recalled that because she had endured a difficult home life, she initially enjoyed the attention Brown paid her. She said they would write endearing notes to each other.
"I looked at it as a blessing because of the respect that we all have for him," Erin's sister told TRR.
According to Erin, in less than a year of her working at the 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 — started holding her hands.
"He lifted it up in the truck ... and he's like, 'You all know that I think 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 one day when he asked her to kiss him on the lips. She said she didn't want to kiss him, so she gave him a peck that day. Kisses on the lips, however, would become a part of their goodbyes when they spent time alone.
"It was no longer (Brown) was asking for a kiss," she recalled. "It was (Brown) leaning down to get a kiss. ... I knew I couldn't stop it, or I felt I couldn't 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 appeared 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, in which he confessed to having an inappropriate relationship with a married woman.
"The letter basically stated that they were having a talking relationship and how they would dream about having sexual relations with each other and what they wanted to do with each other, how she wanted to wrap her legs around him, how he played into it," Erin said.
In his response to CP on Monday, however, 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 in the Lord and more than 50 years with Nancy, I have never committed adultery or been sexually intimate with another woman, nor do the charges allege that. Yet I must ask, in all humility and in the fear of the Lord, if an article on the Roys Report is the best way to address these allegations and accusations," Brown said. "Does this glorify the Lord, edify the Body, bring healing and restoration, or advance the cause of 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 results of which they will 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 take place.
"The fact is that my actions towards her were certainly foolish and irresponsible — but neither sexual nor amorous in any way — and my highest priority, as well as Nancy's, is to have the opportunity to meet together in a setting acceptable to her and bring healing, where I can take full responsibility for the things which apparently hurt her so deeply, things which I thought we addressed 23 years ago," Brown said.
"Unfortunately, when Nancy and I learned through the Roys Report that there was an offence towards me in this woman's heart, we were not allowed to follow the mandate of Jesus in Matthew 5:23-26, but only given the option of offering a response to an article that would 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 am responsible for it, I am beyond mortified and would plead forgiveness and the opportunity to bring healing and restoration. Her wellbeing remains our priority."
