CONCORD (NC)
The Roys Report [Chicago IL]
January 21, 2025
By Rebecca Hopkins
Despite reportedly taking a break from public ministry following sexual abuse allegations, Messianic Jewish apologist Michael Brown has been sharing prayer and weight loss tips and pitching his new memoir in YouTube videos. So, former staff and students of Brown’s ministry have launched a petition, calling for Brown to stop all public ministry until a third-party investigation is finished.
“We do not believe a truly repentant leader would be seeking to maintain his platform while serious allegations remain uninvestigated,” the petition states. “When Dr. Brown releases upbeat podcasts and speaks about his love of preaching while these matters remain under investigation, we feel he demonstrates a chilling disregard for the ongoing suffering of those who carry the scars of both his spiritual and sexual abuse.”
However, The Line of Fire Board Member Jonathan Bernis said Brown is running only reruns to fulfill contracts with stations and networks for his Line of Fire speaking ministry.
“I inquired and was told no new posts or videos are being made by Dr. Brown,” Bernis stated in an email to The Roys Report (TRR). “Line Of Fire is running reruns on paid platforms. But once again, Dr. Brown is NOT currently producing any content.”
However, TRR has learned that while Brown is airing pre-recorded podcasts, he is inserting new introductions for those podcasts. He also is playing promotions for his new book in the podcasts.
Brown has been accused of crossing physical boundaries with former secretary Sarah Monk, such as holding her hand, kissing her on the lips, and slapping her bottom in the early 2000s. Brown has denied any sexual component to the relationship but said he lacked judgment.
Brown has also been accused of engaging in an “inappropriate” relationship with a married congregant when he was her spiritual leader. Brown denied committing adultery, but said he had an “emotional, not a physical, tie” with her.
Monk sent the petition to The Line of Fire board more than a week ago with 50 signatures. As of today, the petition has more than 100 signatures with a nearly identical version posted Saturday on social media.
In addition to The Line of Fire, Brown has run two schools of ministry—Brownsville Revival School of Ministry and FIRE School of Ministry, which is associated with FIRE Church.
Brown was a leader of the Brownsville Revival, which drew millions to Florida in the 1990s. The letter signers are former faculty, staff, students, and congregants from these ministries. Also signing the letter are former high-level ministry leaders and administrators at schools Brown led, such as Robert Gladstone, Keith Collins, and Niels Prip.
“Contrary to what some have said, none of us are bitter, vindictive, or living in unforgiveness—we simply want to see true accountability,” they wrote. “We believe it is right and proper for the Line of Fire (LOF) Board to require that Dr. Brown take a complete leave of absence from the ministry while these serious allegations are being investigated.”
TRR reached out to Brown for comment, but he didn’t respond.
Brown seemingly posts new content
Last month, Line of Fire board members said they’d urged Brown to take time off of public ministry due to the allegations. But Brown continued to post podcasts and videos. Some seemed pre-recorded, but some seemed to include new content.
In the pre-recorded introduction of a podcast from Jan. 3, Brown told listeners he was taking a “sabbatical.” But he made no mention of the allegations and instead seemed to indicate he needed a long-overdue break from ministry.
“This is a season where I pull back from public preaching and teaching and just spending extra time with the Lord, time and renewal in my own heart and life,” Brown said. “I started full-time vocational ministry in late 1983—so that is 41 years ago—and I’ve never taken a sabbatical in my life. Maybe the longest vacation was like two weeks.”
The petition claimed Brown was being dishonest.
“Listeners who know what’s happening can see this as dishonest; we feel that listeners who do not know are being misled,” the petition stated. “We feel strongly that Dr. Brown’s full leave of absence will be a much better example to the body of Christ than the mixed message his continued posts send, especially if his comments implicitly contradict facts.”
On the Jan. 3 podcast, Brown played a previously-recorded question-and-answer session about gaining freedom from strongholds of food.
“A genuinely broken man would not be sharing weight loss tips while his victims continue to suffer,” the petition states.
In a different podcast published Jan. 6, Brown promoted “Living in the Line of Fire,” a new book he’s written about his own life that is scheduled to be published in early March.
“It’s a tribute to the Lord for my first 70 years and the grace he’s shown me and the miracles I’ve seen of His providence and lessons learned called ‘Living in the Line of Fire,’” he said in the podcast.
“It seems inappropriate and tone-deaf for Dr. Brown to talk about his forthcoming autobiography in this new podcast, which likely will not include this present situation that he is facing,” the petition stated. “Someone who is being investigated for sexual sin (and the covering up of that sexual sin) should not be peddling a book they wrote about their spiritual exploits as the investigation is going on. His seeming inability to empathize with victims is astonishing.”
Over decades, many former faculty, congregants, and staff have tried to confront Brown about his interactions with Monk but said Brown wasn’t repentant.
“For a period of 23 years, it seems to us that Dr. Brown has not been willing to face these allegations with transparency or biblical repentance and restoration,” the petition states. “Each time, he deflected, downplayed, and continued in public ministry without genuine biblical accountability, as we understand it.”
After TRR published the sexual misconduct allegations, The Line of Fire Board hired Firefly Investigators to investigate. The International House of Prayer-Kansas City also is using Firefly to investigate sexual misconduct allegations by its founder Mike Bickle.
In an email to Brown’s board, Monk asked the board to meet with advocates they trust, including Shelanu TV President Ron Cantor, former FIRE School of Ministry leaders Bob Gladstone and Keith Collins, and Mike Lubanovic, former pastor of FIRE Church.
Bernis said he met with that group by Zoom.
“It was an amicable discussion, and we agreed to disagree on certain requests,” Bernis said in an email to TRR.
Bernis said the investigation will begin soon and the ministry will publish the investigator’s summary report in full.
The latest copy of the letter urges Brown’s board not to allow him to post any new content.
“Once again, we call on the (Line of Fire) Board to require that Dr. Brown . . . discontinue uploading new content created after September 13, the day Dr. Brown became aware The Roy’s (sic) Report and others were ‘gunning for me,’—that is, that they were investigating him for clergy sexual abuse and spiritual abuse,” the letter states. “It simply sends the wrong message, as if he, and by extension, you, are not taking this present situation seriously.”