(NC)
The Roys Report [Chicago IL]
December 7, 2024
By Rebecca Hopkins
Following allegations of sexual misconduct, Messianic Jewish scholar Michael Brown is taking time off from his public ministry, according to Brown’s ministry, The Line of Fire.
“We have strongly encouraged Mike that he does no public ministry,” said Scott Volk, board member for The Line of Fire in a statement to The Roys Report (TRR). “He’s cancelled speaking engagements for the months of November and December. And from my understanding, he normally writes numerous articles a week. He’s not doing that.”
Brown’s board said it did not know if Brown would also take a break from his radio and podcast ministry.
TRR reported Monday that a woman, using the pseudonym “Erin,” said in 2002, when she was 21 and Brown was in his 40s, Brown crossed several physical boundaries with her.
On multiple occasions, Brown held her hand, smacked her bottom with his hand, and kissed her on the lips, she said. The woman was working as a secretary at the time, and Brown was leading and building FIRE School of Ministry, a ministry birthed from the Brownsville revival of the 1990s.
In a previous statement to TRR, Brown said he used a “lack of judgment” in his relationship with Erin but did nothing sexual.
Last month, The Line of Fire’s board hired attorneys Mitchell, Stein, Carey, and Chapman (MSCC) to conduct a third-party investigation.
But according to its website, MSCC has worked as defense attorneys for Fortune 500 companies and for college students accused of sexual misconduct. Advocates raised concerns online about MSCC’s ability to investigate allegations of abuse. And Erin told TRR she would not participate.
In response, the board is considering hiring a different entity because it wants an impartial investigator with whom Erin will engage, said Jonathan Bernis, spokesperson for The Line of Fire board.
“Our desire from the beginning was to find the truth, and the hiring of the law firm was not in any way to vindicate Michael Brown,” said Bernis.
At the suggestion of Ron Cantor, president of Shelanu TV, The Line of Fire board considered hiring Firefly, but the organization isn’t available until February, Bernis said. Firefly is the third-party that is investigating alleged sexual misconduct by Mike Bickle, founder of the International House of Prayer-Kansas City (IHOPKC).
“We want to do something as quick as we can and not wait until February,” Bernis said.
Cantor also released a public statement today critical of Brown and in support for Erin. In his statement, Cantor said he reached out to Brown about the allegations six weeks ago.
At the end of a “multi-day conversation, which included many pages of emails, I found (Brown’s) answers lacking and inconsistent with the idea of an innocent father/daughter relationship,” Cantor wrote. “I was also troubled by the lack of candor regarding the second incident with a married mother.”
Cantor said he also spoke with Erin and “found her narrative disturbing and heartbreaking.”
Cantor wrote that he urged Brown to step back from ministry weeks ago, but Brown never got back to him after saying he’d pray about it. So Cantor contacted Brown’s board, who said they’d initiate a third-party investigation.
Despite these actions by The Line of Fire board, a leaked internal email from its sister organization, FIRE International, blamed TRR for spreading “division, anger, and hurt and ruined reputations.”
“Their desire is not healing nor reconciliation nor restoration but to destroy and humiliate,” the FIRE International internal email stated. “They are in agreement with the Accuser of the brethren.”
Similarly, FIRE Church, another sister organization, sent out an email yesterday that was similarly worded, accusing TRR of spreading division, and urging people not to gossip.
“Let me encourage you not to engage in premature judgments, gossip of any kind, or join in vain conversations,” wrote FIRE Church Pastor Chris Williams. “And ask Jesus how you should respond to anything on social media or even if you should respond at all.”
‘We stand with Dr. Brown’
The FIRE International email, which included three attachments, was sent to FIRE International missionaries and was signed by FIRE International President Josh Peters, Josh’s wife Tobi Peters, FIRE International Chief Operating Officer Dion Light, and Andy and Karyn Pricer, deputy directors of FIRE International’s field operations.
“We stand with Dr. Brown and his statement,” the FIRE International leaders wrote.
Peters also urged FIRE International’s missionaries not to quickly judge Brown or other FIRE International leaders’ handling of the allegations.
“Please don’t jump to conclusions that are based on opinion,” Peters wrote in an email. “Please know that we were not hiding anything from you.”
The joint letter stated several reasons why FIRE International did not share details of the allegations concerning Brown with its missionaries earlier. For one, they said that the matter was “dealt with” 23 years ago.
However, Erin told TRR that no FIRE School of Ministry staff or leaders invited her to any meetings about the allegations in the early 2000s. They also did not ask her to be interviewed for any official investigations at that time into Brown’s alleged misconduct towards her, Erin said.
TRR reached out to Peters, requesting documentation of FIRE’s handling of the allegations 23 years ago. We also asked what disciplinary or restoration process Brown underwent, but Peters did not reply.
In the letter, the FIRE International leaders also claimed that TRR asked Peters only about Ryan Bruss, not Michael Brown. (Bruss is Brown’s son-in-law whom The Line of Fire hired after Bruss was fired for sexual misconduct.) The letter added, “. . . and (Peters’) response, like all the other responses, are slanted to make Brown appear guilty.”
What the FIRE International letter omitted, however, is that Peters was the one who reached out to TRR, stating that Brown had asked him to speak to TRR about Bruss. TRR reached out to Peters yesterday asking how he believes TRR “slanted” his response, but Peters did not immediately respond.
In one of the attachments to the letter to FIRE International missionaries, Peters likened Brown’s sin to sin of biblical figures like David, Paul, Sampson, and Gideon that God still used.
“He forgave all of them and used them for HIS glory,” Peters wrote. “He who is without sin cast the first stone.”
The leaders also wrote that while they are sorry that Erin has been in pain about this for years, they believe her healing can come only through forgiveness.
“We pray for her healing,” they wrote. “However, healing must be found through forgiveness and emotional healing that only comes from the Lord.”
Erin told TRR she came forward only after other members of the FIRE community had asked her to speak.
“I would like it to be known I did not seek anyone about the situation,” she said. “I was sought out.”
Former FIRE School of Ministry staffer* Amber Rhodes told TRR she invited Erin to share her story because Rhodes wanted Erin to have a chance to tell what happened in her own words.
“I encouraged her to share her story herself, so it wasn’t from someone else’s limited perspective,” Rhodes said.
Erin said, “Forgiveness has come from speaking the truth.”
Also this week, Brown sent out a donor appeal letter for his The Line of Fire ministry saying his ministry was under unspecified “demonic attacks.”
“(W)e’ve faced the fiercest, most intense, demonic attacks in our ministry’s history (and perhaps in the half-century that Nancy and I have been together),” Brown wrote in his letter. “It has been insidious and ugly, an effort of Satan designed to weaken us, deplete our energy, drain our funds, and stop the work.”
In Cantor’s statement today, he wrote that the Line of Fire board told him they plan “to apologize for the fundraising email that went out the day after The Roys Report article dropped.”
Board Spokesperson Jonathan Bernis told TRR that Brown’s letter was not intentionally a response to our report Monday. Brown wrote and scheduled the sending of the letter weeks ago.
“(Brown) was also very disappointed it went out,” Bernis said.
Brown also spoke on Heather Schott’s Mercy Culture’s podcast on the topic of women in ministry leadership, which Schott released Wednesday.
Bernis said he was unaware of the podcast.
TRR also reached out to Brown for comment. He responded that The Line of Fire board had asked him to decline comment until their investigation is finished.
*This copy has been changed to show Amber Rhodes was a staffer at FIRE School of Ministry, not a student.