Michael Brown Firefly Investigation COMPLETED. The Line Of Fire Board Releases Statement
The law firm conducting a third-party investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against Dr. Michael Brown has completed its investigation and handed the summary report to The Line of Fire Board and Elder team, according to a brief statement posted to his website.
Late last year, Brown was accused by Sarah Erin Monk of sexually inappropriate conduct that would frequently cross physical boundaries, including holding her hand, kissing her on the lips, and slapping her butt. Further, it was alleged that he’d had a sexual affair with another unnamed woman.
In response to the first claim, Brown has admitted some aspects and denied other, writing, “My interaction with her, although totally non-sexual in every way, reflected a definite lack of judgment on my part…(they were) certainly foolish and irresponsible – but neither sexual nor amorous in any way.”
To the latter, he insisted that he never committed adultery and he never crossed the line sexually. Brown says that the unnamed woman (who passed away in 2021) and her husband were close friends of his, and he developed an inappropriate “emotional, not a physical tie” to her during these months, but that it was ultimately confessed to both spouses in 2002.
We have spoken to a source close to the matter, and they say Brown and his team are confident that Firefly’s investigation will not yield any “substantive surprises” and that their findings will line up with what Brown has already admitted to, even with Firefly’s elevated definition of abuse.
Firefly has previously noted that their investigation will take a “wider view of sexual abuse and sexually abusive misconduct to include not only abuse within the historically narrow understanding of those terms (sexual assault and battery without consent) but also to include physical and nonphysical conduct that a person suffers, submits to, participates in, or performs due to the deception, manipulation, coercion, grooming (children and adults) and/or intimidation by another.“
While Brown has stepped back from ministry during the course of his investigation, he has received criticism for releasing his memoir Living in the Line of Fire: How God Can Turn Rebels Into Revivalists and Broken People Into World-Changers while waiting for the results. The book is the “life story” of Brown, who explains in the preface that he did not write the book to be “self-aggrandizing” but rather “to testify to the amazing goodness and faithfulness and mercy and power of God, to encourage others with what He can do through a frail, human vessel, to demonstrate that all things are possible to the one who believes.”
Brown and his team have begun sending out books to ministry supporters, which we shared would happen in our exclusive post, with an accompanying letter describing the release of the book occurring in God’s ‘divine timing.’ (full text published below)
As for the timing of the book’s publication (planned many months in advance as is the custom of publishers), it is interesting that news of Living in the Line of Fire’s release occurs in the midst of the most challenging season of my life. This is divine timing, for as you’ll read, some of the most intense trials of my life in the past were God’s method of preparation for greater service and greater outpouring in the days to come.
Dear Faithful Friend,
DR. MICHAEL BROWN
Please accept this brand new book as our personal gift to you from The Line of Fire team and from me. We truly pray it will bless you and inspire you!
When some friends urged me to write my life story a few years ago, I resisted the idea, as I explain in the book’s preface. But once I started the writing process, being prompted by the Lord, my own heart was stirred as I recounted His faithfulness. This is my tribute to Him! And I declare with faith and great anticipation: the best is yet to come!
As you read Living in the Line of Fire for yourself, remember that as a Torchbearer and supporter of this ministry, you are part of this book too. Together, we really have made a difference. This book, then, is our way of saying “thank you” for your love and support and prayers and faithfulness. As you read it, may the words on each page inspire you to dream your dreams in Him and run your race for Him.
God is no respecter-of-persons, so by all means, if my book is a blessing to you, use it to encourage your friends in the Lord too. You play a key role together with us in helping fulfill the divine mandate to “get My Church healthy.”
As for the timing of the book’s publication (planned many months in advance as is the custom of publishers), it is interesting that news of Living in the Line of Fire’s release occurs in the midst of the most challenging season of my life. This is divine timing, for as you’ll read, some of the most intense trials of my life in the past were God’s method of preparation for greater service and greater outpouring in the days to come.
That’s why I’m so excited to see what the future holds-and you’ll be part of that too!
About Author
That’s what he gets for messing around with a monk. Why not just leave them alone in their monasteries, after all?
“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.” – Eph. 5:3