Michael Brown Faces Sexual Misconduct Allegations; Ministry Hires Third-Party Investigator
“Erin” was one of millions of believers whose faith in God was so transformed by the Brownsville Revival of the mid-1990s that she accepted a secretarial job at the revival’s ministry school in Pensacola, Florida. But in 2002, the 21-year-old suddenly cleared her desk, quietly left the state, and has struggled with her faith ever since.
Erin told The Roys Report (TRR) she left because she felt trapped when revival leader and FIRE School of Ministry founder Michael Brown—a man she called “Dad”—would frequently cross physical boundaries. He’d hold her hand, kiss her on the lips, and slap her bottom, she said.
“He was supposed to be a spiritual father,” Erin said. “He was supposed to look after me.”
TRR keeps alleged victims of sexual harassment and clergy sexual abuse anonymous, so Erin is a pseudonym. However, we confirmed her identity with former FIRE staff Kris Bennett and former FIRE missionary Katherine Marialke.
Michael Brown, 69, is founder of the Concord, North Carolina-based ministry, The Line of Fire (formerly AskDrBrown). He’s also a prolific author, radio host, revivalist, and Messianic Jewish leader.
In recent years, he’s sought reforms in the prophetic movement, following abuses committed by so-called “Trump prophets.” He also has provided accountability for high-profile Christian leaders, like Todd Bentley and Mike Bickle, who’ve been accused of sexual misconduct.
In 2017, at the beginning of the MeToo movement, Brown publicly called abusers to repent.
Last month, as TRR began reaching out to Brown for comment on this story, Brown told board members for The Line of Fire about Erin’s allegations, board member Cindy Panepinto told TRR.
Panepinto said Brown also revealed an emotional connection he had with a second woman more than 20 years ago,
“There was no physical aspect of that, but it was a soul tie,” Panepinto said of the second woman. “It was something he repented of to his wife and they both took care of it with their spouses.”
Two weeks ago, The Line of Fire Board hired the law firm Mitchell, Stein, Carey, and Chapman to conduct a third-party investigation. Lee Stein is a former U.S. attorney and former Arizona assistant attorney general.
Line of Fire board member Jonathan Bernis said the ministry will make the firm’s final report public when the investigation is complete.
In a written statement to TRR, Brown said he’s in agreement with the investigation because he’s “shocked and horrified” by the accusations, some of which he said are “false statements” and “mischaracterizations.” Brown denied ever committing adultery and said all interactions with Erin were “nonsexual” but lacked judgment.
“(A)spects of my interaction with her, although totally non-sexual in every way, reflected a lack of judgment on my part,” Brown wrote. “(I)f 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.”
‘I couldn’t understand what I saw’
In 1999, at age 18, Erin attended the Brownsville Revival School of Ministry.
Then in 2000, John Kilpatrick, former pastor of Brownsville Assembly of God where the revival originated, clashed with Brown over the direction of the ministry and fired Brown from his position as president of the Brownsville school.
In response, Brown started the FIRE School of Ministry. It would remain in Pensacola until 2003, when Brown relocated it to North Carolina.
Erin followed Brown to FIRE, which is about the time when she says Brown asked her to call him, “Dad.” Since her home life was difficult, she initially enjoyed his attention and the notes they’d write to each other.
Erin’s sister told TRR Erin had special access to Brown.
“I looked at it as a blessing because of the respect that we all have for him,” the sister said.
Erin said she hadn’t been at FIRE even a year before Brown initiated physical touching. Once, she said Brown made a big deal of the handholding to other people while together in a vehicle.
“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.
Then one day when they were alone in his office, she said he asked for a kiss on the lips. She didn’t want to do it, so she gave him a chaste peck. But she said kisses on the lips became a pattern of their goodbyes when they’d been alone.
“It was no longer (Brown) was asking for a kiss,” she said. “It was (Brown) leaning down to get a kiss. . . . I knew I couldn’t stop it or I felt I couldn’t stop it.”
Erin said Brown also began smacking her rear end with his hand, which made her uncomfortable.
Others noticed the intimate dynamic and physical interactions:
- Former FIRE staff Londa Parker says she saw a note that Erin wrote to Brown. “It had his name on it,” Parker said. “It had hearts drawn all over it. . . . I got this sick feeling.”
- Gregg Montella, who assisted Brown on ministry trips, once walked in on Erin and Brown in his office. Montella said Erin was sitting on Brown’s lap. “I couldn’t understand what I saw,” he said. “I spun around really fast and just walked right out. . . . I thought, that’s odd. That’s gross. But this was in a time where people were talking so much about sonship and family and fatherhood of God.”
- Katherine Marialke, a former FIRE missionary, told TRR she saw Erin snuggling with Brown and sitting on Brown’s lap. She said she didn’t see Brown’s own daughters doing the same.
- Kris Bennett, Brown’s former assistant, told TRR he saw Brown holding Erin’s hand in a van late at night on a ministry trip.
- Keith Collins, former FIRE school director, told TRR that he saw Brown driving alone with Erin in a Wal-Mart parking lot.
Meanwhile, Brown’s school had strict modesty dress codes and rules about dancing, even at weddings, and restrictions on unchaperoned dating, with “very little grace” for those who didn’t meet standards, said Amber Rhodes, a former student of the Brownsville Revival School of Ministry.
“It was just like, ‘Purify, purify, revival fire, be holy as God is, live this perfect, blameless, stainless life,’” said Rhodes.
School leaders asked students to confess sexual sins at services in front of the student body, for offenses as small as swimming in a pool with someone of the opposite sex, said Carolyn Barry, another former FIRE staffer and long-time former friend of the Browns. (They are no longer speaking due to a separate matter.)
The confrontations
In 2002, Bennett said he told former FIRE Director Keith Collins, who was his boss, about the handholding.
So, Collins told TRR he and another leader confronted Brown. Collins said Brown admitted to poor judgment but explained it away as a father-daughter relationship with Erin. Collins said Brown also denied any sexual relationship and didn’t disclose the butt-smacking and kisses.
Bennett said Brown then rebuked Bennett for telling leaders rather than coming directly to Brown.
“Basically, it wasn’t a big deal. He hadn’t done anything wrong. And Kris had done the wrong thing,” Bennett recalled.
In Brown’s statement to TRR, he said that if he chastised anyone, it was because they accused him of having an affair.
However, Bennett told TRR he never accused Brown of having an affair.
Robert Gladstone, one of the former FIRE leaders, told TRR he also learned about the handholding. So, he confronted Brown in a series of emails, which Gladstone said were on an old computer and no longer accessible. But Gladstone said he wasn’t included in any meetings and Brown didn’t mention the butt-smacking and kissing.
“I trusted what I was told that they were non-romantic incidents, though unwise,” Gladstone said. “Now looking back, I realize I was really left on the periphery.”
A disturbing incident happened when Erin was housesitting for the Browns while they were away, she told TRR. The Browns told her she could sleep in their bedroom in their newly-built house, since the other bedrooms weren’t finished.
Erin said she would often leave short encouraging notes in Brown’s Bible, desk drawers, or coat pocket, and sometimes he’d write a note for her in return. So, she opened the drawer of his nightstand to hide a note for him when his handwriting on a yellow legal pad caught her eye. But she said Brown’s words described an inappropriate situation Brown had with a married woman associated with the Brownsville school.
“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.
Previously, she said she assumed the interactions she’d had with Brown, which sometimes felt off, were what a healthy father-daughter relationship should be. But reading that note made her see the interactions in a new light.
“It was the realization that what was happening between us was wrong, even though, when it would happen, I would know it was wrong, I didn’t know it was wrong,” Erin said. “When I found the note, I was like, ‘This is wrong. Everything’s wrong.’”
In 13 states, plus the District of Columbia, adult clergy sexual abuse (ACSA), in which clergy engage in sexual interactions with people in their care, is against the law and is not considered consensual. ACSA expert David Pooler says offenders will often create a culture where physical touching is accepted and break down physical boundaries gradually during a “grooming” period. He said they’ll also exploit human needs for connection so that victims will try to protect the offender out of love.
Florida does not criminalize ACSA. However, the federal Civil Rights Act protects workers against sexual harassment in the workplace.
Erin was conflicted about what to do. She said she thought about reporting this to someone at FIRE, but she didn’t think others would believe her word against Brown’s. Also, she said she didn’t want to leave her job, and she still cared for Brown as a father figure.
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