Although an independent investigator determined that apologist Michael Brown previously engaged in sexual misconduct, an accountability team at his ministry has rejected those findings. Brown, founder and president of The Line of Fire (TLOF), faced sexual abuse allegations from more than two decades ago. In January, his ministry’s board hired Firefly to conduct a third-party investigation.
Earlier this month, Firefly released a report detailing what it called “inappropriate and unacceptable” actions Brown that had taken “toward…two females.” Firefly said its findings “highlighted the seriousness of the actions,” though it noted “these were isolated incidents, confined to 2001 and 2002.”
Despite that report, the Elder Accountability (EA) team is recommending to TLOF board of directors that “Dr. Brown be released to public ministry with the hope that a new dimension of humility and strength of character may be added to his already broad field of Biblical knowledge.”
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In its April 28 statement, the EA team wrote that though it “does not condone how Dr. Brown conducted himself back in 2001 and 2002,” the sin is not “grievous enough to be disqualified from ministry.”
Brown made “a sincere effort to follow Biblical Due Process as he understood it in both cases” and has “repented and received forgiveness,” wrote the team, adding that it believes Brown’s “years ahead will be the most fruitful of all, marked by a greater humility and Christlikeness.”
Michael Brown Issued Apology After Accuser Went Public
Last December, Sarah Erin Monk, a former female staffer at Brown’s ministry, alleged that Brown had groomed her and engaged in inappropriate touching and kissing. Brown, now 70, initially denied the allegations but admitted using a “definite lack of judgment.” He said he welcomed a third-party investigation to address “mischaracterizations” of him.
Two weeks later, Brown issued an apology via video, asking for forgiveness for “my failings and poor judgment and any mishandling of these situations.” Brown said, “I’ll leave it to the investigation to uncover truth” but added that he was “taking full ownership of my actions and the pain I caused.” Monk immediately took issue with some aspects of Brown’s apology video, disputing his claim that he had apologized to her in a meeting.
The second alleged victim, now deceased, was a married woman who attended Brown’s church. That woman’s husband also took issue with portions of Brown’s December video apology.
Elder Accountability Team Disagrees With Misconduct Definitions
The EA team members, who had remained anonymous until April 28, offered several reasons for rejecting Firefly’s findings. The team—which lacked a trauma-informed counselor—wrote in its 27-page statement that it was concerned about how Firefly investigator Jim Holler defined “sexually abusive misconduct.”
Although Holler’s contract spells out his broad definition of the term, the EA team later rejected moving beyond the “historically narrow understanding of those terms.” Instead, the team characterized Brown’s behavior with Monk as “leadership misconduct” and his behavior with the second alleged victim as a “moral indiscretion.”
