In a statement released on Jan. 8, The Line of Fire (TLOF) board said that Firefly will conduct a third-party investigation into claims of sexual misconduct against TLOF founder and president, 69-year-old Dr. Michael L. Brown.
Firefly is an organization that conducts independent investigations pertaining to sexual abuse. The organization describes itself as a team of “current and retired law enforcement investigators, seasoned therapists, and forensic interviewers from throughout the country.” Firefly states that its “team is experienced in investigating sexual and physical abuse, along with working to heal the trauma that often follows.”
Last month, a woman named Erin told The Roys Report that Brown, who was a father figure to her, would frequently hold her hand, kiss her on the lips, and slap her butt. The alleged misconduct took place when Erin was in her early 20s and Brown was in his mid-40s.
“I can categorically state that in my 53 years in the Lord and more than 50 years with [my wife] Nancy, I have never committed adultery or been sexually intimate with another woman, nor do the charges allege that,” Brown said in a statement given to ChurchLeaders.
“Nancy and I did have a relationship with the woman in question and considered her to be like a family member, and she conducted herself as one who viewed our relationship the same way,” Brown added. “But she was not a family member, and aspects of my interaction with her, although totally non-sexual in every way, reflected a definite lack of judgment on my part.”
Brown said that he and his wife were “shocked” and “horrified” by the “mix of accusations, allegations, false statements, and mischaracterizations.”
In his statement, Brown explained that Erin informed him in 2002 that she was made “uncomfortable” by an interaction with Brown that took place “months earlier.” Brown said that he and his wife immediately met with Erin so that he could apologize. “To our knowledge, everything was good between us,” Brown said. “In the years that followed, at least through 2015, she contacted me sharing family updates, sending prayer requests, and checking in on Nancy and me.”
“Naturally,” Brown added, “we thought that everything was fine in every way. How could we have known otherwise?”
RELATED: Robert Morris Resigns as Gateway Church’s Senior Pastor Following Sexual Abuse Allegations
In a video statement on Dec. 17, 2024, Brown said, “In late 2001, the beginning of 2002, I developed an emotional, not a physical, tie with another individual. She and her husband were very close friends of ours.” Brown explained that due to the weight on his conscience, he confessed “everything to a close friend the first week of 2002.”
Brown continued, “I then went to Nancy, and with agonizing repentance, confessed to her with a broken heart, asked her forgiveness, and she forgave me deeply and totally.”