There was no evidence of “intentional grooming” of Monk by Brown, according to the EA team. Members also noted that Brown didn’t have the opportunity to rebut all the accusations, that Firefly didn’t include testimony from Brown’s wife (Nancy), that people should be presumed innocent, that Brown followed biblical due process, and that he repented and asked for forgiveness.
Brown’s accusers should have followed a “proper Matthew 18 process,” noted the EA team, rather than pursuing a “sentencing by a jury on social media.” That “unbiblical” approach, it added, “has caused irreparable damage to Dr. Brown’s credibility and ministry.”
The Firefly report indicated that fellow ministry leaders repeatedly tried to confront Brown about the accusations. It also pointed to an attempted coverup on Brown’s part, writing, “This pattern of deflection appears to be a calculated effort to evade accountability, suppress the allegations, and protect his ministry’s reputation.”
The EA team members said their “hearts go out” to Monk and her family, to the deceased accuser’s family, to Brown and his family, and to the ministry’s supporters, staffers, and former students.
The elders recommended that Brown seek counseling, maintain an accountability team, pay for Monk’s counseling expenses, and consider meeting with Monk and the surviving husband. They also made recommendations for Brown’s ministry, including transparency, accountability, background checks, and screening.
Reaction to Rejection of the Firefly Report
Ron Cantor, a former longtime friend of Brown’s, has been posting rebuttals to the EA team, which he said is “clearly being deceptive.” Cantor, an abuse advocate who serves as president of Shelanu TV, noted that the team didn’t reference the “power differential” between Brown and his alleged victims.
The EA team seemed to have taken Brown’s “narrative as gospel truth and completely [ignored] the fact that he had misled many people,” Cantor told The Roys Report, which published allegations against Brown last December.
Robert Gladstone, a former leader at Brown’s ministry, called the EA team’s report “more disappointing than I thought it would be.” Framing Brown’s inappropriate behavior as “isolated” ignores the continued “victims’ pain and the alleged ongoing lies,” he wrote.
Gladstone said the EA team “rewrote history regarding the original problem, calling it something they prefer and then isolating it to the past, and then they disregarded a very credible account of cover up.”
