Michael Brown deactivating X account amid investigation into abuse allegations
Days after admitting to exercising a “definite lack of judgment” but denying allegations he engaged in sexual misconduct with a former female staffer he treated like a “family member” 23 years ago, Michael Brown, the founder of FIRE School of Ministry, says he will deactivate his account on the social media platform X until the investigation into the claims concludes.
“Because I can't make any comments on the current situation I'm dealing with until the investigation is completed, I'm going to deactivate my account until then. May the Lord be glorified. Feel free to screenshot this post while it's up,” Brown, who is also host of the nationally syndicated Line of Fire radio program, wrote on X Saturday to his 63,000 followers.
About three weeks ago, the Line of Fire Board reportedly hired the law firm Mitchell, Stein, Carey, and Chapman to conduct a third-party investigation into the abuse allegations against Brown. The board has pledged to make the results of the investigation public once it's complete.
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The former female staffer, who was only identified by her pseudonym, Erin, by The Roys Report, said she quit working at the FIRE School of Ministry in 2002 when she was just 21 because she had grown uncomfortable with Brown’s frequent slapping of her buttocks, kisses on the lips, and hand-holding episodes.
“He was supposed to be a spiritual father,” Erin told TRR. “He was supposed to look after me.”
In 1999, Erin said, when she was 18, she attended the Brownsville Revival School of Ministry, where Brown served as president until he was fired in 2000. Brown then started the FIRE School of Ministry in Pensacola, Florida, where the school operated until 2003, when it was relocated to North Carolina.
Erin explained that she followed Brown to his startup school, and he asked her to call him “Dad” and she obliged.
She recalled that because she had endured a difficult home life, she initially enjoyed the attention Brown paid her. She said they would write endearing notes to each other.
“I looked at it as a blessing because of the respect that we all have for him,” Erin’s sister told TRR.
According to Erin, in less than a year of her working at the new school, Brown — who was involved with providing guidance to the International House of Prayer Kansas City as they navigated founder Mike Bickle’s sexual misconduct scandal — started holding her hands.
“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.
The handholding eventually progressed to other contact, including kissing. Erin said she was alone in Brown’s office one day when he asked her to kiss him on the lips. She said she didn’t want to kiss him, so she gave him a peck that day. Kisses on the lips, however, would become a part of their goodbyes when they spent time alone.
“It was no longer (Brown) was asking for a kiss,” she recalled. “It was (Brown) leaning down to get a kiss. ... I knew I couldn’t stop it, or I felt I couldn’t stop it.”
Brown later began slapping Erin’s buttocks habitually, Erin said.
In a statement to The Christian Post that was also shared with The Roys Report, which published the allegations on Dec. 2, Brown denied the allegations even though multiple former employees of his ministry said they witnessed what appeared to be inappropriate behavior between him and Erin, including her sitting in his lap.
“Both Nancy and I were shocked and horrified by the mix of accusations, allegations, false statements, and mischaracterizations. That’s why we wholeheartedly supported our board’s immediate decision to launch a thorough third-party investigation,” Brown said.
“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. 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.”
Contact: leonardo.blair@christianpost.com Follow Leonardo Blair on Twitter: @leoblair Follow Leonardo Blair on Facebook: LeoBlairChristianPost
