When I first heard Christine Caine—abuse survivor, pastor, and founder of the anti-human trafficking organization A21—it was during the launch of her new organization Propel Women at Liberty University in 2015. I was beginning my journey toward Egalitarianism, embracing a theology of equality for both men and women, and her Wednesday night sermon was the tipping point for finally accepting women as pastors.

In an open letter to Christine after hearing her preach I wrote:

“Dear Christine Caine,
We have never met but I wanted to tell you: you changed my life… This was the very first time I had ever heard a woman preach and you did so with a passion, fervor, and humility that was truly stunning… All of the doubts in my mind that God could use a woman to lead and preach were laid to rest as the Spirit moved through your bold, feminine voice. I felt like the Holy Spirit whispered to me that night, ‘this is for you.’”

Christine’s example of egalitarianism and unapologetic preaching—especially her preaching on her experiences of childhood abuse—was truly an undeniable factor in gaining the courage to follow God’s call on my life to become an ordained minister myself.

In those early years of recovering and developing my voice, I listened to her sermons many times over and shared her interview “It is Possible to have Ministry and Marriage” on Facebook over and over again, along with dozens of her empowering Facebook quotes.

Even as my theology evolved and I became more progressive than Ms. Caine in some areas, I could not help but name her has one of my heroes when asked during an interview earlier this year.

Even my book The Courage Coach was not complete without a page being dedicated to a Christine Caine quote:

“Courage, after all, is not the absence of fear. It’s the will to persevere even in the face of fear.” —Christine Caine

So it is with a broken and crushed heart that I feel obligated to write what I am writing today. Christine Caine was my hero, my inspiration, and a large contributor to my sense of calling as both an ordained minister and advocate for the abused.

On November 18th I read an article from 9News: “60 Minutes: Hillsong Church founder under police investigation over handling of father’s sex crimes” which stated,

“In 2014, [Hillsong senior pastor] Brian Houston gave evidence before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse, which later found he had failed to take the matter to the police and had a conflict of interest in dealing with the complaints against his father.”

For those who are not familiar, Christine Caine is deeply connected to Hillsong Church and its founder, Brian Houston. It is my understanding that Hillsong was the church that ordained Ms. Caine and gave her the platform she holds today.

Christine Caine has used her platform as a survivor and advocate for years and is slated to speak as an expert on the subject at the GC2 Summit on Responding to Sexual Violence, an initiative of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College in partnership with the Wheaton College School of Psychology, Counseling, & Family Therapy.

Initially, when I saw her name on the list for GC2 speakers I was happy to see a survivor, advocate, woman, person of color, and woman preacher be included. It was upon understanding the depth of the problem at Hillsong—and how Brian Houston and many around him covered up Frank Houston’s abuse by failing to report these crimes to the police—that I was deeply concerned by Caine’s ongoing silence. To my knowledge she has not released a statement condemning Brian Houston’s inaction and ongoing deflection.

It was with this concern that I made a polite request through a direct Tweet:

To read the rest of this very important article, click on this link.