As a result of Brian Houston and his Global Board’s continual engagement of cover-up, the schism within Hilsong’s Global Board and leadership is growing. Elders and leaders know they are being mishandled and lied to. In the article below from Crikey, they report Terry Crist experiencing first hand Brian Houston lying to him.
Watch the footage below (1:18:50) that was live streamed on Hillsong’s YouTube channel. If it is taken down, the relevant snippet will be re-uploaded to Church Watch Central:
Source: Hillsong Church Phoenix | Terry Crist “40 Days of Deeper Devotion – The Enemy Within”, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD52j8BDdb4, Livestreamed on Mar 21, 2022. (Accessed mar 21, 2022.)
These scandals are just the tip of the iceberg. Many other scandals are still to come to light within Hillsong, as Tanya Levin appears to be suggesting in her ‘Leaving Hillsong Facebook post’ on March 18, when news of the first Hillsong emergency occurred:
“One day, when David has been too glorified, Uriah’s children might tell the story of a king who should have been at war with his men, but instead remained in Jerusalem.”
The bigger news from Crikey today was another last minute Hillsong emergency meeting. Read the report below:
David Hardaker reports:
Another Hillsong emergency meeting today — does it portend the end of days for Brian Houston?
Hillsong Church is holding another meeting today, one its senior pastor ‘wasn’t looking forward’ to delivering.
It appears that more grim news is on the way for Hillsong Church today, with yet another all-staff meeting being called — Crikey’s sources tell us — for 1pm in Sydney.
As we understand it, Hillsong’s senior pastor, Phil Dooley, will be conveying news he “wasn’t looking forward” to delivering.
What more could be in store following the extraordinary revelations last week that two women had made complaints about the behaviour of Pastor Brian Houston, Hillsong’s figurehead and (stood-aside) global pastor?
The “clear the air” meeting called last week has failed to draw the line under a roiling discontent and a hardening mood for change at the top of Hillsong. The momentum for change is coming now from the most senior ranks of the church, including from board members and the group of ten elders that have guided the organisation over its past two decades of extraordinary growth. As far as Crikey can tell, these senior figures are angry that they were not aware of allegations against Houston, in particular that allegations made in 2013, were only now emerging.
A culture of secrecy lies behind Hillsong’s malaise, and it’s starting to unravel
There is now a deep schism between these senior figures and a small grouping of men around Brian Houston, who are loyal to him and who have “handled” problems in secret over several years.
At the same time there have been, as Crikey understands it, several resignations of mid-level staff since last week’s meeting.
The biggest question of all, of course, is the future of Brian Houston himself. Houston is now in a nether world of being the “stood-aside” global pastor. There but not there. It’s like the royal family without the Queen doing duty.
Hillsong is Houston and Houston is Hillsong in a way that does not apply to other religious organisations. He is the celebrity face. He is the friend of prime ministers and premiers. He is the rainmaker, the charismatic figurehead who drags in millions of dollars through tithes from congregants and from enchanted Christian businesspeople.
But he is now severely damaged goods, after revelations last week that the good man — the best of men — had sinned. He also faces at least another nine months in his “stood-aside” state pending a magistrates’ hearing on charges that he concealed information about his father’s sexual abuse of a boy. If committed for trial, he would need a further 12 to 18 months to absent himself from the great stage of Hillsong.
Crikey is aware that the Houston family is unhappy at the way Brian has been dumped in it publicly. After all we’ve done for you…
They have been taking to private social media forums to express their anger and disappointment. They are distressed that Houston appears to have been abandoned and in a vulnerable state.
Houston is now in the United States. The church has spoken of the need for Houston to take time to heal. And it is in the United States — which has become Hillsong’s unofficial headquarters — that disappointment runs deep.
Influential Hillsong pastor Terry Crist has accused Houston of deceiving him when the two met face to face. As the senior pastor of three west coast Hillsong campuses in the USA — at Phoenix, Las Vegas and Tucson — Crist’s comments carry weight.
“This past week has been one of the most difficult and gut-wrenching weeks in my entire life. My Pastor, my friend, one of my heroes was exposed for inappropriate and sinful behaviour. And my heart is broken for him, for his wife, his family. And our church is struggling across the planet with shock and shame,” Crist told his congregation last Sunday.
Crist told them that he had met with Houston on Tuesday last week. “I asked him two questions. Number one: ‘have you ever covered up any form of sexual assault in our church?’ And number two: ‘have you committed adultery?’
“And Pastor Brian assured me that neither were true. He had done neither and neither had happened.
“I found out the following day that while we believe those answers to be true, there was a story that was about to break. A story that Pastor Brian elected not to share with me on that moment. And since then, he has apologised for not being transparent with me. On Wednesday, I learned of his behaviour,” the pastor said.
The portents are that Brian won’t be coming back.
Source: By David Hardaker, ‘Another Hillsong emergency meeting today — does it portend the end of days for Brian Houston?’, https://www.crikey.com.au/2022/03/23/another-hillsong-emergency-meeting-today/?fbclid=IwAR1gHRGxw9eNEnZSP2Cy8k7pZjXV1aQ-esiVAiLGA-8nVDi9cGw3h9dMtTk, March 23, 2022. (Accessed March 23, 2022.)
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“Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?” Galatians 4:16
Categories: Hillsong