Hillsong Founder Brian Houston Has Resigned Amid Scandal(s)
For those still keeping score, according to Hillsong Church founder Brian Houston, his church does “not affirm a gay lifestyle and because of this we do not knowingly have actively gay people in positions of leadership,” but they are apparently fine with *exclusively heterosexual* serial cheating, unsolicited dick pics, rampant sexual harassment, fostering a “culture of silence and fear” and bringing dinosaurs back to life, as long as you don’t get caught. And that latter one is actually OK to do in public as long as it’s reflected in your tithes. Don’t like the rules? Well too bad, they come from the top. Despite what you know is true, Hillsong does not traffic in hypocrisy and that’s why Brian has resigned from his position as Global Senior Pastor of Hillsong Church after getting caught having “behaved inappropriately” with two women. Just two? Some leader, hey? Carl Lentz is looking at those numbers and shaking his head. They could have had a real one!
I’m sure Brian would have resigned sooner, but he was able to get away with just resigning from the board last December when he was arrested and charged by an Australian court for allegedly concealing his late father’s admission to having molested a 7-year-old boy. According to ABC-AU, his dad, Frank Houston, was the founder of his own megachurch, the Sydney Christian Life Centre, which merged with Hillsong when it was founded in 1999. But now, without him on the board, Hillsong is coming clean about complaints against Brian that were previously “dealt with confidentiality” because they were “still working through a number of issues privately with Pastor Brian.” But they’re coming clean now because “these issues are now public.” Oopsie! That’s the title of chapter 2 in the Hillsong code of conduct subtitled So You’ve Been *exclusively heterosexually* Caught. Insider reports:
Brian Houston, the founder of the Australia-based Hillsong megachurch and also one of its pastors, has resigned following the church’s revelations that he behaved inappropriately with two women.
“We would like to advise you that Pastor Brian Houston has resigned as Global Senior Pastor of Hillsong Church and the board has accepted his resignation,” said the church’s board in a statement on Tuesday.
In the first incident, which happened in 2013, Brian was accused of sending inappropriate text messages to a female staff member, which prompted her to resign. And the second incident happened at Hillsong’s annual conference in NWS, Australia where Brian was accused of entering a stranger’s hotel room after a night of drinking. In both instances, Hillsong claims Brian was under the influence of oopsie pills (they’re on the flow chart of acceptable excuses towards the end of chapter 2). According to ABC-AU:
The first incident, detailed in the letter and by Pastor Dooley, involved “inappropriate text messages” sent to a female staffer which led to her resigning.
Pastor Dooley, in an emotional video conference, said the texts were along the lines of: “‘If I was with you, I’d like to kiss and cuddle you,’ words of that nature”.
The Hillsong Global Board said Mr Houston at the time was “under the influence of sleeping tablets, upon which he had developed a dependence”.
“He immediately apologised to the person. We also worked with Pastor Brian to ensure he received professional help to eliminate his dependency on this medication, and this was achieved successfully.”
When she returned months later and told the church she was unable to find employment after resigning, Mr Houston paid “a couple of months salary” as compensation from his own pocket.
“Pastor Brian said, ‘I want to pay that personally because it was my fault,’ because it was personal indiscretion,” Pastor Dooley said.
What a sweetie, or words of that nature! He also reportedly paid the church out of pocket when the woman asked for a donation she made to the church be returned to her. As to the second complaint, Brain told the board that nothing sexual happened when he entered the hotel room of a woman who was not his wife.
Pastor Dooley said Mr Houston met a woman, who was not a member of the church, in the foyer of the Pullman Hotel.
“It was after one of the conference nights and he was drinking with a group,” Pastor Dooley said.
“Later that evening, Pastor Brian attempted to get into his room but didn’t have his room key and ended up knocking on the door to the woman’s room.
“She opened the door and he went into her room.
“The truth is we don’t know what happened next. The woman has not said there was any sexual activity. Brian has said there was no sexual activity but he was in the room for 40 minutes.”
The board said an investigation found Mr Houston “became disorientated… following the consumption of anti-anxiety medication beyond the prescribed dose, mixed with alcohol”.
Pastor Dooley said after the incident, the woman’s conference fee and her “Kingdom Builder” donation were returned. Both were personally paid for by Mr Houston.
After that incident, Brian promised to be a good boy, took three months off, and promised to abstain from alcohol. Hillsong says “unfortunately, he didn’t abide by that,” and he kept a’preachin’ and a’swillin’ until the law came a’knockin’. That’s when Brian decided it would be “‘best practice’ for me to step aside completely from church leadership during the court proceedings.” Now he’s out completely and is expected to plea “not guilty” in his upcoming trial set to begin in October. ABC-AU adds:
Frank Houston, who died in 2004, is accused of the alleged abuse of a young man back in the 1970s.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard Frank Houston admitted to the abuse, which took place in Australia and New Zealand.
He was allowed to retire from the church before the abuse became public.
I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be a prude or anything but I can no longer in good conscious affirm *exclusively heterosexual* lifestyles. It’s just too risky. And I’m not even talking about the dinosaurs!
Pic: Instagram