'It's obvious he was a paedophile ..., by Emily Crane And Daniel Piotrowski And Lillian Radulova, Daily Mail (October 13, 2014)

'It's obvious he was a paedophile and that his behaviour was repetitive': Hillsong's Brian Houston believes his father sexually abused victims over a decade... and he fears there could be more

The son of Hillsong founder Frank Houston says it is obvious his father was a paedophile as he admits to not knowing how many victims the church leader allegedly sexually abused.

Brian Houston gave his first sermon at Hillsong on Sunday since testifying about his father's sexual abuse last week at a Royal Commission, amid claims he tried to cover up his dad's alleged paedophilia when he was first informed.

'At that time I thought there was one (victim) and then 12 months later it became clear there were many more, mostly in New Zealand,' Mr Houston told Today.

'It's obvious he was a paedophile and that his behaviour was repetitive and it seems like it was over a period of a decade in the late sixties and seventies.'

He said having to confront his paedophile father after he was told of his alleged sexual abuse was the 'worst day of my life'.

'The shock of finding out was just horrendous… and having to confront him in my office was even more horrendous and it was such a difficult moment,' he said.

'I think he knew it was about to come down on him – he was depressed and stressed. He knew he had done it and he admitted he had done it.

'It was tense and I did what I had to do which was suspending his ministry credential and he never preached again from that day.'

The senior pastor defended his decision to not inform police after finding out about his father's alleged sexual abuse because the victim, referred to only as AHA, did not want a police or church investigation.

'I find the cover up word frustrating because I genuinely don't believe it is right,' he said.

'This is one of the things that made it complicated. He was adamant he didn't want any kind of police investigation or even a church investigation, he just wanted it dealt with and he just wanted to know that justice was going to happen.'

Mr Houston said he believed he was doing the right thing at the time by informing the church's elders and the overarching Australian Christian Churches organisation.

Mr Houston said his congregation, who gathered in their thousands at the church at Bauklham Hills in western Sydney, gave him a standing ovation after he delivered his first sermon on Sunday addressing his father's sexual abuse.

'They responded warmly, they love us. There's people who are going to say what about the victim, who is giving them support – it's a fair question,' he told Today.

'It just grieves me that my father damaged lives to that extent, like literarily destroyed people's lives.

'It's also a humiliating thing – what worse thing to be told about your father that he's a paedophile. It's a cruel blow. I hate paedophilia.'

Mr Houston said those outside Hillsong had reacted differently to those inside to news of sexual abuse within the church.

'They have done the journey with us so there'd be very few people (at Hillsong) with any surprises. I've never hidden it from the church.'

Mr Houston was first told of the allegations made by the victim, AHA, in late October 1999 during his weekly meeting with the Hillsong's general manager George Aghajanian.

He originally told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse that he did not immediately report the incident to the police as he did not want to 'pre-empt' the victim.

'It hit me in a ten second period, in a wave, you never forget' the moment you find out your father is a paedophile,' he told the commission,

He told the hearing he first he had to get his head around his father being a homosexual, before he realised Mr Aghanajanian was talking about paedophilia.

Mr Houston then cried and went home.

'I was devastated, to be honest with you. Totally devastated.'

Last Tuesday, AHA told the commission Frank Houston would stay with his family when he came to Sydney from New Zealand in the 1970s.

AHA was seven when Frank Houston would come to his room, lie on him, fondle him and masturbate him, the alleged victim told the commission.

'I would wake up petrified and I would stay very still,' AHA said.

He said the abuse left him feeling ashamed, and he now suffered depression.

Mr Houston told the hearing that if AHA was under 18 - he was in his mid-30s at the time of the complaint - then he was 'absolutely certain' they would have gone to the police.

'Rightly or wrongly, I thought I would be pre-empting the victim if I were to have called the police at that point,' Mr Houston said.

Rules were set aside by the executive of the Pentecostal movement when it came to dealing with allegations against Frank Houston the national inquiry was told last week.

Keith Ainge, former national secretary of the Assemblies of God, an umbrella body for the Pentecostal churches, said that Brian Houston was the only conduit for information to the executive about allegations against his father.

The church elder told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that the first the national executive heard of allegations against Frank Houston was when his son Brian Houston called a special meeting of the executive on December 22, 1999.

Brian Houston was national president of the AoG. He had already suspended his father when he called the meeting.

Pastor Ainge on Thursday said that under AoG rules Frank Houston should have had his credentials withdrawn for abusing a child.