(AUSTRALIA)
The Roys Report [Chicago IL]
August 22, 2024
By Josh Shepherd
Disgraced Hillsong founder Brian Houston and his wife, Bobbie, are asking for money for an online church venture. The longtime pastor says they’ve “got desperate needs” for a TV studio, while glossing over recent scandals and a government probe into past church spending.
“This is actually a dream I’ve had for some time,” said Brian Houston in the launch video for Jesus Followers TV, which premiered on July 28. The website describes the ministry as an “online platform and church . . . a trustworthy voice of hope and inspiration in the days ahead.”
Two years ago, Brian and Bobbie Houston resigned as global senior pastors of Hillsong Church based in Sydney, Australia, after an internal investigation revealed Brian had acted inappropriately toward two women. Hillsong’s board of directors stated that Houston had spent time alone in a hotel room with a woman, not his wife, in 2019 after consuming anti-anxiety medication and alcohol.
In the video, Houston glossed over past controversies, saying, “When we finished our time at Hillsong a couple years ago, it was obviously the end of a big season.”
Houston called Jesus Followers TV “a new church, a new community—and it’s online and it’s global (with) people all around the world.” He closed with an offering call, saying, “This is going to be a faith ministry, and I’m really believing God will give us a big, powerful group of partners.”
“Frankly, we’re starting with nothing and we’ve got desperate needs,” he added. “We’re believing God for a studio, and that comes with the need for not only television cameras but production crew . . . There’s television lights needed and LED screens and so many things.”
In late 2022, the Houstons reportedly sold their home in Sydney’s Hills District for $4.5 million along with two long-held luxurious apartments on Australia’s popular Bondi Beach.
Since then, Australian Member of Parliament Andrew Wilkie has launched an investigation into the Houstons’ alleged lavish spending during their years leading Hillsong. Wilkie noted frequent vacations and how the Houstons “treated private jets like Ubers, again all with church money.”
Despite the needs stated at launch, Jesus Followers TV has released sermon videos online for the past three Sundays. Viewership is a fraction of the Houstons’ once-global reach. Their YouTube channel has 740 subscribers, and a TikTok profile of video clips has 27 followers.
Hillsong, a Pentecostal powerhouse, reportedly still draws over 100,000 people to services in about 100 locations in 27 nations. However, some churches have disaffiliated from Hillsong and giving and attendance across the global church have declined in recent years.
Longtime Australian minister Stephen McAlpine, who lives in Sydney, told The Roys Report (TRR) that Christians are concerned about the Houstons’ rapid reemergence in public ministry.
“People do find it troubling, but not surprising,” he said. “In a subset of evangelicalism, returns to ministry occur without consideration around appropriate time out or reparations.”
McAlpine added that some “deeper questions” remain unanswered. “How do megachurches do accountability outside of their own, self-interested structures?” he asked. “There seems little time to pause and lament. And it doesn’t reflect a biblical approach to church discipline.”
‘I brought trouble to myself (and) my family.’
Revelations of Houston’s alleged sexual misconduct and subsequent resignation in 2022 from the global megachurch that he and his wife co-founded made headlines worldwide.
In the recent video message, Houston vaguely referred to “mistakes,” while expounding on a Scripture passage about how a man’s moral compromise brought harm to the Israelite nation.
“You know, I made mistakes,” preached Houston, “—not some of the mistakes that have been published, which are false narratives. But I did make mistakes. And not only did I bring trouble to myself, I brought trouble to my camp, to my family.”
Over the past two years, the longtime pastor has complained that he was “betrayed,” “lied about,” and “defrauded.” But the couple have also been building towards a ministry comeback.
Months after resigning from Hillsong, the Houstons led a worship service hosted at a theater just three miles from the Hillsong Church main campus. More recently, Brian Houston announced a memoir will be forthcoming, while also previewing the now-launched online church.
Yet other headlines involving Brian Houston have seemed to dampen their plans.
In April 2023, Houston pleaded guilty to charges in California of driving under the influence of alcohol after a prior arrest on Feb. 26, 2022, which was less than a month before his resignation from Hillsong.
However. last August, an Australian court found Houston not guilty of concealing sex abuse by his father, Frank Houston, and not reporting it to the police. Sydney Court Magistrate Gareth Christofi ruled that Houston had a reasonable excuse for not reporting his father’s crimes.
In the recent sermon, Houston recast the events in spiritual terms.
“On that day, we conquered the lies and the opposition that had come against us,” he said of the ruling. “You are not just a conqueror. The Bible describes you as more than a conqueror.”
Online TV ministry or ‘family’?
In the video’s opening, Houston discussed branding as central to the church launch.
“What would we call it?” he asked. “Everyone’s got these cool names for their churches . . . our daughter and son-in-law just started a brand new church in Australia called Parable Church. I love it all!”
He added: “But I thought, if we ever started another church, I would just love to call it, Jesus Followers. Just building disciples of Jesus . . . so that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
McAlpine, who’s also a former journalist, said that he sees “brand protection as central” to the Houstons’ moves. “And by ‘brand’ I mean the corporation, not necessarily the good name of Jesus,” he said.
As to how the online church will foster discipleship, Houston has been light on specifics.
They are currently “building a volunteer base (and) already have had a Zoom call with volunteers,” he said, whom he added are based in Australia, the U.S., and other nations. Houston also briefly mentioned “leadership training online” and “building connect groups.”
TRR reached out to Jesus Followers TV for details but did not receive a response.
Social posts about the launch of Jesus Followers TV featured images of television cameras and production crew behind-the-scenes.
Brian Houston has been adamant that Jesus Followers TV is “not just going to be weekly online preaching,” he said. “No, we’re building a community, we’re building a family.”
McAlpine responded, “It’s hard, after running a corporate model for so long, to return to the language or even the philosophy of family. Using the word doesn’t make it so!”