Brian Houston, a former pastor and evangelist hailing from New Zealand and Australia, established himself as the founder and leading pastor of Hillsong Church. This church, headquartered in Sydney but with a global presence, saw Houston at its helm. In addition to this role, he held the position of national president within the Australian Christian Churches, representing the Australian segment of the Assemblies of God, spanning from 1997 to 2009. Brian Charles Houston, a former pastor and evangelist hailing from New Zealand and Australia, established himself as the founder and leading pastor of Hillsong Church. This church, headquartered in Sydney but with a global presence, saw Houston at its helm. In addition to this role, he held the position of national president within the Australian Christian Churches, representing the Australian segment of the Assemblies of God, spanning from 1997 to 2009.
Bio/Wiki
Age- 69 years
Height- 6 feet tall
Weight- 180 pounds
Born- 17 February 1954
Birthplace- Auckland, New Zealand
Full name- Brian Charles Houston
Profession-Actor, Evangelist
Spouse- Bobbie Houston (m. 1977)
Nationality- New Zealand
Parents
Charles Houston came into the world to Frank and Hazel Houston, who were Salvation Army officers at the time. At the age of three, his parents shifted their affiliation to the Assemblies of God in New Zealand and took up pastoral duties at a church near Wellington, specifically in Lower Hutt. In this locale, Houston, along with his brother and three sisters, : Maureen Bradshaw, Graeme Houston, Beverly Houston experienced their formative years. Following his schooling, he pursued a three-year education at a Bible college.
Wife
Once he finished college, he met his future wife, Bobbie, on a beach called Papamoa Beach in New Zealand, where they were both attending a Christian event. They got married in the year 1977.
Children
Brian Houston has three children with Bobbie Joel Houston, Laura Houston, Ben Houston
Career
After moving to Sydney, Australia, in 1978, Brian Houston took on a role at the Sydney Christian Life Centre in Darlinghurst, where he became the assistant pastor to his father, Frank. In the following years, he established a church on the Central Coast in 1980 and worked at a church in Liverpool in 1981. By 1983, he set up the Hills Christian Life Centre by renting the Baulkham Hills Public School hall in Sydney’s north-western suburbs. The inaugural service took place on August 14, 1983.
In May 1997, Houston was elected as the president of the Assemblies of God in Australia, later renamed Australian Christian Churches, after Andrew Evans retired. In February 2000, he played a key role in forming the Australian Christian Churches network, a collective of Pentecostal churches representing around 200,000 attendees in affiliated churches. He also held membership in the Australian Pentecostal Ministers Fellowship.
Houston also founded Hillsong Music Australia (HMA), the music ministry of Hillsong Church. This ministry achieved success over the years, producing top-charting albums by Hillsong United and Hillsong Worship. The church regularly recorded live albums, with songs from these recordings becoming popular among congregations worldwide.
In September 2018, Hillsong transitioned from the Australian Christian Churches to an independent denomination, positioning itself more as a global and charismatic church.
However, in August 2021, a warrant for Houston’s arrest was issued by the New South Wales Police, alleging that he had concealed child sexual abuse perpetrated by his father, Frank. He resigned from the church’s board due to these charges.
Then, in March 2022, Houston stepped down from his position as senior global pastor following an internal investigation into his conduct involving two women connected to the church. It was revealed that he had engaged in inappropriate behavior with both women in 2013 and 2019.
Net Worth 2023
In 2023, it’s estimated that Brian Houston possesses a net worth of around $12 million.
Sexual Allegation Of His Father
On May 10, 1999, Brian Houston’s father, Frank Houston, stepped down from his role as the senior pastor at Sydney Christian Life Centre. Brian Houston was subsequently chosen to take over this position. According to Brian Houston, his father seemed in a hurry to pass the church to him. This was all before the revelations about Frank’s child sexual abuse came to light. Fast forward fifteen years to 2014, Brian Houston appeared at hearings conducted by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. He stated that in October 1999, an accusation surfaced alleging that his father had sexually abused an Australian boy.
Brian Houston Pleaded Not Guilty to Allegations of Hiding A Serious Indictable Offense
A Magistrate, Gareth Christofi, determined that Brian Houston had a valid reason for not reporting the incident. The Magistrate emphasized that the situation was not a cover-up.Brian Houston had previously expressed shock upon learning about his father Frank Houston’s abuse of a young boy in 1999, decades after the abuse had occurred. Brian Houston asserted that he refrained from involving the police out of respect for the victim, Brett Sengstock, who was in his 30s at the time.
Magistrate Christofi concluded that Brian Houston had knowledge or reasonable belief that Sengstock did not want to involve the authorities. Frank Houston, who carried out the abuse, was stripped of his pastoral credentials by the Assemblies of God and passed away in 2004.The court learned that Sengstock considered the abuse a distressing secret and wished to keep it hidden. Sengstock expressed feeling betrayed by his mother when she disclosed the allegations to their local church. Magistrate Christofi noted that it was likely that Sengstock communicated his reluctance to report the abuse to Brian Houston during a 1999 phone conversation.
The Magistrate also determined that a $10,000 payment made by Frank Houston to Sengstock couldn’t be proven as hush money, nor did Brian Houston intend it as such. Sengstock met with Frank Houston and another member of the Hills Christian Life Centre in 1999, where a napkin was signed, and an agreement was made to keep the matter private.
Sengstock believed the money was an attempt to keep him silent but only received the payment after contacting Brian Houston.
Magistrate Christofi concluded that the terms of the agreement were unclear and lacked evidence to show it aimed to prevent Sengstock from involving the police. The Crown’s argument was countered by Sengstock’s own testimony that he hadn’t contemplated involving authorities.
Brian Houston, the founder of Hillsong, has been found not guilty of concealing his father’s sexual abuse of a child. The court determined that Houston had a reasonable excuse for not reporting the matter and that the circumstances did not constitute a cover-up.
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