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Brian Houston steps down as global senior pastor of Hillsong
By Anugrah Kumar,
Christian Post Contributor|
Sunday, January 30, 2022
in Atlanta, Georgia on Friday, Oct. 7, 2016. | Catalyst
Brian Houston has stepped down as the leader of the global multisite Hillsong Church, saying he will remain absent for the rest of this year as he faces trial for allegedly concealing sex abuse committed by his father decades earlier. Phil and Lucinda Dooley will be new interim global pastors.
“Last year, I … received unexpected news of charges against me that allege the concealing of information that may have been material to prosecute Frank Houston. These allegations came as a shock to me, and it is my intention to vigorously defend them,” Houston told the church in a statement on Sunday. “So I have agreed to step aside from all ministry responsibilities until the end of the year.”
Last August, police officials announced that Houston was being charged with “concealing child sex offenses,” The Associated Press reported at the time. “Police will allege in court [that Houston] knew information relating to the sexual abuse of a young male in the 1970s and failed to bring that information to the attention of police,” stated Australian authorities, as quoted by the AP.
In a statement to The Christian Post through Hillsong at the time, Houston expressed “shock” at the charges. “These charges have come as a shock to me given how transparent I’ve always been about this matter,” he said. “I vehemently profess my innocence and will defend these charges, and I welcome the opportunity to set the record straight.”
Houston explained in Sunday’s statement that during a December board meeting, Hillsong’s external legal counsel advised that “it would be ‘Best Practice’ for me to step aside completely from church leadership during the court proceedings,” which are likely to be drawn out and take up most of 2022.
Houston, who founded the global church network in the suburbs of Sydney in 1983, said he intends “to fight the charge and welcome the opportunity to set the record straight,” adding that his wife, Bobbie, “intends to remain fully engaged in church life.”
Houston also announced that Phil Dooley and his wife, Lucinda, who are currently leading the Hillsong ministry in South Africa, will be interim (or acting) global senior pastors.
“The Dooleys are well-loved by many in our church, having successfully served as our youth pastors in Australia for many years,” he said. “Over the last 13 years they, with their family, have resided in South Africa and have raised up a phenomenal multi-campus Hillsong Church.”
The probe into whether Houston tried to cover up the incident, in which his late father sexually abused a minor in the 1970s, was initiated years ago. In 2014, in response to that probe, Houston denied knowing anything about the $10,000 compensation payment made to a man who his father sexually abused as a child.
Houston said he was “totally devastated” to learn about his father’s abuse and he “had to come to terms with the fact that the person I looked up to was not who I thought he was.”
The issue here is, when did Brian learn of his father's perversion, and when did the police learn of it? Apparently, there were 6 more boys in NZ that were victimized by Frank. It appears that the Assemblies of God were aware of this in 1998. Brian was head of the Assemblies of God, Australia, in 1998. Frank died in 2004 without ever being charged. His fate in Eternity is another matter.
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Michigan youth pastor charged with sexually abusing 4 minors,
2 younger than 13
By Anugrah Kumar,
Christian Post Contributor|
Monday, January 24, 2022
Case 1
A 28-year-old youth pastor in Michigan has been charged with sexually assaulting four children and faces charges of indecent exposure and distributing explicit content.
William Stefan Wahl, who worked at the River Church in Kimball, was charged Friday with two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct of a person younger than 13 and two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct of a person ages 13 to 16, according to court records.
He was also charged with distributing obscene matter to children, aggravated indecent exposure and using computers to commit a crime.
Wahl refused to enter a plea as records indicate that he “stood mute" during his arraignment.
Wahl is accused of sexually abusing four juvenile victims from the church, St. Clair County Sheriff Mat King was quoted as saying by The Port Huron Times Herald.
The sheriff’s office began investigating Wahl after it received a complaint of sexual assault of a child in late 2021. According to Fox 2, the investigation revealed that there were four victims involved — two of which were younger than 13 — and some of allegations dated back to 2014.
The Times Herald noted that the victims ranged in age from 10 to 17. There could be more victims, authorities believe.
Bond was set at $25,000 and was posted on Monday. Attorney Stephen Rabaut represents Wahl.
In November, Bill Wahl, the co-lead pastor of the River Church, said in a statement that within hours after the church leadership learned about possible child abuse of two minors, the church board terminated the employee and reported the allegations to authorities. Additionally, the parents of the children involved were told of the allegations.
It is unclear what the pastor’s relationship is to the defendant. Bill Wahl - William Wahl - let me take a wild guess and say that they are father and son!
Case 2
Earlier this month, a former youth pastor in Indiana was sentenced to 20 years in prison for molesting several boys aged 11 to 13 for several years.
An Elkhart County judge sentenced 46-year-old Scott Christner, formerly a youth group leader for First Baptist Church in Goshen, to three 9-year sentences for Level 4 felonies. Twenty of those years will be served in prison with seven suspended, WNDU reported at the time.
Christner also received two seven-year sentences for two Class C felonies to be served along with the remaining suspended sentence in case he violates his parole after serving the prison time.
He was convicted of molesting children dating back as far as 2012, according to court documents.
In a written statement, a victim referred to Christner’s “double life, pretending to be a kind, giving man, while also molesting kids.”
Case 3
In a separate case early this month, the Reformed Presbyterian Church placed Jared Olivetti, a pastor of Immanuel Reformed Presbyterian Church in West Lafayette, Indiana, on leave pending its investigation into accusations of covering up sexual abuse involving minors in his congregation. The pastor and three elders eventually resigned.
The incidents of abuse took place on and off church property between spring 2019 and March 2020, according to IndyStar. The newspaper revealed that eight victims from multiple families reported over- and under-clothes touching, oral-genital contact and penetration by a boy at the church believed to be related to Olivetti.
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