Pastor Brian going to court in Sydney, Australia in December 2022

April 7, 2023

There is a lot of media and social media noise around Hillsong and the Houstons at the moment

There is a lot of noise around Hillsong and the Houstons at the moment. Many bloggers, podcasts and media have cashed in on the Hillsong-Houston scandals. Most of the current scandals are peripheral and almost irrelevant to the true Hillsong-Houston story.

I’ve been trying to educate media on Hillsong and the Houstons for a decade but I’ve given up on them

I’ve been trying to educate media for a decade but I’ve given up on them. At Brian’s court case in December last year, media were sending down young journalists who knew literally nothing about Hillsong or the Houstons. I tried to answer their questions. To help them. It was like teaching pre-school children to write the alphabet.

Detective Hamil of New South Wales Police and Crown Prosecutor Gareth Harrison did a great job

Detective Hamil of New South Wales Police did a great job investigating Brian and compiling the brief for the prosecution. And Crown Prosecutor Gareth Harrison did a great job.

Brian’s defence barrister Philip Boulten did his best for Brian. But what can you do when your only witness, Brian, melts down in the witness box. Like a box of smoking candles

Brian’s defence barrister Philip Boulten did his best for Brian. But what can you do when your only witness, Brian, melts down in the witness box. Like a box of smoking candles. What can you do as a defence barrister?

Philip Boulten

There were no witnesses in support Brian. Not one. No one willing to speak out for him.

There were no witnesses for Brian. Not one. No one willing to speak out for him. This is because Brian’s defence is an impossible task. There is so much evidence against him.

All the Hillsong-ACC witnesses threw Brian under the bus. George Aghajanian Hillsong Business Manager, ACC pastors Barbara Taylor, John McMartin, Keith Ainge and Bob Cotton all pointed the finger of guilt at Brian.

My feeling is that Magistrate Christofi will send Brian straight to jail. I’m predicting two years in jail

If Brian gets off the hook at this stage, and I don’t think he will, then the Crown should definitely appeal.

I’m confident that Brian will go down at some stage. My feeling is that Magistrate Christofi will send Brian straight to jail. I’m predicting two years in jail.

Pastor Brian’s trial

The trial began on Monday December 5, 2022 and was scheduled to end on December 22, 2022. Court ran out of time before Christmas. Two days were scheduled for June this year to complete the trial.

Pastor Brian’s trial is at Downing Street court complex. There are 40 court rooms there. Downing St Court handles 98% of New South Wales court cases.

NSW is Australia’s most populous and wealthiest state. Sydney is Australia’s largest and wealthiest city.

I attended every day of Pastor Brian’s court case. Pastor Brian was charged with the indictable (criminal) offence of concealing a pedophile last year. The charges carry a maximum sentence of five years in jail.

The court heard from Pastor Barbara Taylor, George Aghajanian and ACC (AOG) pastors John McMartin, Keith Ainge and Bob Cotton, Gordon Brown and Detective Hamil.

The court has heard from Pastor Barbara Taylor, George Aghajanian and ACC pastors John McMartin, Keith Ainge and Bob Cotton and Gordon Brown and Detective Hamil. George Aghajanian, John McMartin and Keith Ainge were witnesses at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2014

George Aghajanian is long-time Hillsong Business Manager and Board Member.

Pastor Barbara Taylor

Pastor Barbara Taylor is the Frank boy victim Brett Sengstock’s aunt. Brett’s mother’s sister. In 1998, Rose triggered a sequence of events which lead 23 years later to Pastor Brian being in court.

In November 1998, Brett’s mother Rose shared about Brett’s abuse with Pastor Mudford, an AOG evangelist doing a tent mission at Pastor Barbara Taylor’s church in Plumpton in Western Sydney.

This triggered Pastor Mudford to visit Brett the next day with Pastor Barbara Taylor.

For a year, Pastor Taylor pushed NSW AOG State President John McMartin to action the abuse allegation by reporting the matter to Pastor Brian Houston. Pastor Brian is Pastor Frank’s son and the National AOG President.

Barbara Taylor was incredibly influential in Brian Houston’s downfall.

Barbara Taylor is 91 in a week. She was born on 14 April 1932. Barbara Taylor is a great soldier of the Lord. Brett Sengstock should be very grateful for her support of him. Her courage to go to the Royal Commission in 2014 and court in 2022 aged 90 and speak out on behalf of Brett. And speak out against Brian Houston on both occasions.

Pastor Brian

Pastor Brian eventually received the abuse allegations, removed Frank’s AOG credentials and banned Frank from preaching.

But Frank continued to preach

Old Frank

But Frank continued to preach, pray for AOG congregants and prophesy over them.

Brian and the ACC Executive captured and controlled the information flow on this matter from 1999 to 2004 when Frank died

Brian and the ACC Executive captured and controlled the information flow on this matter from 1999 to 2004 when Frank died.

Congregants generally had the wool pulled over their eyes.

Pastor Bob Cotton explained in detail what Brian and his AOG senior leaders did and did not do during this time

Pastor Bob Cotton of Maitland

Pastor Bob Cotton explained in detail what Brian and his AOG senior leaders did and did not do during this time.

Bob Cotton shared how Frank preached in his church during “the agreed indictable period”. That is, between 1999 and 2004.

Four men who got Brian Houston charged with pedophile concealment: Brett Sengstock, David Shoebridge, Pastor Bob Cotton and Donald Elley.

November 17, 2022

In September 2012, a decade ago, I launched a personal campaign to get Brian Houston charged with pedophile concealment.

In September 2012, a decade ago, I launched a personal campaign to get Brian Houston charged with pedophile concealment. And to fully expose the corruption of the Houstons, Frank the father and Brian the son.

This was a year prior to then Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard announcing the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2013.

And this was two years prior to Pastor Brian appearing at the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in October 2014.

During the past decade I have given no official or on camera interviews to media although I have been asked to. And I’ve been asked to appear on camera for documentaries on Hillsong.

Edit of April 7, 2023: On December 5, 2022, I appeared on Australia’s Channel Nine ‘A Current Affair’ program at the request of the producer of that program, Steve Marshall, outside court. Steve asked my observations on the court case, on Brian and Brett. Brett is Brett Sengstock, the worst abused of Frank’s boy victims and the subject of this trial.

I have helped media

I have helped media from Australia, where I live, New Zealand, and America write many articles. I have provided contacts, sources and untold information. I have kept this blog site open for media to use.

I have written articles for media on the Houstons and Hillsong which have gone viral internationally. I have received no public credit for these articles, nor have sought credit, and have received no payments. Even though each article takes hours to write.

In the past decade I have amassed an encyclopaedic volume of information on the Houstons, Hillsong and other corrupt Pentecostal pastors and churches globally on this blog-site.

Persecution

I have sustained scorn, ostracisation and hate from Pentecostal family members, Pentecostals and Pentecostal churches in Australia.

I am black-banned from many churches and businesses owned by Pentecostal Christians in the Coffs Harbour region where I live.

I am persona non-grata at most ACC churches in Australia. At almost all ACC churches in the Coffs Harbour region.

This is because of my writings on this site against Hillsong, the Houstons, ACC corruption and Pentecostal pastors and churches corruption.

My lead article on Frank Houston, Brian’s father, is entitled, “Pastor Frank Houston founder of Hillsong. Child rapist. Part One. Pastor Frank Houston’s pedophile activities”.

This article has had in excess of 60,000 views. Maybe over 100,000 views. I’ve republished it many times and haven’t tallied the number of views.

In any event, statistics and fame are not my motivation.

I have never made any money out of this site. In fact, it has cost me a lot in finance, time and health. At times it has been stressful.

Yet, I am not finished in my mission to expose and explain Hillsong and the Houstons.

I am determined that Brian Houston never recover his reputation. That Brian will never be able to spin himself into a better place.

The Royal Commission

In 2014, the Royal Commission contacted me three times for information on Pastor Frank’s boy victims. That is, the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

I was at Hillsong from 1980 to 1990 and 1998 to 2000. I was a builder for them full-time for two years in 1981-1982. I was a lay pastor there from 1982 to 1988. So I know volumes of information from Hillsong’s beginnings. The Royal Commission was after more victims and more insights on Hillsong.

The Royal Commission told me they only had one boy victim who was sexually abused in Sydney. This turned out to be Brett Sengstock. I hadn’t heard of any Sydney Frank boy victims. So I was very interested to hear about Brett at the Royal Commission.

I told the Royal Commission about the six Lower Hutt boy victims that I heard about in New Zealand in 1977 from Lower Hutt AOG former elders Stan and Sheila Carter.

I told the Royal Commission about David Lindner who Frank sexually abused as a boy in South Australia in the early 70s. David Lindner contacted me in 2012.

I organised for David Lindner to provide a statement to the Royal Commission about what Frank did to him as boy.

I told the Royal Commission about Frank boy victim ANZ1 who suicided as a direct consequence of Frank sexually abusing him as a teen in an Auckland hotel. Frank lured him there after a evangelistic meeting he was preaching at, on the premise of praying for his depression. ANZ1’s brother contacted me in 2012.

I told the Royal Commission about Frank boy victim David Cowdrey from Wellington, New Zealand who contacted me in 2012.

My article “Pastor Frank Houston founder of Hillsong. Child rapist. Part One. Pastor Frank Houston’s pedophile activities”, first published on September 13, 2012, prompted these boy victims to contact me in 2012.

The Royal Commission told me that all these boy victims gave them confidence to proceed against Brian Houston and Hillsong using mainly their Sydney boy victim Brett Sengstock.

Brett was anonymous at the Royal Commission, and until November 19, 2018, when he spoke out on Sixty Minutes on Australia’s Channel Nine TV.

Empowerment of the boy victims

My constant open advocacy for Frank victims from 2012 empowered Brett and other Frank victims like David Cowdrey to find their own public voice.

No one else was writing about Frank’s boy victims in 2012 when I first starting writing on this theme.

I have kept the flame alight for the Frank boy victims since, through everything.

Brett Sengstock

In 2014, I watched live the entire time Brian Houston and top ACC and Hillsong leaders appeared at the Royal Commission.

I listened to Brett Sengstock tell his story of what Frank did to him. Brett appeared anonymously behind a screen. I cried through the whole thing. I still cry every time I listen to Brett sharing his story to Australia’s 60 minutes. I am not given to crying. I was sharing about my passion to help Frank’s boy victims with someone recently and started crying. They said, “O Donald, are you ok”. They’d never seen me cry. I replied, “Yes, I always start crying when I speak about Frank’s boy victims”.

Pastor Bob Cotton of Maitland

In 2015, Pastor Bob Cotton contacted me. Bob used a false name “Frank” and a false email address for some years. Eventually he came out as “Pastor Bob Cotton of Maitland”.

Over many years, I empowered Bob to speak out. Now he’s become a major crusader for victims. Even being awarded an Order of Australia.

I don’t expect any awards or accolades for my work for the victims. In fact, I would prefer no accolades and no praise.

David Shoebridge

New South Wales MP David Shoebridge.

From 2018, New South Wales Greens Member of Parliament David Shoebridge has spoken out on behalf of Brett Sengstock. To his credit. Even in State Parliament, although it was after midnight when hardly anyone was still there. Just shows how much the major political parties in Australia care about child sexual abuse. It’s very low on the agenda.

To be clear, there is no conspiracy against Brian Houston between any of the four men who have primarily brought Brian Houston to justice. I haven’t communicated with Brett Sengstock for six years. I haven’t communicated with Pastor Bob Cotton for three years. I’ve never communicated with David Shoebridge and don’t know him at all.

Other factors that have brought Brian Houston to justice

Other factors that have brought Brian Houston to justice are his high-end political mates like former NSW Premier Mike Baird and former NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione retiring.

Pastor Brian fell out of favour, politically ostracising many top Australian Federal and NSW politicians with his big-mouth and arrogant comments about COVID, churches being closed and other political issues.

In time, Brian has ran out of church and political friends and allies to protect him.

So here we are in November 2022, a decade after I wrote my first article on Pastor Frank, Pastor Brian’s father, waiting for Brian Houston to go on trial for pedophile protection crimes in two weeks.

The arrogance of the Houstons

Yes, Pastor Brian is back to Australia, from holidaying in Europe and preaching at his pastor friends’ churches, arrogantly and defiantly, in America, to face court next month in Sydney, Australia on pedophile concealment criminal charges.

It reminds me of how Pastor Frank, from 1999 to his death in 2004, arrogantly and defiantly continued to preach, prophesy over and pray for AOG congregants in the Hawkesbury and on the Central Coast, an hour from Sydney. And in Australia’s capitol Canberra, two and a half hours southwest of Sydney. This was even though his son Pastor Brian, as head of the Australia AOG, had banned him from preaching. AOG is short for Assemblies of God.

Pastor Brian is banned from preaching at Hillsong churches globally. So he found away around this ban with the help of his Prosperity Gospel pastor pals Dr Phil Pringle of C3 Global Church, based in Sydney and his Prosperity Gospel pastor pals in America.

Like father, like son.

These Prosperity Gospel pastors are disconnected with reality, arrogant, think they are bullet-proof and above the law. They are dismissive and defiant of police and courts.

They always wrongly think and preach, “God is on our side”.

God is not on their side.

God is not on their side because they are preaching a Christian message and Christian gospel that is heretical.

Their Prosperity Gospel is 180 degrees the opposite of the teachings of the Lord Jesus as outlined in the New Testament of the Holy Bible.

Pastor Brian always says to whoever will listen, “I did no wrong in not reporting my father Frank to police when he confessed to a lifetime of secret child sex abuse…It was Brett’s responsibility to tell police, not mine…”

Pastor Brian always says to whoever will listen, “I did no wrong in not reporting my father Frank to police when he confessed to a lifetime of secret child sex abuse…It was Brett’s responsibility to tell police, not mine…”

Wrong Brian. Not only should you have reported your father Frank to New South Wales police, you went to every extent to mask his crimes, deceive ordinary Hillsong and AOG members and conceal Pastor Frank out of public gaze.

I am an eye-witness to what you did. I was aware of your covert activities. I had no power to do anything but I saw what you were up to.

The birds are coming back to nest. These birds are large black ravens of justice, doom and accountability.

Every crook says and thinks they are innocent

Every crook says and thinks they are innocent, even when they know in their hearts and minds they are guilty.

Pastor Brian is the same.