Jeff Beacham with second wife Melva

April 16, 2023

I knew Jeff Beacham from 1980 when I started attending early Hillsong.

Jeff Beacham in a rock band in New Zealand in the 70s. Front-centre. Jeff was a drummer.

Jeff told me that he was a heavy smoker in his rock-n-roll lifestyle before he became a Christian.

Esophageal cancer is throat cancer, common to smokers or ex-smokers. Many cancers are cumulative in the body or arise from earlier damage in our lives through exposure to chemicals and other harmful things entering the body. Poor or unbalanced diet, obesity, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, harmful chemicals in food and products, air pollution, agricultural sprays and sun exposure.

When Jeff Beacham became a Christian, he desired to transform as a great evangelist, instead of a great rock-star.

Frank Houston started Hillsong in the elite harbour-side suburb of Double Bay in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs in 1977. This was two years before his son Brian Houston arrived in Australia.

Brian likes to say he founded Hillsong but this not true. It’s yet another Brian-lie. One of multitudes, in Biblical terms.

As the article below states, early Hillsong was called Christian Life Centre Sydney in those days. To be accurate, Eastern Suburbs Christian Life Centre. From 1977 to 1980. Then Christian Life Centre Darlinghurst from 1980 to 1982 Then Christian Life Centre Sydney from 1982 to 2000. In 2001, the city branch and Brian Houston’s branch in Northwest Sydney were renamed “Hillsong”. Respectively, Hillsong City Church and Hillsong Bauklham Hills. Or Hills Hillsong for short.

Brian’s worship leader Geoff Bullock coined the name “Hillsong”. Geoff combined “Hills” for The Hills District that Hillsong Baulkham Hills is located in, with “Song” for the Davidic “Song of the Lord”.

Geoff Bullock worked hard for Brian from 1983 to 1995. Through Geoff’s musical talent and production skills, by 1995 Brian was able to sign a mega-deal with an American recording company. Geoff left Hillsong of his own volition in 1995. He was “over” Brian. Over Brian’s demands, pushiness and rudeness. Geoff is a genuine guy.

Brian Houston is, and has always been, a demanding, ambitious, very selfish, narcissistic, take-no-prisoners kind of man. There is something very wrong with Brian.

Jeff Beacham and I were there and saw all Hillsong’s growth, location changes, name changes, evolutions and many scandals. Hillsong’s scandals reported in international media today pale in comparison to Hillsong’s scandals of the 1980s to 1990s.

For example, from 1980 to 1984, 58 year old Frank Houston had a secret homosexual affair with his young 23-year-old worship leader Peter Laughton. Peter came out publicly with this salacious information to another gay, David Marr of the Sydney Morning Herald, in 2007.

Few knew about this Hillsong Church highly secretive homo hanky-panky at the time. And those who knew, didn’t tell. I didn’t know about it until 2012 when I started reflecting on the Houstons and my time at Hillsong. I came across David Marr’s Sydney Morning Herald article on-line.

I left Hillsong in 2000, of my own volition, never to return.

Jeff Beacham arrived in America in 1999 on an evangelistic mission. He was accompanied by his longtime wife Heather and their five children. In time they split up and Heather and the children returned to Australia. Geoff stayed on and later remarried.

Geoff was an alpha-male on steroids. He had a very emphatic direct personality. I didn’t have a lot of dealings with Geoff. We always got along.

I think Heather just found Jeff a bit much after a while and wanted a peaceful life back in Australia. Jeff was ambitious, very driven and single-minded. But not rude. I found him to be a very pleasant and honest man. I was used to A-type alpha male men. I spent decades in Sydney’s construction industry as CEO of my own construction company. Jeff was pretty mild compared to many men I’d dealt with.

My father was a high achiever. A gentle man. But very ambitious. He achieved a lot in his lifetime. He was a pastor. A New Zealand Presbyterian. Old school.

Geoff did some good things for God in Australia prior to moving to America. He was a major advocate for revival and the Holy Spirit. Geoff was not a small personality. You always knew when Jeff was in the room. Jeff organised a lot of revival-style meetings in Australia.

I think he moved to America because he wanted to paint on a bigger canvas. He’s also had had enough of Frank Houston. It may be that he’d found out Frank was a pedophile. I’m sure he’d have heard romurs and allegations for a long-time. Jeff was on Franks’ staff from the 1980s to 1999. Well-connected in the AOG.

Disillusionment with Frank, and maybe Brian, may have been his other motives for getting out of Sydney.

Pastor Jeff Beacham, founder of Firepower Ministries International (FMI), has died after a long battle with esophageal cancer.

In the most recent update on FMI’s Facebook page, dated July 19, Beacham said he had just completed a round of radiation on his “upper and mid spine to reduce the pain and paralysis in [his] arms and back.”

“I am grateful to be relieved of most of the pain to the point where I can be comfortable sitting and sleeping,” he wrote. “This is a major relief and I thank God for the technology that has helped.”

Joshua Kennedy, an FMI governing board member, sent out an email alert on Thursday that said Beacham has gone to be with the Lord.

“Jeff will be forever missed and never forgotten,” wrote Kennedy, a reverend at Praise Tabernacle in Egg Harbor Township, N.J. “He has touched all our lives, pushing us forward into our high calling, in which we are eternally grateful.

“Jeff ran the race to win the prize and is now enjoying the reward of his labor. Let us look at his example of perseverance and follow suit.”

Beacham spearheaded an awakening campaign in the northeast region of the U.S. under the banner of Firepower Ministries International. Even throughout his battle with cancer, he continued his work in ministry.

“Twice I’ve been given a death sentence from doctors concerning my struggle,” the Australian preacher told Charisma earlier this year. “But I’m still here, so somebody was wrong.”

Arriving stateside 14 years ago, Beacham walked away from a flourishing ministry with Sydney Christian Life Centre, now part of Hillsong Church. Beacham, his wife and their five children landed with only a few suitcases, meager possessions and some furniture. 

“God showed me a vision of a great wheel of reawakening rolling into the northeast of America,” he said of this new work. “There were four giant spokes connecting the outer rim to the inner hub. On each of the spokes was a word beginning with the letter ‘P.’”

Beacham believed one spoke was for prayer, meant to capture the attention of God; one for purpose, attained from hearing God’s heart; another for power, which enables the outworking of God’s purposes; and a fourth for passion, meant to move people from apathy to activity. Beacham said everything revolved around the inner hub, on which was the word unity, which counteracts the spirit of independence.

“Let us take Jeff’s baton of carrying the vision of the ‘wheel of reawakening’ forward,” Kennedy said. “Yes, a mighty warrior has left this earth, yet the legacy of this great man will live on through those he inspired.

“Please keep Melva [his wife] and the rest of Jeff’s family in prayer. In lieu of flowers, a memorial fund is being established. Details to come.”

Peter K. Johnson contributed to this report.