Pastor Brian Houston. The godfather of Hillsong
The article below was published on this site on 10 October last year at the time the Royal Commission was investigating the Hillsong organisation.
Blog article 10 October 2015
In the past few days, at the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the Commission has shown a lot of interest in whether there was a conflict of interest in Pastor Brian Houston’s self-appointed role, for the past 14 years, as manager of his dad’s pedophilia case, while being the CEO of Hillsong and the Australian Assemblies of God (AOG) and also Brian being Pastor Frank Houston, the pedophile’s, son.
Pastor Brian Houston is the godfather of Hillsong and the Australian AOG (ACC). Like his father before him he commands incredible aura and respect.
To some Pastor Brian Houston and Hillsong is the target of mirth and ridicule. To others like me, they’re a memory from the past but to the faithful at Hillsong Campuses, as Hillsong calls their churches, Pastor Brian Houston is the godfather. A rock-star type Don Quixote hero waving his sword of faith at real and imaginary windmills and foes on the deserts of Western Sydney hedonism and the vast plains of the rest of the world.
Don Qixote
On Friday the Royal Commission heard from George Aghajanian, the General Manager of Hillsong. Mr Aghajanian looks like a cross between Alfredo and Michael in the Godfather movies. But Alfredo in the Godfather movies was dumb and ultimately sacrificed by Michael who succeeded The Don as the godfather. George by contrast seems to have Alfredo’s looks but Michael’s quiet intelligence.
Whereas Pastor Brian Houston, a self-confessed non-intellectual floundered with the big picture and the complex legal and business terms and concepts at the Commission, George Aghajanian was right on to it.
That is, right on to it in hindsight. And especially after the Royal Commission gave Hillsong and Pastor Brian Houston the heads up that they’re to be summoned to explain the Frank Houston debacle of the past 14 years. For there’s no better teacher than hindsight and experience if we’re prepared to listen.
With the help of Malleson’s, the Hillsong elite lawyers and various specialist business advisers, George had sussed it all out.
After 14 years of Hillsong administrative neglect, incompetence and failure, suddenly, in a very short time, all the boxes were being ticked in respect to Administrative Manuals, Child Protection Procedures, Pedophile red flagging and George even knew the meaning of the expression “conflict of interest”.
Whereas Pastor Brian Houston had picked up the snake-filled bag of his dad’s pedophile case and the war-chest of victims waiting to spring out, 14 years ago, and jumped on his sandy horse like Don Qixote of La Mancha and headed north, south, east and west, all at once, George Aghajanian was much more chill.
George was on to it. George was Mr Fix-it. George had sorted it out.
Alfredo
Pastor Brian Houston is fortunate in that he has surrounded himself with smart players like George who can keep Brian heading in more or less the right direction.
There’s a lot of things to like about Hillsong. Take for example, Bobby Houston and her literary skills.
The Don: Brian Houston with his wife on the Amalfi Coast, Italy
In 2000 I was doing a building refurbishment for Swarovski International in Rosebery, Sydney and was sharing with a builder colleague in the site office that I went to Hillsong Church in Waterloo up the road. I showed him the Hillsong brochure. He was aware of Brian Houston and Hillsong but thought Bobby was very attractive. Not quite the words he used as a building type.
Bobby Houston. In touch with her femininity.
So when Bobby came out with books like “Kingdom women like sex” I was concerned for the imagination of my builder friend.
I thought that the title was Kingdom women like sex but I see it’s not so direct: “Kingdom Women Love and Value their Sexuality”. I guess “like” is short for “love and value” and “sex’ is short for “sexuality” so I wasn’t far off.
I’ve just goggled “Kingdom women like sex” and discovered the above book used to be called “Kingdom women love sex”. Wow, I’d better go check my builder friend hasn’t got a copy.
In fact I didn’t believe any Christian women would write a book with such a title or the one below is even raunchier, but it just goes to show “nothing surprises me anymore”. After all who could have imagined the godfather Frank Houston would turn out to be the kiddy-fiddler Frank Houston?
I’m considering a sequel to Bobby’s book entitled “Kingdom men like Kingdom women who like sex”.
Or maybe I’ll follow Bobby’s earlier title and universalise it slightly, “All men love Kingdom women who love sex”.
One of Bobby Houston’s sexy book titles. “I’ll have what she’s having”. The famous line from the cafeteria scene in the movie, ” When Harry met Sally” when Meg Ryan fakes an orgasm in cafeteria. Good work Bobby. I must read your books sometime. Sounds edifying?
Meg Ryan in “When Harry met Sally”.
Which of these three images do you think would work on the cover of my first book, ” All men love Kingdom women who love sex”?
I’m losing track of where I’m going with this. I’m introducing too many themes and metaphors. But that’s what it was like for Brian at the Commission. He lost track of things more times than Don Qixote in the Spanish deserts outside Madrid.
Pastor Brian Houston really struggled with terms like “conflict of interest” and “corporate responsibility” and “possible criminal charges for not reporting a pedophile offence to the Police”.
I don’t know if the Commission was convinced with George Aghajanian’s attempts to wallpaper over the shortcomings or Pastor McMartin’s attempts to shove the whole debacle onto Brian. The whole debacle of Brian’s conflict of interest and his own inability to recognise that the very mention of pedophile priest equals phone call to police.
Brian also struggled to remember the phone number of the Police. Here it is Brian. For emergency phone “000” not “999” like in New Zealand. For pedophile offences try the Baulkham Hills Police Station. if you’re at your Bondi Beach Apartment its Bondi Police opposite Pompeii Gelato. If you don’t know Pompeii Gelato its near the Hotel Bondi. If you don’t know the Hotel Bondi you need glasses.
There it is Brian. Now here’s the drill:
1. If you hear about a pedo priest, go to the cops the same day.
2. If its your dad too bad.
3. There may be victims out there. If you don’t report it, there may be more victims.
4. If you don’t report it to the cops the next time, you may go to jail yourself. Get it?
Pastor Brian Houston said, near the end of his time at the Royal Commission today, that little old lady Pastor Barbara Taylor is the true hero of the Frank Houston pedophile saga over the past 14 years.
But it was apparent that in his soul, Brian himself felt he was the true hero despite the risks of annoying “conflicts of interest”, he was prepared to risk everything, even his reputation, to protect and care for his old pedo dad from jail and protect Hillsong from any serious pay-out to the victims.
Don Qixote. Hero?
Don Qixote charging at windmills which he imagined were his enemies
And poor old victim AHA, the now 52 year old disability pensioner, a former family friend of Brian’s, who Brian’s old man abused for 5 years from age 7, until even his soul was shattered. Well, victim AHA had been taken for complete sucker by his dad. Brian, like any true godfather, was involved from arms-length. When the money wasn’t paid Brian said, at a word my family fixed it. $10,000 ha ha ha. It could have been millions for all the victims. Ha ha ha.
But to my mind there have been no heroes in this situation. Pastor Frank Houston was Brian’s hero. His dad was his soul-mate.
And Pastor Brian Houston was Frank’s hero. The bearer of his legacy. But all Frank has left behind for Brian is a pile of old smelly pedophile bones and broken kids who are now in their 50s or dead.
Like the young male Auckland, New Zealand victim, whose brother contacted me yesterday, who suicided shortly after Pastor Frank Houston abused him. RIP Frank Houston. You’re in God’s hands now.
Pastor Frank Houston. In God’s hands now. Not so clever now are we Frankie.
donaldelley 