“An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie, for an excuse is a lie guarded.” Pope John Paul II

---

When Todd told me the latest deal with the Peeing Pastor, I had to shake my head: The Peeing Pastor Changes His Name to Protect the Guilty I had called him to discuss Brian Houston’s latest bomb. The other day, I found the following in my Twitter feed and choked on my coffee. I jumped up and yelled: “He’s doing a Bill Hybels!!!” Take a look, especially at the text I highlighted.

An important message from the Hillsong Global Board
Mar 18 2022

The global board of Hillsong Church would like to advise you of some important information concerning our Global Senior Pastor Brian Houston.

There is significant media coverage around these issues, and it is important that you hear from us, understand the truth, and have knowledge of the actions of the board during these times and the heart behind these actions.

As you are aware, Pastor Brian recently stepped aside from his ministry duties. When he stepped down in January this year, the reasons he gave were genuine. The situation with his father over many years had taken a personal toll that was greater than he had realised, and he needed to focus on his upcoming legal issues.

At the time of his announcement, the Hillsong Church board did not make a public statement because we were still working through a number of issues privately with Pastor Brian. These issues are now public, and therefore we would like to share with you the details.

We have sadly been dealing with two complaints made against Pastor Brian over the last 10 years. These matters – like all such matters under our code of conduct – were dealt with confidentially. In both of these cases we respected the confidentiality of both Pastor Brian and those involved, and we also must abide by local employment law. We are a church that believes in grace, love, restoration and integrity; these are our guiding values.

You can be assured that investigations into these complaints were treated extremely seriously. Each of these were conducted by either board members or a body appointed by the global board to hear and resolve complaints against credentialled pastors, and were assisted by highly respected external pastors and advisors.

The first issue was approximately a decade ago and involved inappropriate text messages from Pastor Brian to a member of staff, which subsequently resulted in the staff member resigning. At the time, Pastor Brian was under the influence of sleeping tablets, upon which he had developed a dependence. He immediately apologised to the person. We also worked closely with Pastor Brian to ensure he received professional help to eliminate his dependency on this medication, and this was achieved successfully.

To this former staff member, we again apologise and would welcome the opportunity to provide further assistance if this is needed.

The second issue involved a complaint received in 2019. Following an in-depth investigation, it was found that Pastor Brian became disoriented after a session at the Hillsong Conference, following the consumption of anti-anxiety medication beyond the prescribed dose, mixed with alcohol. This resulted in him knocking on the door of a hotel room that was not his, entering this room and spending time with the female occupant.

The investigation by the integrity unit appointed by the global board found that although all parts of the complaint were unable to be sustained, important elements of the complaint were sustained and the conduct was of serious concern. Ultimately, the board found that Brian had breached the Hillsong Pastor’s Code of Conduct.

We also acknowledge that whatever the circumstances at this time, this person did not deserve to be placed in the situation she found herself in by Pastor Brian.

We felt that we did all we could to assist the person who made the complaint and treated this person with compassion and respect, and also abided by her requirement for confidentiality.

The board also met a request for a refund of money donated to the church by this person, and agreed to that in order to bring resolution in a spirit of love and care. Pastor Brian was extremely remorseful and insisted on repaying the church for this.

We apologise unreservedly to the people affected by Pastor Brian’s actions and commit to being available for any further assistance we can provide.

Following that investigation, Pastor Brian agreed to take specific action including stepping down from leadership for a period. However unfortunately he failed to take all of the agreed steps which resulted in further action being taken by the board in late 2021. Pastor Brian remains on a period of leave.

The board has always endeavoured to act biblically and in accordance with good governance. However we understand that there has been a significant breach of trust. The board has been seeking external, wise counsel and is reviewing our governance structure and measures to ensure higher levels of accountability across Hillsong Church globally. Like many other churches of its size, Hillsong’s governance model has historically placed significant control in the hands of the senior pastor, but we recognise that the way we do things needs to be reviewed. We know there are areas on which we can improve, and we will work honestly and transparently to that end.

We are here for you, and as we work through this together we are available to help and offer you support. Our pastoral care team can be contacted through our church office at your location. We also believe this is a time to focus our attention on the God who restores and rebuilds, and encourage you to continue to meet together regularly not just on Sundays but in connect groups.

Our Interim Global Senior Pastors, Phil and Lucinda Dooley, are doing an amazing job under difficult circumstances. We want to thank them and ask you to keep praying for everyone involved and for our church.

We love you and thank you for your ongoing support.

Hillsong Global Board

The timeline in the communication is important

1. 2009 or @10 years ago, Houston claimed he took sleeping pills and sent an inappropriate post which caused a staffer to resign. I’d love to take a look at that text.
2. Houston got “professional” help for the “addiction” to the pills.
3. Houston continued as pastor.
4. 2019- Houston drank alcohol and took his anti-anxiety pills. He knocked on the hotel door of a staffer and went in for some time.
5. The miffed-off staffer left the church, asking for all of her donated money to be returned.
6. Houston agreed to take some unknown action.
7. Houston didn’t take the unknown action.
8. 2021- two flippin’ years later- the painfully slow and naive board took some unknown action, but by that time, Houston was in trouble over the claims he covered up church sex abuse committed by his father.

What does this tell me?

1. The Board of Hillsong let Houston continue with leading the ministry because he was the rainmaker, after all.
2. Houston had a long-term history of taking pills- sleeping, anti-anxiety, etc. He seemed to have no qualms in mixing them with alcohol. If this is true, he may have a long-term, multi-substance addiction history.
3. Did Houston take those pills or mix them with alcohol? Were these excuses in order to communicate get close and personal with women?
4. Why did both incidents involve him with women?
5. Why did both women leave the church? One was so upset that she asked for all of her donations returned. That’s really, really, mad.
6. Given these revelations, I would guess that there were more incidents involving pills, alcohol, and women. I wonder if any of them would be willing to come forward, even anonymously?

I remember Bill Hybels and the Ambien defense.

How many of you remember back to 2018 and all the revelations of Bill Hybels? Let’s deal with one which will forever be known as “The Ambien defense.” I wrote about here: Nancy Ortberg Claims She Endured an Unwanted Physical Encounter

Here are two instances discussed in that post. First, Nancy Ortberg related what happened in such a way that led me to believe that Hybels was using Ambien to give him cover.

My first international trip with Willow Creek as a staff member was to Tasmania. At the end of the three-day conference a small group of us joined Bill in his hotel room to celebrate a birthday and the conference. As we got up to leave at the end of the evening Bill said to me in front of the group,  “Nancy why don’t you stay for a couple of minutes for us to discuss your ministry work?” I immediately looked at the others for how I should respond and one of them smiled and said, “Okay, see you in the morning.”

Awkwardly I stayed and we talked for about twenty minutes. When I got up to leave Bill stopped me at the door and hugged/held me tightly for about thirty seconds. Stunned, I finally slipped my arms up between us and pushed him away. I went back to my hotel room and cried, not understanding what had just happened. Later I did not know how or who to talk to and began to second-guess and doubt myself as to its significance; that is, until years later when I began to hear stories of other similar encounters.

On a subsequent conference trip to Hawaii, I went running with Bill and he struck up a conversation about the amnesiac side effects of Ambien. Having been a nurse, I told him I found it rather odd that he was focusing on one of the more rare side effects, and that he brought it up to me at all. Again, I thought not much more of that conversation until years later when other stories emerged that included Ambien.

Secondly was Vonda Dyer’s experience with Ambien.

Bill called my hotel room in Sweden, in February of 1998, after a long conference day. I was in the bath and my roommate answered the phone. Bill asked her to have me call when I got out. I did, and he asked me to come up for a leadership talk, and told me to come alone. (My roommate confirmed with the Tribune) When I got to the room, Bill had wine opened and waiting. He told me to sit down and put my feet up. He told me he had taken Ambien. He then shared unfiltered thoughts about me, describing in great detail specific parts of my body he liked, and said he thought I was effusive, sexy and had great candor, mentioned what a promising leader I was, and he said,

Remember the Peeing pastor who dubiously claimed he didn’t do it and said he didn’t drink alcohol? He also said he took Ambien.

Todd documented that the “pastor” smelled of alcohol even though he denied drinking. Later, he claimed he took Ambien.

All the victims were women. Why?

Dee has a problem: Was it the Ambien or anti-anxiety drug, the sleeping pills, the alcohol, or the mixture of any of these substances that caused these men to do these things.

• Why did the problems involve only women? One would think that Houston, for example, would have wandered into the room of a male staffer instead of a woman. It happened twice (at least that’s what was admitted), and both were women.
• The peeing pastor peed on a woman.
• Hybels only had encounters with women while “under the influence.”

Could Houston, Hybels, and the “peeing pastor” have lied?

Is it possible they didn’t take the pills/alcohol but said they did so to give them probable cover? I’m suspicious. For example, why didn’t one of them call his grandfather to discuss baseball or go to his refrigerator and eat a pound of ham? Instead, they went to hotel rooms of females or texted women inappropriately.

Hillsong is into restoration, forgetting about authentic restoration.

Think about what Hillsong neglected to mention. Houston was not excommunicated. He was not prevented from taking communion. Why in the world did Hillsong ignore these steps? Houston’s restoration should be the restoration to the Hillsong membership after being appropriately disciplined for his shameful actions against women.

Given the number of Hillsong pastors who have “done evil in the sight of the Lord,” I suspect that there is corruption throughout the entire Hillsong enterprise. Is there anyone who can restore this church group to the practice of Biblical values? I don’t think the current board would recognize a godly leader even if a voice spoke from heaven. It’s time for a thorough housecleaning but I don’t think it will happen.

Finally, how many more pastors will blame it “all on the pills?”