Protesting Brian Houston’s Deception at Hillsong Melbourne, 12 July, 2015

13 Monday Jul 2015

Posted by churchwatcher in Hillsong Conference, Hillsong Scandal

Tags

Ady, Benjamin Ady, Brian Houston, celebrity pastor, Hillsong, hillsong conference, Hillsong Conference 2015, Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill, protest, protester

I want to say thank you to Church Watch for inviting me to write about my experience protesting Brian Houston’s deception at Hillsong Melbourne today. I hadn’t been planning to do so, but the exercise was useful for me in processing my own experience. Also, I just want to be really clear that I’m not a Christian, do not attend any church, and am not affiliated with Church Watch, but instead have graciously been asked to write a guest post.

Benjamin_Ady Hillsong Protest Brian Houston 2

Hillsong protester: Benjamin Ady

For a bit of background, feel free to read my post about my experience of being deceived by Brian Houston, Australia’s most powerful celebrity pastor, here http://burningreligion.com/2015/07/07/my-experience-of-being-deceived-by-australias-most-powerful-celebrity-pastor/ . In short, I spearheaded what grew into a massive media campaign in Australia to protest Hillsong Church giving misogynist and abusive ex-megachurch-pastor Mark Driscoll a gigantic public platform at Hillsong Conference in Sydney a couple of weeks ago. Under gigantic pressure, Hillsong’s senior pastor Mr. Houston agreed to not have Mr. Driscoll appear at the conference. Then he went ahead and interviewed Mr. Driscoll at the conference anyway. In retrospect, one can see that his public announcement that he was cancelling Mr. Driscoll’s appearance was very carefully worded so as to lead protestors and Australian media to believe Mr. Driscoll would no longer be appearing at the conference at all, whereas hidden in the details of his deceptive and misleading language was a loophole he’d left himself whereby he could interview Driscoll on camera, offsite from the conference, and then broadcast the interview at the conference and still not have technically “lied”.

I found this obvious deception quite outrageous, and given that I’d actually shown up at Hillsong Melbourne services with a gigantic “Thank you for listening and cancelling Driscoll’s appearance” sign, I felt I really couldn’t just let the deception go, but for my own sake, and because I want to live in a world where popular spiritual leaders can’t just completely get away with lying to the public, I felt I had to go back one more time to retract my thanks and publicly say “Brian Houston lied to me”. Some friends of mine in Melbourne, 3 Christians including one pastor, also found the deception outrageous and agreed to join me in protesting it. So the four of us stood outside Hillsong Melbourne Worship services this morning with our protest signs. Here’s a photo of us.

Benjamin_Ady_Protest

The fourth member of our little group, my wife Meg, is taking the photo. Here’s another including her.

Benjamin_Ady_Protest2

Here’s the protest signs right after they were made the other night

And here’s the other very silly one referencing Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” we made a bit later.

Benjamin_Ady_Protest3 As you can see, we intended to protest with good humor =).

Some things I realised/noted/learned:

One thing that struck me today was the gigantic gulf between the take of so many people I know, who found Mr. Houston’s deception quite outrageous, and the take of every single Hillsong insider to whom I spoke today, which involved justifying and minimising and denying Mr. Houston’s deception. My brilliant friend Alister Pate helped me understand this gulf in terms of M. Scott Peck’s framework from “The Road Less Traveled”, which proposes 4 stages of human spiritual development.
As at my previous protests at Hillsong, 98%+ of people going into and out of Hillsong services basically entirely ignored us. I’m trying to understand this from their perspective, and it makes sense to me. I think most people probably just aren’t in the psycho-emotional space, most of the time, to engage with protestors. I mean I think the vast majority of Hillsong Church goers are probably reasonably nice people who are involved with Hillsong each for their own reasons, and that likely most of these reasons are fairly excellent and reasonable. Most people just aren’t like me. If I see a protester at something, I’m instantly overwhelmed with curiosity, and massively attracted to that person, whatever they might be protesting, because I see in them a kindred spirit who has the psycho-emotional capacity to be an unafraid outspoken outsider. It takes a certain amount of fortitude and energy to do this sort of thing and ask people to engage with you when you know most of them are going to disagree. I’m okay with most people being different from me and not wanting to engage.
My other realisation, about myself, this morning, is that I’m totally done with Hillsong/Mr. Houston now. I’ve spent the last 10 weeks or so engaging with them, to the best of my ability–first in asking them not to give this abusive ex-pastor, Mr. Driscoll, a platform, then in saying thank you when they acquiesced, then finally in publicly calling them out when it turns out they lied. This has sucked up a lot of my energy and time, and a chunk of my money as well. I thought for a long time that Hillsong/Mr. Houston and I were having a civil conversation of sorts. But when Mr. Houston lied, and then when all the insiders I spoke to at Hillsong Melbourne this morning (the <2% of folks who did engage) mostly spent the conversation defending, minimising, and denying Mr. Houston’s deception, as well as trying to proselytise me, psychoanalyse me, tell me I was robbing myself, and changing the subject, I realised I’m no longer willing to keep trying to have a civil conversation with these folks. I’m very happy to gently cut them right out of my life, in order to create space for more delicious, engaging, authentic folks. So you likely won’t see me writing/posting about, protesting, or otherwise engaging with Hillsong Church any further for the foreseeable future, unless something changes quite radically on their side of the conversation. I’m usually fairly happy to, as my friend Jim Henderson (author of “Question Mark, Why the Church Welcomes Bullies and How to Stop It”, which I highly recommend) puts it, stay in the room with difference. But not indefinitely with toxic difference.

Reviewing Houston’s second statement on Driscoll: Is Mark Driscoll speaking at Hillsong Church?

15 Monday Jun 2015

Posted by churchwatcher in Associations, Brian Houston's Beliefs, Hillsong Associations, Hillsong Conference

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Brian Houston, Driscoll, Hillsong, houston, lies, Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill, misleading, misleading statement, statement

This is the second review out of two statements.

Sledging media, sledging Christians, sledging churches, sledging pastors & anyone who questions him for decades.

The link below will take you to Brian Houston’s latest media statement explaining why Brian Houston dropped Mark Driscoll from speaking at Hillsong Conference 2015 (Published 07/06/2015).

Houston bends knee to critics and media (Part 3): Driscollified to speak at Hillsong

To understand the context of the things we say in this statement, please read our previous article on Houston’s previous statement over Driscoll:

Reviewing Houston’s first statement on Driscoll: Did Driscoll mislead Brian Houston?

In Brian Houston’s response as to why he cancelled Mark Driscoll speaking at the Hillsong Conference, he revealed some vague, unsettling things both by what he said and by what he left unsaid. In this review we:

1. Ask the question if Mark Driscoll is coming to speak at Hillsong Church (not Hillsong Conference) considering, Mark “will be able to speak in person in the coming weeks to discuss some of the issues that have been raised”.
2. Expose Brian Houston publicly lying about the information on the petition and those who signed it.
3. Expose Brian Houston lying in his attempt to “claim ignorance”.
4. Expose Brian Houston contradicting himself in his previous statement over his motives for inviting Driscoll to speak.
5. Expose Houston’s ability to paint Driscoll and himself as if they are beyond reproach while depicting Christians as hyper-sensitive, Pharisaical, unforgiving idiots.
6. Expose Houston trying to look as though he is not bending the knee to critics, when in fact he is.
7. Exposing Houston for not being pastoral, even to Mark Driscoll:

“I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” 2 Timothy 4:1-2

REVIEW OF HOUSTON’S SECOND STATEMENT RE: MARK DRISCOLL

After personal interaction with Mark Driscoll today, we have agreed that he will no longer be coming to Australia or the UK to attend Hillsong Conference.

Did Mark Driscoll confess his wrongdoings to you? Is that why you cancelled him speaking at the Hillsong Conference Brian? Are you going to call him to repent of his sins because that’s what pastors are Biblically called to do?

It is my hope that Mark and I will be able to speak in person in the coming weeks to discuss some of the issues that have been raised, […]

It’s interesting to note that Brian Houston deliberately wrote that he STILL wants to speak with Mark Driscoll “IN PERSON in the coming weeks to discuss some of the issues that have been raised.” How long is “in the coming weeks?” Does this mean Mark Driscoll is STILL going to fly over to Australia? Is this meeting with Brian going to be private or public, and will Mark STILL be speaking, but just not at the Hillsong Conference?

Seeing how some churches are responding to Mark Driscoll, and knowing how Houston operates, it would not surprise us at all if Brian Houston does invite Driscoll to speak at Hillsong Church prior to the Hillsong Conference. After all, Driscoll is still meeting with Houston and “will be able to speak in person in the coming weeks to discuss some of the issues that have been raised”.

[…] what – if anything – he has learned, […]

Did Mark Driscoll learn to repent of his sins? Did Mark Driscoll learn that because of the type of sins he’s committed that he’s no longer Biblically qualified to be a Pastor? You’re referring to those right Brian? …Right?

[…] and for me to understand better how he is progressing in both his personal and professional life.

Hold it! Didn’t you already say you had a personal interaction with him on the phone in the very first sentence?

Didn’t you already ask him these questions? Isn’t that the reason why you told Mark he isn’t speaking at the Hillsong Conference? Because he hasn’t actually progressed in his personal and professional life?

If Mark didn’t give a satisfactory answer then all you needed to do, is type in the name “Mark Driscoll” in a google search engine to read the variety of charges people have made against him, such as stealing church money to buy his way onto the New York Times best seller’s list, or how fourteen pages of his book contained plagiarized material, etc. There is PLENTY of evidence for the illegal activity he’s engaged in… Just google it, seriously.

The teachings of Christ are based on love and forgiveness […]

Yes this is true.

But unfortunately Brian Houston is notorious for preaching (and believing) a love that excluees integrity, responsibility, accountability, repentance and honesty. Not only that, Houston’s false Jesus preaches an anti-biblical, worldly love that is separated of what God’s Law and Gospel defines as love.

He is also notorious for clearly rejecting the biblical criteria of what the qualifications are for a pastor and how a pastor should function and behave. The reason why he teaches falsely on love, forgiveness and what it means to be a pastor is because if he taught biblically, people would see that he is biblically disqualified to lead and operates illegally in the Assemblies of God.

Just like Driscoll, Houston’s idea of forgiveness completely ignores repentance and dismisses any form of being accountable for one’s sins. The reason for this is because Houston (just like his father) does not know what Christianity is nor it’s central message. (See CWC & HillsongCW Archives.)

[…] and I will not write off Mark as a person […]

That’s funny, you and Mark have both written off Jesus as God by ignoring what He says.

His word is clear that you and Mark Driscoll are not fit to pastor anyone. Especially you Brian. Your track record is a blight on Christianity and the fact you persist in your own false presumptions is causing others to stumble.

Christ offers forgiveness as we repent and turn from sins. All that is required is we turn from wickedness, take responsibility for sinful behavior and right wrongs – and forgiveness is freely given.

“But when [John the Baptist] saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance…” Matthew 3:7-8

NOTE: the truth is this. No one wants to write off Mark Driscoll [or Brian Houston]. As Christians we are to call leaders out who do sin publicly and bring them under church discipline when they refuse to repent of their sins.

[…] simply because of the things that people have said about him […]

The things people have said on Mark Driscoll are TRUE. Here again, Brian Houston is attempting to discredit credible sources.

You know something is wrong with Driscoll when he is invited to speak at Hillsong Conference…

[…] a small minority of people signing a petition […]

NOTE: Brian Houston’s standard for a long time has been ‘might is right’.

Here we see Brian Houston implying that the “majority” knows better. But as with many issues before, Brian Houston “lies” by omission and keeps the majority in ignorance.

The only reason why he is dropping Mark Driscoll from speaking at Hillsong is because the minority started to greatly influence the majority (see further down). So what is Brian Houston doing?

Since he likes to lead the majority based on popularity, to retain power he must undermine the credibility of the minority and encourage people to throw disdain at them by appealing to the majority. We have seen him do this before regarding his Allah comments.

“Pull the Allah one, Brian” (Part 2)

NOTE: Notice that these are mainly CHRISTIANS he is encouraging people to hate.

BRIAN HOUSTON’S LIES

Lying by omission is when someone leaves out key information so they come across as “honest”, leaving you with a false impression or idea on the subject at hand. This overall statement released by Brian Houston seems to be in this category. This is because he has bought up the petition in his statement. Click the link below to read the petition:

Christian’s petitioning for Hillsong to remove the disgraced Mark Driscoll from their Conferences

As you can see, the petition towards the beginning listed a number of offences made by Mark Driscoll. One thing that did not make that list was Mark Driscoll’s crass language, but this was talked about in a paragraph after the list. The key phrase in this petition we want to draw your attention to is this:

“Although the statements are 14 years old, his more recent messages about “feminised men” and women’s roles being solely within the home suggest his views have not changed, although his language may have.”

It becomes apparent that Houston did not consider Mark’s other offenses to be as bad as this more minor offense. Houston summarised the petition like this:

“The teachings of Christ are based on love and forgiveness, and I will not write off Mark as a person simply because of the things that people have said about him, a small minority of people signing a petition or statements he has made many years ago for which he has since repeatedly apologised.” [Emphasis ours]

See what’s wrong here?

1. Brian Houston is capitalizing on the information and lying to them about what the actual petition was trying to address.
2. He is completely out of line for taking half a sentence out of the petition and then distorting the writer’s overall concerns
3. Which in turn he then portrays her, and the people who signed, as unforgiving, unloving, hyper-skeptics.
4. He ignores the six points in his statement and only focuses on Driscoll’s language. (Lying by omission.)
5. He attempts to portray himself as being the forgiving one while smearing the “minority” as being unforgiving in spite of the petition saying, “We fully believe that people can be restored and redeemed and that forgiveness is a fundamental part of Jesus’ teaching” and goes on to explaining how Driscoll can receive forgiveness.

His statement completely fabricates the overall petition when one actually reads what it says and lists the other more numerous charges.

Don’t you think Brian Houston should be publicly exposed for these false statements and be subject to biblical discipline as well? (But then again, the way Brian Houston reads the petition and spoke about it is the same way he treats the Christian scriptures. So why should this behaviour surprise us?)

We would like to point out to readers that this is not the first time Brian Houston has been caught lying and behaving immoral in his statements:

“Tabloid trash” exposing Hillsong of lying?
“Pull the Allah one, Brian” (Part 1)
“Pull the Allah one, Brian” (Part 2)

[…] or statements he has made many years ago […]

We will be writing more about this statement in another article – but notice what Brian Houston is doing. He is distancing the issue as though Mark Driscoll’s behavior was not recent, thus not relevant anymore and that “haters [are] gonna hate” for the sake of hating. And this is just defamatory and deceitful.

Furthermore, the real issue was not “simply” statements made many years ago, but rather, Driscoll’s issues of systemic abuse, bullying, misuse of funds, inappropriate language, plagiarizing, unethical behavior and refusing to submit to elders’ discipline. This is a very public and recent case. Brian Houston is deliberately playing down Driscoll’s pulpit “crimes”.

[…] for which he has since repeatedly apologized.

More word games. Christians are calling Mark Driscoll to repent. Some churches, their leaders, and Brian Houston, keep switching the words of Mark’s critics, insisting he has “apologized”. But these are two different things.

We are told that Driscoll has apologized and “repeatedly apologized”. But the Christian teaching on repentance doesn’t just stop at an apology. To think everything is solved at an apology is not what Christians are asking for. Christians are calling for repentance. These men keep diverting the issue by painting other Christians as unforgiving and hateful and portraying Mark Driscoll as the victim, giving the false impression that Mark Driscoll has dealt with his issues.

There are PLENTY of issues Mark Driscoll has YET to repent of, such as saying he will run over people who don’t follow his vision with the Mars Hill bus. Mark Driscoll has NOT repented for misusing church funds nor for buying his way onto the New York Times Best Seller’s List using tithe money. Not to mention that Mark Driscoll has NOT repented for plagiarizing material in “his books” (which he hired ghost writers to do for him anyway.) There are countless victims who have been hurt, lied to, and manipulated by Mark Driscoll, and he has YET to apologize to these individuals. For Brian Houston to overlook these facts and endorse an unrepentant man is totally unloving and a complete affront to Jesus and his teachings of repentance and the forgiveness of sins.

It’s a good thing that finally more and more Christians are seeing through this particular lie that false teachers are peddling.

However, I do not want unnecessary distractions during our conference, […]

Brian Houston has many false teachers regularly speaking at Hillsong Conferences. Mark Driscoll was just a “blip on the screen” compared to the numerous false teachers invited to speak at this yearly event that supposedly exists to glorify Jesus.

[…] particularly as this 30 minute interview was only a small part of this five day event […]

Now Brian Houston is trying to reduce the issue – so it looks as though people are making a mountain out of a molehill because it’s only a “30 minute interview”. But Brian can’t have it both ways.

In his previous statement Brian Houston acknowledged that he was exalting the issue Mark Driscoll a serious “platform” at Hillsong Conference:

“So why am I using our platform to interview Mark? […] I genuinely want to know! Did he really say those things?” [Source]

[…] It was clear to me that Mark’s attendance had the potential to divert attention from the real purpose of Hillsong Conference, […]

This is ludicrous. According to Houston’s last statement, Houston WANTED to “divert attention from the real purpose of Hillsong Conference” because Houston genuinely wanted to know if Mark Driscoll did “really say those things.” Was Houston planning to get a list of all of Driscoll’s potty-mouthed words and phrases and ask him if he said those things? It sounded as though in his previous statement the answer was going to be “yes,” he was going to do something along those lines.

[…] which is to see people leave encouraged in their own spiritual journey [the cause].

… Because Christianity is ALL about people’s “own spiritual journey.”

…

No Brian. That’s called paganism. New Age.

People are to be encouraged and fed God’s Word and leave inspired by the finished work of Jesus Christ. We know that Brian Houston is usually very “politically correct”. So why is Brian Houston paving the way for spiritual correctness?

Clearly Mark has held some views and made some statements that cannot be defended.

So Brian is aware of what statements exactly? He is deliberately holding back what he knows so that he keeps people in the dark. And still, Houston seems to convey that he doesn’t believe the statements in the media and internet.

NOTE: Brian is still reducing issues to statements.

One or two of the more outrageous things he is purported to have said, […]

(Which can be seen on video readily.)

[…] I have heard for the first time through the media exposure over the past week.

But you don’t listen to the media, do you Brian? You teach your own members not to listen to the media. That’s the devil isn’t it? Bad press against your idea of Christianity is of Satan but good press against your idea of Christianity is of God.

Once again, Brian Houston’s double standard over the media is pitiful.

NOTE: Brian Houston confesses he has not done his homework on Driscoll before inviting Mark Driscoll to speak at Hillsong. We will be exploring this issue in another article.

Houston bends knee to critics and media (Part 1): Lateline

08 Monday Jun 2015

Posted by churchwatcher in Hillsong Associations, Hillsong Conference

≈ Comments Off on Houston bends knee to critics and media (Part 1): Lateline

Tags

Driscoll, Hillsong, Hillsong Church, hillsong conference, Hillsong Conference 2015, houston, Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill

If there is anything Brian Houston of Hillsong hates, it is anyone who criticises him. If they are Christians, they are “Pharisees” and “evil people”. If it’s the media, it’s demonic, anti-Christian and not of God. Again, Brian Houston espouses to his followers that people should not listen or engage with “critics”. According to Houston, these “haters” are out to stunt your potential and growth.

This series of articles will observe how Brian Houston went against his own teachings and decided to act according to the public criticism over Mark Driscoll the last week.

The Australian ABC Lateline reports,

Disgraced US mega-church pastor Australia bound

[Click to Download video]

Last year American pastor Mark Driscoll resigned from the evangelical mega-church he’d built after staff protests, allegations of bullying, and a history of degrading comments about women. Now he’s planning a comeback, and will be speaking at Australia’s biggest Christian event later this month – the Hillsong conference. Julia Baird reports on the campaign to stop him appearing.

Transcript

STEVE CANNANE, PRESENTER: The Christian faith preaches forgiveness and the possibility of redemption.

But what if the man who once led the sermon is the one asking for a second chance.

Last year the American pastor Mark Driscoll resigned from the mega church he’d built after staff protests, allegations of bullying and a history of degrading comments about women.

Now he’s planning a comeback but there’s a campaign to stop him appearing at Australia’s biggest Christian event later this month, the Hillsong conference.

Julia Baird has the story.

MARK DRISCOLL, PASTOR: We launched five years ago with a small community group in the heart of downtown Seattle.

JULIA BAIRD, REPORTER: The Mars Hill congregation in Seattle was one of the fastest growing Evangelical mega churches in America.

It spread to 15 locations in five States with 15,000 members.

And its founder became a celebrity and a New York Times best seller.

MARK DRISCOLL: Death, hell. The wrath of God…

JULIA BAIRD: Mark Driscoll was young, hip and provocative.

JIM HENDERSON, FORMER SEATTLE PASTOR AND AUTHOR: Just a young person as auteur and speaker he was gifted.
And then secondly, in the city of Seattle which is considered one of the most unchurched cities in the United States, quite Liberal, someone came in to offer an alternative approach to religion that was certainly not seen here, particularly in the package that it was provided in sort of the young hipster.

So he brought a black and white message in a leather jacket and jeans.

MARK DRISCOLL: I swear to you, I keep waiting to go to the mall and just- I’m waiting for the day when guys are in strollers.

JULIA BAIRD: He became famous for what was called the testosterone gospel. He told men to man up and women to focus on serving men.

MARK DRISCOLL: Within marriage, the man is the covenant head.

JULIA BAIRD: But as his star rose, the voices of his critics grew louder.

SIMON SMART, DIRECTOR, CENTRE FOR PUBLIC CHRISTIANITY: He’s had to apologise many times for things that he’s said. And there’s no doubt that within Mark’s kind of way of teaching and preaching, he had a very particular kind of vision of what it means to be male and female and you know, frankly, it just, it was in some cases quite offensive.

JULIA BAIRD: Driscoll was known for his aggressive style.

MARK DRISCOLL: How dare you! Who in the hell do you think you are!

JULIA BAIRD: And he was also known for provocative statements denigrating women.

MARK DRISCOLL: Knowing that his penis would need a home, God created a woman to be your wife and when you marry her and look down you will notice that your wife is shaped differently than you and makes a very nice home.

Proverbs talks about certain women- they’re like a dripping faucet. You ever tried to sleep with a dripping faucet? Plunk, plunk, plunk, plunk. It’s what we used to torture people who are prisoners of war. A wife is like that.

JULIA BAIRD: Driscoll was forced to apologise for his remarks but he soon faced other allegations, including misuse of church funds, plagiarism and verbally abusive behaviour.

MARK DRISCOLL: In my worst moments, I was angry in a sinful way. For those occasions, I am sorry. As I’ve expressed in several sermons, I needed to mature as a leader, and we needed to mature as a church.

JULIA BAIRD: After dozens of staff resignations an internal church review found him guilty of arrogance, bullying and an unhealthy ego.

In October 2014 he resigned.

Now people are asking why this disgraced pastor has been invited to arguably the most influential annual religious gathering in Australia.

The Hillsong conference, where he’ll be interviewed by the founder of Hillsong, Brian Houston.

BENJAMIN ADY, PROTESTER AND FORMER SEATTLE RESIDENT: I’m really shocked that Hillsong is putting him on stage.

Because Hillsong obviously has a much, you know, much better reputation than that with regards to women especially.

They’re giving him a voice in front of 20,000 people and none of his victims are being given a voice by Hillsong.

I have a good friend in Seattle, Jen, oh my God, I shouldn’t talk about this, because I’m going to start crying, she was hurt so badly.

She had a small- she was a member of Mars Hill church. She had a small disagreement, I don’t know small- she had a disagreement with Mark Driscoll.

She said to him, “I disagree with you.”

He published an open letter to the whole church, and written to her husband saying if you don’t get your wife to shut up, I will.

MEGAN ANN JONES ADY, PROTESTER AND FORMER SEATTLE RESIDENT: I feel passionately about the fact that women are very vulnerable to abusive words and abusive leadership in the church and I believe the church has a responsibility to have a voice for women of compassion and empowerment and healing and not a voice of further abuse.

JULIA BAIRD: The conference is usually attended by the country’s most powerful politicians and 30,000 people came last year. So why has Mark Driscoll been invited?

JOEL A’BELL, LEAD PASTOR, HILLSONG CHURCH: Look, it’s obvious Mark has had some opinions and comments and thoughts and maybe even some long-held beliefs about women and the value of women and we could not be any different.

We believe in women in ministry, we believe in women succeeding in society, we couldn’t think of anything better than women being able to succeed and be involved and this interview at conference, tiny little bit of a large conference is really going to be about the mistakes you have made in the past, Mark and the life lessons that we can learn together because you should not have had those views, should not have thought those things and it’s hurt people but how do we move forward together and learn from your mistakes.

JULIA BAIRD: But Driscoll’s critics think it is too early and inviting means condoning.

JIM HENDERSON: Hillsong is in the world- the Christian world the public world what’s called a cultural elite.

They have an incredible amount of influence, media awareness, savvy and yes, when they provide you that stage next to Brian Houston and you sit next to him in that spotlight on that stage you’re sitting in one of the most expensive pieces of religious real estate in the world currently.

And so the fact, just the fact that they’re in his presence and they’re endorsing Driscoll and basically saying we’re cheering you on hoping you make a comeback.

BENJAMIN ADY: Hillsong cannot distance themselves from Mark Driscoll’s views and simultaneously put him on stage. That’s not possible.

MEGAN ANN JONES ADY: What I want to say to the women of Hillsong who are walking past me right now, is that you are a wonderful, valuable, worthwhile intelligent woman.

And it’s not the voice of Jesus or the voice of the Bible when people in the church say, such as Mark Driscoll, when people say limit yourself, snip your wings, don’t be all that you could be.

SIMON SMART: Within Christianity, of course there is always the possibility of forgiveness, repentance, restoration, that type of thing.

That’s open to everyone regardless of who they are and what they’ve done, that’s for sure.

It’s a much more serious thing though when you think about the role of the pastor, which is really a weighty responsibility.

The Bible presents it as a kind of grave responsibility.

That’s because, of course, there is a great potential to do a lot of good, to influence lots of people, but also the potential to do a lot of harm.

And so usually when it comes to particularly big, you know falls from grace, when it comes to a pastor, there is absolutely forgiveness, there is also the possibility usually of some sort of restoration, perhaps to a position like that. But it’s normally a long road back and rightly so.

Source: Reported by Julia Baird, Disgraced US mega-church pastor Australia bound, Lateline, http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2015/s4250054.htm, Broadcast 05/06/2015. (Accessed 07/06/2015.)

A staged protest against Mark Driscoll at Hillsong Conference 2015.

24 Sunday May 2015

Posted by churchwatcher in Associations

≈ 34 Comments

Tags

Brian Houston, Chris Rosebrough, Hillsong, hillsong conference, Hillsong Conference 2015, Hillsong Conference twentyfifteen, Hillsong twentyfifteen, houston, John MacArthur, Mars Hill, Paul Tripp, protest, Rachel Held Evans

We have been emailed information about a certain event planned to take place at Hillsong Conference 2015.

Print, Promote & Protest

We would like to make it clear:

Mark Driscoll does NOT represent Fundamentalist Christianity but rather that of a cult leader. Although it appeared he began as a “fundamental Christian”, it was fundamental Christianity sounding the alarm of Mark Driscoll’s Emergent/Liberal progression. Not only does he still dabble in their liberal “tribal” notions and obfuscation games, Driscoll is firmly planted in the Purpose-Driven movement and had no problem espousing their vision casting and leadership-centered doctrines.

Mark Driscoll has run from discipline and now associates himself with Prosperity and Word of Faith churches such as Robert Morris’ Gateway Church, Brian Houston’s Hillsong and Joseph Prince’s New Creation Church. In fact, Mark Driscoll is now being discipled by the Word of Faith proponent Robert Morris of Gateway Church.

Even though Driscoll has marketed himself as fundamentally conservative, other conservative Christian leaders have stated, “It’s over. Marks [sic] should resign. Nobody should go to his church. He’s unqualified for ministry“.

We ask, is he switching camps to escape responsibility, accountability and discipline for his actions? Should we be surprised that Brian Houston has no problem with the ethical integrity of this man, by asking him to speak at Hillsong? This issue is not Fundamentalism – we are dealing with cult leaders abusing their positions and thus getting away with abusing people.

We hope Christians from all denominations speak out against the cult-like behaviour of Mark Driscoll and its apparent acceptance by Brian Houston.

Information about the Protest:

Press release: Planned Protest against Hillsong Conference guest speaker Mark Driscoll at Hillsong’s Waterloo Campus in Sydney, 9:15 AM on Sunday May 31st

(for questions please contact Benjamin Ady on 0400048195 or peopleagainstfundamentalism@gmail.com)

People Against Fundamentalism are calling for a protest against Sydney’s Hillsong church’s invitation to former mega-church pastor Mark Driscoll, often accused of being a misogynist and a bully, to speak at their Sydney conference this winter. An online petition against Driscoll’s presence at Hillsong’s conference has gathered nearly 1,000 signatures (1)

People Against Fundamentalism have watched Mark Driscoll ongoingly hurt many people, especially women, in Seattle, with his misogyny, bullying, and hardline complementarian teaching.

Last year Mars Hill, the 14,000 member megachurch Driscoll founded and led in Seattle, went down in flames because of his bad behaviour (2). The former church is currently facing a lawsuit for racketeering alleging misuse of funds designated for church planting in Ethiopia and India, including the use of those same funds to pay an agency US$210,000 to game the New York Times bestseller list to get Driscoll’s latest book, Real Marriage, on top (3, 4)

Brian Houston, Hillsong’s senior pastor, is himself potentially under investigation and facing legal repercussions for failing to report his own father and previous Hillsong pastor Frank Houston’s sexual abuse of minors. (5) Jim Henderson, one of the leaders of the protest that brought down Driscoll’s Mars Hill Church last year, and author of the book “Question Mark” about Driscoll and bullying in the church, said “Given Houston’s precarious position with the Royal Commission it seems a risk not worth taking to bring someone else on stage who is similarly under investigation for racketeering charges- What if some of the protesters begin linking the two of them together and accuse Brian of either attempting to divert attention away from his own legal allegations by focusing on Driscoll’s or of processing his own guilt in public using Driscoll as a surrogate”

Rachel Held Evans, a popular Christian blogger and author, says that Driscoll has an “alarming preoccupation with sex and masculinity”, and characterised his most recent book, “Real Marriage” as promoting the idea that “real marriage is to be based on a hierarchical pattern of submission” and as suggesting that it is “sinful” for a wife to withhold sex from her husband. (6)

Paul Tripp, executive director of the Centre for Pastoral Life and Care, and former board member at Mars Hill said of the culture created at by Mark at Mars Hill “This is without a doubt, the most abusive, coercive ministry culture I’ve ever been involved with.” (7)

Throughout his pastoral career at Mars Hill Church in Seattle Driscoll consistently generated controversy by speaking of women and the feminine with near contempt, referring to the church as “chickified”, saying the church needs dudes, saying dudes are and must be the leaders and denigrating “chicks” as being of no consequence. (8) Mark has ongoingly embraced and taught complementarianism, the doctrine that God gave men and women different roles, with men as the leaders and women as the followers. As such, women were precluded from the ranks of leadership at Mars Hill.

In 2011, Driscoll posted this status update to his facebook page “So, what story do you have about the most effeminate anatomically male worship leader you’ve ever personally witnessed?” (9)

Mark Driscoll has bragged about his bullying and casting aside of anyone who disagreed with him “There is a pile of dead bodies behind the Mars Hill bus, and by God’s grace it will be a mountain by the time we’re done. You either get on the bus or get run over by the bus.” (10)

The worldwide church-planting network (over 500 churches) which Mark Driscoll founded, Acts 29, kicked him AND his church Mars Hill out of their network last year, citing “ungodly and disqualifying behaviour”. They asked Mark to step down from ministry for an extended period of time and seek help. (11)

Mark has been accused by many of the pastors/elders of his own church of

Lack of self control
Verbally assaulting people
Slander
Creating a culture of fear
Being verbally abusive
Being arrogant (12)

The board of Elders who investigated these charges found that Mark Driscoll had a pattern of “persistent sin”, and they intended to rebuke him and ask him to enter a restoration process that would eventually lead to his restoration to leadership. The church’s elders were “deeply grieved” when Driscoll surprised them by resigning, thereby circumventing that process. This was followed very quickly by the dissolution of the megachurch he started. (13, 14)

Hillsong–please: don’t give this misogynistic, abusive, ex pastor a platform. Recently, a mere 4 months after the events culminating in his resignation and the dissolution of Mars Hill, Mark Driscoll has relaunched his ministry, still calling himself a “pastor”, and bragging that he’s speaking at Hillsong conference in Sydney this year. We don’t need or want his abusive version of Christianity in Australia.

Brian Houston: “I am excited about interviewing Mark and his wife”….

09 Saturday May 2015

Posted by churchwatcher in Uncategorized

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Tags

Brian Houston, disqualified, disqualified from ministry, hillsong conference, immorallity, interview, Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill

Before reading the article below – we would argue that Hillsong doesn’t invite doctrinally sound “pastors and Christian leaders” to speak at their annual conferences.

The invitations Hillsong extends to those they want as keynote speakers, are usually based on “popularity”, not on a biblical desire to mature the body of Christ. We should be asking the question – why do the majority of their keynote speakers fall into the category of false teachers? These are not false accusations as some may think. We recommend our readers do their own due diligence, please don’t just take our word for it. Much of the evidence for our claims are readily available out there on the web, that same evidence well-researched by mature theologians from both the Reformed and Charismatic camps. For instance:

1. TD Jakes: a Prosperity and Word of Faith heretic who denies the trinity.
2. Rick Warren: a Seeker Sensitive pastor and notorious bible twister who teaches anything to please anyone.
3. Joseph Prince: a Prosperity and Word of Faith heretic, and antinomian.
4. Joyce Meyer: a Prosperity and extreme Word of Faith heretic and pastrix.
5. Beth Moore: a notorious bible twister and pastrix.
6. Joel Osteen: is a New Age, Prosperity and Word of Faith heretic.
7. Jentezin Franklin is a notorious bible twister, Prosperity and Word of Faith heretic.
8. Craig Groeschel whose syncretism sees him aligning with the Word of Faith heretics already listed above.

Hillsong Conference is an event that boosts the popularity of frauds while at the same time tearing at the essentials of the orthodox Christian faith.

Warren Throckmorton writes,

Hillsong Founder Brian Houston Issues Statement On Mark Driscoll at the Hillsong 2015 Conference

I just received this information from Mark DeMoss via email:

Statement by Brian Houston on Mark Driscoll at Hillsong 2015 Conference

March 2015

For years, Hillsong has invited pastors and Christian leaders from around the world to speak at our annual conferences in Sydney, Australia and London, England. Well in advance of his resignation as senior pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington, we invited Mark Driscoll to be one of our speakers this summer. Rather than having Mark preach or teach, I am excited about interviewing Mark and his wife, Grace from our main platform during our Hillsong Conference 2015.

I am looking forward to having this opportunity to speak openly with the Driscolls about life and ministry, as well as recent events and lessons they’ve learned through personal and ministry trials during the past year. My aim is to have an in-depth conversation that gives insight into their hearts.

Mark has been candid about mistakes he has made, and if we can, through our conference, help others through his life experiences, we think that will prove valuable.

This exclusive statement comes from Brian Houston in response to my post last week noting that Mark Driscoll was slated to speak at the conferences. Instead of having a speaking position, he will be interviewed by Houston.

The description of Driscoll on the conference websites (Sydney, Europe) has not changed to reflect this news or the dissolution of Mars Hill Church. The description lists him as “founding pastor” rather than co-founder of the former Mars Hill Church.

Discuss.

Source: Warren Throckmorton, Hillsong Founder Brian Houston Issues Statement On Mark Driscoll at the Hillsong 2015 Conference, http://www.patheos.com/blogs/warrenthrockmorton/2015/03/12/hillsong-founder-brian-houston-issues-statement-about-mark-driscoll-at-the-hillsong-2015-conference/, Published 12/03/2015. (Accessed 04/05/2015.)

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Tag Archives: Mars Hill

Protesting Brian Houston’s Deception at Hillsong Melbourne, 12 July, 2015

Reviewing Houston’s second statement on Driscoll: Is Mark Driscoll speaking at Hillsong Church?

Houston bends knee to critics and media (Part 1): Lateline

A staged protest against Mark Driscoll at Hillsong Conference 2015.

Brian Houston: “I am excited about interviewing Mark and his wife”….