The Secrets of Hillsong (2023) s01e03 Episode Script

(gentle music)
(somber music)
(somber music continues)
(somber music continues)
- You can't live in
Australia and not hear
about the Hillsong Church.
- Hillsong.
- Hillsong.
- Hillsong.
- Hillsong.
- Hillsong.
(somber music continues)
- In terms of becoming aware
of the failings of the church,
the crimes of some of
its senior members,
well, I think you go back
to this town hall meeting.
(tense music)
This was a time
when institutional
child sexual abuse,
in many ways, was considered
a kind of dark secret,
a place for conspiracies.
(tense music continues)
Victims were
damaged individuals,
and the institutions were the
kind of privileged voices.
(tense music continues)
I spent 11 years in Parliament
fighting for victims
of child sexual abuse
from institutions,
especially the churches.
When you're doing this kind
of work as a politician,
you absolutely
need to find a way
for the story to be told
and fix these broken laws.
(tense music continues)
We booked a big hall
for a Saturday morning.
We put out a few fliers,
and we weren't sure
who would turn up.
And I remember getting there
about 15 minutes before
the meeting started,
and there was a crowd
of people outside
waiting for the doors to open.
(melancholy music)
And I thought to myself, well,
this is going to be
bigger than I suspected.
Within a few minutes,
those seats filled,
and then we put out more
seats and more seats
and more seats.
And then this hall filled
with hundreds,
hundreds of people.
And there were people
standing on the side.
(melancholy music continues)
There was this emotion,
raw emotion in the room.
(melancholy music continues)
- [Victim] He was a monster.
An absolute monster.
- My son committed suicide.
(melancholy music continues)
- Victims and families
were telling their stories.
After we'd heard
from the victims,
we had this police
officer step up.
(melancholy music continues)
- Do we need a royal
commission? By hell we do.
(audience applauding)
(melancholy music continues)
- A royal commission
looks a lot like a court,
but it has powers that
go well beyond the court.
It can force the truth
from institutions.
It can force witnesses
to tell the truth.
This was the first
and best chance
that these victims had had.
(melancholy music continues)
There was this growing
media coverage.
It felt like the
moment had arrived.
(gentle downbeat music)
I hope you find
some peace of mind ♪
In this lifetime ♪
(gentle downbeat
music continues)
I hope you find
some paradise ♪
(gentle downbeat
music continues)
(gentle downbeat
music continues)
(gentle downbeat
music continues)
(no audio)
(somber music)
- I think it's incredibly
hard to report on Hillsong
for a number of reasons.
(somber music continues)
The church is not
transparent in any way.
It's run by a board of directors
that was ostensibly
handpicked by Brian Houston.
- Amen! Amen!
- They don't communicate
with the press,
and the church forces
a lot of people
to sign non-disclosure
agreements.
(somber music continues)
You know, if you say bad
things about Hillsong,
Hillsong can then pursue
litigation against you,
so that scares a
lot of people off.
(somber music continues)
(traffic whooshing)
So as a journalist,
sometimes you have to talk
to other journalists who are
working on the same story.
You share information, you
share leads, you share contacts,
and together, you
advance the story.
(somber music continues)
- [Recorder] Mr.
Beckett, thank you.
- [Beckett] Pastor Houston,
I wonder if you could state your
full name, please.
- My full name is
Brian Charles Houston.
- [Beckett] Thank you.
If in our litigation
against any senior pastor,
if that had come forward,
you would want to know
about that, wouldn't you?
- If I had been told
something like that,
I would've been like
a dog with a bone
going after what we're
talking about here.
I was oblivious.
Completely oblivious.
- [Beckett] All right.
(tense music)
I'll just take you through
some of the period before that.
(upbeat rock music)
- We moved here
in 1978, you know,
roughly 12 months
after my parents.
Initially, it was going to be
a one-year working holiday.
(upbeat rock music continues)
- Brian came over
to help his father
when his father moved to
Sydney to start a church.
(upbeat rock music continues)
There were a number
of churches in Sydney
that were like 50 to 100 people,
and yet Frank had 1,000
in the space of a year.
(upbeat rock music continues)
- I was a window cleaner,
and then eventually became
an assistant pastor.
From there, planted
three different churches.
The third one was what
now is Hillsong Church.
Give someone a warm
hug or a handshake
and welcome people to church.
Amen!
(congregation chattering)
- Brian really
appreciated the role
that music played in
his father's services,
so really early in the process
of starting his own church,
he teamed up with a very
talented professional musician
named Geoff Bullock.
- I spoke to the then worship
pastor in my dad's church
and says, "Can you help us out
with someone to play piano
and give us some music?"
And he says, "Well, I can
only give you Geoff Bullock."
(tense music)
(congregation laughing)
- The early days of Hills
Christian Life Center.
We started in August, '83
with an out-of-tune piano
on the stage of Baulkham
Hills Public School.
By summer '84, we had maybe
100, 150 people in the church.
A lot of musicians'd
come from other churches.
(tense music continues)
Brian and I are floating around
our above-ground swimming pools
pretending to be millionaires.
And that's when I said to Brian,
"We should call the
music team Hillsong."
He said, "Why would we do that?"
And I said, "Well,
it's better than saying
the Hills Christian
Life Centre Music Team."
So that's when the
name Hillsong was born.
The thing exploded.
(tape clicks)
The Brian I remember was
a bit of a goofy guy.
(gentle orchestral music)
- He was quite a Ned
Flanders-looking character.
- And we just really
love to have you here
and wanna encourage you
just to be a part
of what God's doing.
- I found him so average.
I didn't really think he
was going to go anywhere.
(gentle orchestral
music continues)
Who knew?
- When Brian started preaching,
his eyes would blink flat out.
(gentle orchestral
music continues)
- He wasn't the world's
greatest preacher,
but he was full of enthusiasm.
He was very entrepreneurial.
- You can see the potential.
- God, I'm believing to see
a mighty revival in
this part of the city.
How many can believe for that?
Hallelujah!
(congregation clapping)
- And he was the type
of person that you,
not only wanted to like,
but you wanted him to like you.
(gentle orchestral
music continues)
I think Brian was always
trying to impress his father
and follow in his
father's shoes,
but not to do it
like his father.
- So praise God!
(congregation applauding)
- In 1989, six years after
starting Hills Christian Centre,
Brian took a trip to
the United States.
(gentle music)
1989 America was like real
excess and very few apologies.
Americans were just
doing it more and bigger.
(gentle music continues)
Brian hooked up with a
lot of American pastors
who were teaching the
prosperity gospel.
They teach that if you
give money to the church,
God will give you money
and good health in return.
- Someone had a growth.
I just saw a growth
being healed.
- The message that's
being preached:
power is good, and you
should ask God for power.
Money is good, and you should
absolutely ask God for money,
and the success that you have
is a sign of God's blessing.
- I like new money.
I don't know if you do.
But I hate old money
that's wrinkled and dirty
and got all the diseases on it.
- [Kristin] So it's an
incredibly effective way
to amass money and power
if you're trying to
build a religious empire.
(gentle music continues)
- When God speaks to you,
I know He'll bless you.
- It also is very
much prone to abuse,
(gentle music continues)
because anybody who has power
to speak for God can
make demands of you.
- Then if you could
send a gift of $50.
(gentle music continues)
- And I want you to make
a $1,000 vow of faith.
Oh, I know you probably don't
have $1,000, but vow it.
- Prosperity preachers are
manipulating people to give,
not to bless people, but
to line their own pockets.
(gentle music continues)
- It benefits the people who
are preaching the gospel.
It doesn't benefit the faithful.
(congregation clapping)
That was the culture that Brian
caught in the United States,
and so he came back
and really made a shift
from an Assemblies of
God Pentecostalism,
which is pretty blue collar,
and really money
became the center
of what the church
was all about.
(upbeat music)
(upbeat music continues)
- [Announcer] Brian
Houston presents "Money".
- There's not one
person in this building
who doesn't need more money.
Wake up, wake up, wake up ♪
- What an awesome thing it is
to have you as
part of our world.
- [Announcer] To purchase
any of the products
you've just seen, write
to Hillsong Australia.
- [Kristin] "You
Need More Money".
- You'll say, I am rich!
- Brian ended up writing that
book, "You Need More Money".
I think what he meant
was he wanted more money.
- All of a sudden, we're
talking about Ferragamo shoes
and Armani suits.
(upbeat music continues)
And every time we went anywhere,
we had to get a
Gianni Versace tie
or we had to get
Gianni Versace socks.
I remember laughing
one day and thinking,
Gianni Versace's the
patron saint of Hillsong.
(upbeat music continues)
- Then you saw this
real deliberate attempt
to reinvent himself in the image
of what he thought
would be most attractive
to potential followers,
which was very
heavily fake tanned,
he's got bleach-white teeth,
he's got ripped arms.
- That's 29!
That's 30!
- [David] He's
really the alpha male
in the room, and
everyone knows it.
- Would you all say it
with me? Spiritually alive?
Spiritually alive!
- They ended up
hiring a consultant.
Brian said, "Look, I'm
gonna hire this guy.
He costs $50,000, and
he's going to teach us
how to raise funds so we
can spread the gospel."
Recruitment and growth were
very strong focal points.
There also seemed
to be an increase
in opportunities to donate.
- Are you serving Jesus tonight?
- The church got bigger.
We moved into the
warehouse next door,
knocked the wall down.
And then we moved into the
local entertainment center,
1,500 people.
Then we bought more
and more equipment.
Then we started
recording albums.
We formed a publishing company.
We did all these music
books, and it was
Well, it was exhausting.
(tense music)
- [Alex] You're not
there for Jesus.
You're there for Brian Houston.
- Why don't we just stay
standing for a moment?
- He shows up on Sunday
in a chauffeured car.
He gets in an elevator
that takes him to a
private green room.
He loves to hobnob
with celebrities.
He goes out into
the church space
and he sits in a roped off area.
(tense music continues)
- Brian Houston acted
as a sort of spiritual
father to Carl Lentz.
Carl learned a lot from Brian
in terms of how to run a church,
how to operate in a green room
with celebrities and athletes.
Carl also brought
something to the table
that Brian didn't have.
Carl, by all accounts,
is a great speaker and
a charismatic presence.
Brian's never really
been praised for that.
He's been known
more for brute force
and for making things
happen by whichever means.
- My faith, my strength.
(congregation applauding)
(congregation applauding)
(tense music)
- I met Brian when I
was 15 years of age.
Our friendship grew.
And when Brian started
Christian Life Centre,
I was asked to go in
and pastor the church.
- Back in the day,
Christian Life Centre
had some pretty strict
boundaries for young people.
(tense music continues)
- Youth group was about
resisting the flesh,
resisting those urges
and keeping yourself
kind of for marriage.
(tense music continues)
And I actually became pregnant.
My partner was 19 and I was 20.
(tense music continues)
We were really shocked.
We didn't think it was
unreasonable to go to the church
and say, "We need
help, we need support."
(tense music continues)
But unfortunately, we
couldn't have been more wrong.
(tense music continues)
The youth pastor approached
us and said to us,
"The next step for you is to
stand up in front of your peers
and apologize for
what you've done."
(eerie music)
I can't even begin to
describe the shock,
the trauma, the
embarrassment, the shame
that we went through
in that moment.
(eerie music continues)
The look on people's
faces, their shock,
their sense of embarrassment.
(eerie music continues)
Nobody knew where to look.
They couldn't look
at us in the eye.
(eerie music continues)
(eerie music continues)
- This is something that I've
only started thinking about
in the last few years,
is the cost of what
was taken from me
in terms of this being
my very first pregnancy,
my very first child.
(eerie music continues)
I was ashamed to be pregnant.
(eerie music continues)
All the emotional stuff
that we went through
made me physically sick.
I was physically sick
throughout my whole pregnancy.
(eerie music continues)
Like, gravely ill.
(eerie music continues)
All we had was this
church environment,
and here they were now
treating us like pariahs.
(eerie music continues)
- Wow.
Well, to put a person
up on a platform
and shame them, and
it was in our church?
- Mm-hm.
- Wow.
(eerie music continues)
Blatantly wrong.
And if I was
responsible for that,
which as the senior
pastor, I am,
then I was totally out
of order, totally wrong.
Jesus said, leave the
99 and go after the one.
But when I started our
church, I have to confess,
I saw crowds, I didn't
see individuals.
(eerie music continues)
We have a lot to answer for.
A lot to answer for.
(eerie music continues)
- As far as a sense of holiness,
a sense of accountability
to people's internal life,
it was about counting
numbers and counting money.
(eerie music continues)
I always felt that
Brian was out to prove
that he could go one
further than his father.
(eerie music continues)
(car rumbling)
(tense music)
- Brian Houston's
father, Frank Houston,
had this very mundane life.
(tense music continues)
It was hard for him
to make a living.
There wasn't much
money coming in.
And he meets this
Pentecostal preacher,
a real fire-and-brimstone
charismatic-style preacher,
and something just
clicked with him.
(tense music continues)
He could be the living
embodiment of God on the stage,
the Holy Spirit
racing through him
and impassion a crowd of people
who would follow him anywhere,
who would do anything for him.
(tense music continues)
I think, for Frank,
that was everything that
he ever wanted to be.
(tense music continues)
- So Frank started his
career as a minister
at a Salvation Army boys'
home in New Zealand.
(tense music continues)
He left there
and went to a small town
outside of Wellington
called Lower Hutt.
(tense music continues)
Lower Hutt was working class,
the people knew each other well,
and he founded an Assemblies
of God Church there.
(tense music continues)
- My family attended Lower
Hutt Assembly of God Church
for probably 15, 20 years.
(tense music continues)
My father was an elder
at Lower Hutt AOG,
so he was quite friendly
with the Houstons.
(audience applauding)
- Well, good morning, church.
- [Congregation] Good morning.
- How are you today?
Everybody happy?
- [Congregation] Yes!
- Assemblies of God at the
time that Frank Houston
became involved was not
a large church movement
in New Zealand, but
Frank Houston wanted
the church to grow,
and he was really
good at this, too.
(bright music)
From that humble beginning
of just a handful of
congregations across the country
to there being about
700 congregations
across the country, it grew.
(congregants clapping)
(bright music continues)
And so when it came
to appointing a leader
of that church community,
Frank Houston was
there and ready for it.
(bright music continues)
There were church elders
in Assemblies of God,
and they had degrees of
influence themselves,
but Frank Houston
didn't want that.
- Instead of voting
for board members,
he took that apart
and basically said,
I'm gonna handpick
the board members.
I am the leader.
(bright music continues)
- Matthew 5:1-12.
- He was a very forceful person,
and someone who you never
ever wanted to argue with.
- He would throw things at
people like cushions and water.
I just remember being
very fearful in church.
I think when we heard, oh,
don't be alone with Frank,
it was always a bit of a
joke because it was like,
well, why wouldn't
you be alone with him?
You wanted to hang with God.
(bright music continues)
- [Alex] Frank Houston practiced
an oppressive style
of leadership.
He shamed people,
he humiliated them.
(bright music continues)
- But it's not only Frank,
because Brian Houston,
he goes out on his
own and he starts
his own congregation up.
(bright music continues)
- [Alex] What he
does is really mimic
the leadership structure
that Frank had installed
at his own church.
(bright music continues)
- There's really
interesting parallels there.
All the power in the church
centers on its leader.
Frank Houston had no one
that would stop him
or question him.
I can't see that at
Hillsong, either.
The accountabilities,
the safety nets,
they seemed absent in both.
(no audio)
- [Director] Was there
ever any rumors about Frank
back in those times?
- Rumors?
I think there were
question marks.
But,
well, he just seemed
to be always surrounded
with young men.
(ominous music)
(children chattering)
(ominous music continues)
- Frank Houston's influence in
the Assemblies of God Church
grew out throughout the country.
(water whooshing)
He often talked about the
church that he'd dreamt of.
(ominous music continues)
You could sense
that inside of him
was a passion to build a church
in Australia, too.
(ominous music continues)
(traffic whooshing)
- Oh, everybody thought that
Frank going to Australia
was the greatest thing
that ever happened.
It was the call of God.
(ominous music continues)
He had to go. He
didn't have a choice.
Frank had a vision.
(ominous music continues)
(waves whooshing)
Later on, we find out
that there was rumblings
in the undergrowth,
and Frank ran.
(ominous music continues)
(somber music)
- [David] Sometimes
there are moments
in politics that surprise you.
(somber music continues)
- Do we need a royal
commission? By hell we do.
(audience applauding)
- When finally the
announcement was made
two years after that
town hall meeting,
(somber music continues)
I really couldn't
believe it had happened.
- Okay, everybody's ready?
(tense music)
I'm here to announce that
I will be recommending
to the governor-general that a
royal commission be appointed
to inquire into
institutional responses
to instances and allegations
of child abuse in Australia.
(tense music continues)
- The phone just
started ringing,
and there was survivor after
survivor after survivor
calling in tears saying, "I
can't believe it's happened."
This was it, this was the chance
to finally hold any institution
that had abused kids to account.
(tense music continues)
What was happening in
Australia was a microcosm
of what we saw happening
around the rest of the planet.
- Devastating detail
how the past leadership
of the Southern
Baptist Convention
ignored sexual abuse allegations
for the better part
of two decades.
- Thousands of former
Boy Scout volunteers
accused of sexually abusing
children between 1944 and 2016.
- For more than 150
years, an old system
of boarding schools.
- [Reporter] Which
priests were known
to be the abusive priests?
(tense music continues)
- This was a global failure.
It felt like the moment had
arrived around the world.
So much of the story
up to that point
had been about the
Catholic Church,
and there's a reason for that.
It's the most dominant
church in Australia.
And then eventually,
we had survivors and
victims of Hillsong.
(tense music continues)
- One of the most notable
voices was an Australian man
who was identified
by the initials AHA.
- I call AHA.
Mr. AHA, I wonder if you could
please read your statement
out to the Royal Commission.
- [AHA] I'll do my best.
(ominous music)
In January 1970, I
recall that Pastor Frank
and his son, Brian, stayed with
us for almost a whole week.
I'm aware of the date
because Pastor Frank signed
and dated my mother's bible.
(ominous music continues)
- My wife told me about the
Australian royal commission,
and I had no idea
about what it was all about.
- [Beckett] Mr.
AHA, could you read
the entry for 5th of November?
- I listened very intently
and downloaded all the
documents associated with it,
and started to really,
really get into it
and understand what had happened
and what it was all about.
- [AHA] Pastor Frank would creep
into my room late at night,
and then I would wake up
with him standing over me.
(ominous music continues)
He was touching me
inappropriately.
I would be petrified and
would lay very still.
I could not speak while
this was happening
and felt like I
couldn't breathe.
(ominous music continues)
I'm not sure how long he would
stay in the room with me,
but it felt like forever.
(ominous music continues)
- This is exactly
what happened to me.
(ominous music continues)
When I was eight years old,
my parents started holding
a Bible study in our home.
(ominous music continues)
Frank would come for
a meal beforehand,
and then us kids
would be sent to bed.
(ominous music continues)
This thing came into my bedroom
that I called the black shadow.
And I would sense
it there first,
and then I'd feel its
weight on top of me
and I'd feel breath on my face.
(ominous music continues)
And I was
fondled.
(ominous music continues)
I always had a suspicion
that something had happened,
that it was Frank, that it was
that sexual interaction that
happened when I was young,
when I was eight,
but I didn't really know.
I didn't really know
for a long, long time.
(ominous music continues)
But when I read the Australian
royal commission testimony,
that was the moment when I
knew without a shadow of doubt
that the black shadow
was Frank Houston.
(ominous music continues)
- [AHA] I was so
ashamed of the abuse
that I kept it
inside for many years
and did not tell anyone.
(ominous music continues)
It was only on or about 1978
when I was about 16 years old
that I told my mother
about the abuse.
My mother was still
heavily involved
in the church at that time.
All of her friends were
involved in the church,
and the Houstons were considered
to be almost like
royalty in those circles.
(ominous music continues)
After I told her
about the abuse,
my mother said words to
the following effect.
"You don't want to be
responsible for turning people
from the church and
sending them to hell."
(ominous music continues)
(fire crackling)
- I told my parents about it,
and they thought
it was a nightmare.
They were so naive and
so enamored about Frank
that that was not
even on their radar.
(ominous music continues)
And I remember taking
a piece of wood to bed,
a four by two, so I
could bang on the wall
when the black shadow came
so they could hear me.
(ominous music continues)
And it happened
quite a few times.
(ominous music continues)
This is a photograph
of me taken in 1962.
I was eight years old.
(ominous music continues)
The boy in this picture is a boy
that had already
encountered childhood
sexual abuse.
(ominous music continues)
I didn't really
have any friends.
It would be unlikely
that anything I said
would be believed.
(somber music)
(traffic whooshing)
(heartbeat thudding)
- I'd been reading
survivor blogs.
One of the things
that I came across
that I really
wasn't expecting to
was just how much
conservative Evangelicals
emphasized authority.
You show your obedience to God
by being faithful and
submissive to people
that God has placed
in charge of you.
(tense music)
They set people up for
abuse of leadership.
And when I listened to
the voices of survivors,
members of their own
communities, their own churches,
sometimes even
their own families
questioned their stories
in order to continue to
protect the ministry.
(tense music continues)
- There was a
number of young boys
who said things
about Frank Houston,
criticism of him in
a way that resulted
in them either being
thrown out of the church
or being ostracized
by leadership.
(tense music continues)
There was an occasion
where one young man came in
and said Frank Houston had been
doing physical things to him
that he didn't like
and accused him in front of
one of the other pastors.
The other pastor actually
physically punched
this kid in the face and said,
"Don't you ever, ever talk
about our pastor like that."
(tense music continues)
- Nobody came forward
to the police,
a
nd I think that says a lot
about his hold on the police.
(tense music continues)
Any accounts of abuse most
certainly would've been squashed
by Frank and the people
that he sort of lorded over
at the AOG.
(tense music continues)
You know, we're gonna
keep this in the church.
- The motivation to keep Frank
Houston's offending quiet
would've been huge.
(tense music continues)
For New Zealand
Assemblies of God,
they were protecting something
that was all about the past.
For Australia Assemblies of God,
they were protecting the future,
and that future was huge.
(tense music continues)
(keyboard clacking)
I started looking into Frank
Houston and Assemblies of God
as a result of the
Australian commission.
There were documents that
were put into evidence
that spoke of things
happening in New Zealand
that had never
been written about.
(tense music continues)
When Frank left in '75,
he left behind decades of sexual
violence against children.
(tense music continues)
I thought I'd messed up
the way I was searching
our news archives
because I couldn't find
anything about Frank Houston.
(tense music continues)
It was really alarming.
(tense music continues)
As it turned out, it hadn't
really been written about.
There was a vacuum, and so
that's what I sought to fill.
(tense music continues)
- When I go back and look
at the timeline of events,
it's almost surreal.
(eerie music)
I was raised in Hillsong
culture of forgive and forget,
move on, judge not,
for he who hasn't sinned
cast the first stone.
And the more I've
learned about Frank,
I'm realizing something
is so wrong here.
(eerie music continues)
I feel the responsibility
as a Christian to stand up
and actually start speaking
out against the abuse.
(eerie music continues)
The Royal Commission
shed light on the fact
that Hillsong was not honest
to their own congregants.
(eerie music continues)
It really helped start
me on a trajectory going,
what else are they
not telling us?
(eerie music continues)
(water whooshing)
- Trouble starts
for Frank and Brian
really in November of 1998.
(tense music)
When AHA was a teenager, he
told his mother about the abuse,
and she refused to believe him.
And then, 20 years later,
she reported the abuse
to an AOG pastor.
- [AHA] My mother
called me and told me
she had a conversation
with Pastor Mumford
and told him that I had
been sexually abused
by Pastor Frank.
(tense music continues)
Both Pastor Taylor and
Pastor Mumford questioned me
about the allegations
I had made.
They tried to tell me that
what I was saying was not true,
and they both said words
to the following effect.
"Frank Houston couldn't have
done that, he's a good man."
(tense music continues)
- Frank first becomes aware
of the accusation that month.
And instead of doing
anything about it,
Frank decides he's
going to take a holiday.
(children laughing)
(waves whooshing)
In fact, he goes
on two holidays.
Then in the first
week of May, 1999,
Frank unexpectedly and very
suddenly gives the keys
to his church to his
son, Brian Houston.
AHA becomes fed up and
really doesn't think
that anybody in the
church community
is going to believe him
or take him seriously,
so he tells an AOG pastor
that he's considering
going to the authorities.
(tense music continues)
That's when things start
to happen pretty quickly.
(tense music continues)
That same week, Brian
Houston calls his father
into his office
and learns about the case
officially for the first time.
Now, there are no
minutes from the meeting.
There are no notes
from the meeting.
There were no witnesses
to the meeting.
(tense music continues)
- It was the worst
meeting I ever had.
I confronted him.
He went extremely
dry in the mouth
and said, "Yes, these
things did happen."
- [Beckett] Well, I'll
just to stop you there,
because that's the point
I wanted to ask you about.
What did he actually confess to?
- He confessed essentially
to fondling genitals.
- [Beckett] All right,
of one or more children?
(tense music continues)
- We were only talking
about that one.
At that time, he told me that
it was a one-off occasion.
(tense music continues)
- [AHA] The abuse in my home
and at the different
church meetings
continued over a period of
years until I reached puberty.
What Pastor Frank did to
me destroyed my childhood.
The abuse has had
longterm effects on me.
Late in the night, I
still get flashbacks
of Pastor Frank in my bedroom
and see his face
floating around me.
I have difficulties being in
the presence of elderly men.
I also have difficulty in
being intimate with my wife.
(tense music continues)
I can't relate to
my own children.
I find it awkward
to hug my own sons
because I don't want
them getting used
to another male hugging them.
(tense music continues)
- [Beckett] Your father
admitted to one act
or act on one occasion, I
think you said a one off.
- No, I think was
one act, one off.
One-off act, I think he said.
(tense music continues)
- Brian Houston's always
said, "That's what I was told.
That's what I believed.
I didn't know anything else."
But Assemblies of God had
access to all the people
and all the records.
(tense music continues)
And if I found all of
these cases of sexual abuse
by Frank Houston without those,
I can't imagine how
many they would find.
(no audio)
(somber music)
As I was looking
through Frank's life
and trying to step
back through the years,
I sought out Salvation Army.
(somber music continues)
And I said, "I know he was
working at Temuka boys' home.
Was there anything on your files
or anything on your records
that indicated
something untoward?
(somber music continues)
Now, I couldn't believe
it when they came back
and said there was an allegation
of sexual offending against
children by Frank Houston
when he was at
Temuka boys' home.
(somber music continues)
At that point, Frank Houston
would've been in his early 20s.
(somber music continues)
But whatever happened
in the Salvation Army never
seems to be properly addressed.
(somber music continues)
Frank Houston,
throughout his career,
would take his ministry
into the poorer
parts of New Zealand
and across the Pacific to
very poor Pacific islands.
(tense music continues)
- [Frank] It's been my
privilege in my lifetime
to travel around the
world preaching the gospel
in many countries.
And I have actually preached
to the red, the yellow,
the black, and the white.
I've preached to the Maoris
all over New Zealand.
(somber music continues)
(water whooshing)
- I've no doubt whatsoever that
when Frank Houston traveled,
he sought out victims.
(somber music continues)
(keys tapping)
What we know now, looking back,
that period from 1945
through to 1975 is filled
with enough allegations of
sexual violence against children
to conceive of Frank Houston
as a lifelong predator.
We're talking at
the least 30 years
of sexual offending
against children.
(somber music continues)
(keys tapping)
(plane whooshing)
- [Beckett] Let's
move onto the meeting
of special executive on
the 22nd of December, 1999.
You know the meeting
at Sydney Airport
that I'm referring to?
- Yes.
(tense music)
- So in December, 1999, there's
an emergency AOG meeting
in the Qantas Lounge
at Sydney Airport.
(tense music continues)
Brian is there as both the
investigator of the case
and the son of the
accused abuser,
and he's at the helm
of the narrative.
- I told them the story.
I burst into tears, sobbed.
There was no way I could
chair that meeting,
because I was a mess.
(tense music continues)
- The way that Brian
frames these allegations
for the other members of the AOG
is the same way that
Frank framed it for him.
One victim in New
Zealand 35 years ago.
- I told them everything
I knew, I think,
in terms of the fondling,
you know, the nature
of it at that level.
- What's really significant
there is that, at that meeting,
there were 10, 12
leading figures
of Pentecostal
churches in Australia.
(tense music continues)
This group of men who
knew the Houstons well
decided amongst themselves
that what Frank Houston did
was a moral transgression,
not a serious criminal offense.
- So the various times I spoke,
the wording wouldn't have
been exactly the same.
And it's possible that
the weakest of those,
I might've said the
words moral failure.
(tense music continues)
- This wasn't a
spiritual failing.
This was a series of violent
criminal acts against children,
and the church knew
about it and did nothing.
(tense music)
- [Alex] The AOG decides
not to go to the police.
Frank's credentials
are not revoked.
The matter is not
to be made public.
- That's the Hillsong playbook.
If someone complains,
you diminish it.
They're an irritant.
(tense music continues)
Maybe you order a
confidential inquiry.
The information goes no further.
It's held in a small
group of people.
Whoever the victim is has to go.
(tense music continues)
- [AHA] I eventually
agreed to meet Pastor Frank
on or about early 2000.
The meeting was held at
McDonald's restaurant
of Thornleigh just up
Pennant Hills Road.
(tense music continues)
- What did Pastor Frank want
from you during that meeting?
- [AHA] He wanted
me to forgive him.
- [Beckett] You
were asked to sign
a food-stained
napkin, is that right?
- [AHA] Yes.
(tense music continues)
Words were said to
the following effect.
"If you put your
signature there, I'll
give you the 10,000."
And at that stage, sir,
I just wanna tell you
that I was in a state of panic.
I just scribbled my name on it,
and Frank kept badgering
me about the forgiveness.
(tense music continues)
About two months
after my meeting
with Pastor Frank at McDonald's,
I telephoned Brian Houston
as I had not yet received
any money from Pastor Frank.
We had a conversation
to the following effect.
(tense music continues)
Me, "What's happening with
the payment I was promised?
I agreed to forgive
your father."
Brian, "Yes, okay, I'll
get the money to you.
There's no problem.
(tense music continues)
You know, it's your fault
all of this happened.
You tempted my father."
(tense music continues)
- Shortly after
the $10,000 payout,
Brian Houston really starts
with a pretty vigorous
rebranding effort.
- It's a church
growing so quickly
that buildings struggle
to contain the increase.
- Christian Life Centre
is renamed Hillsong,
and the Assemblies
of God is relabeled
as the Australian
Christian Churches.
(tense music continues)
Brian has really done
everything he can
to really kind of
parse his words
and manipulate, you
know, meaning and syntax
to say the abuse didn't
happen at Hillsong,
it happened at
Christian Life Centres.
And it's sort of
apropos of nothing.
- When these things happened,
Hillsong didn't exist at all.
It was long before
Hillsong existed.
This was not about Hillsong.
This was not about the
Australian Assemblies of God.
This payment was
between Frank and AHA.
- [AHA] No one
believed my story,
and others put pressure on
me to keep my mouth shut.
I felt that the
church's response was
completely inadequate,
and I have received
absolutely no support,
no counseling, apology, or
acknowledgement of the abuse.
(eerie music)
- That same year,
2000, at a conference,
Frank Houston is
wheeled out onstage
and the Hillsong pastor
announces, and I'm reading here,
"Here's a great man and
a great apostle of faith.
Let's all stand and honor him."
And the whole congregation
rises to their feet,
and they applaud
Frank Houston wildly.
(eerie music continues)
(congregation clapping)
This is an admitted pedophile.
This is, like, a child rapist.
Like
(eerie music continues)
By December of 2000, the AOG
New Zealand has allegations
from six alleged
victims of child abuse
at the hands of Frank Houston.
(eerie music continues)
- It's now impossible to ignore,
and so they had to take
action against Frank Houston.
And they quietly
shuffled him sideways
and agreed to not
tell anybody about it.
(eerie music continues)
- From the time these
exposes started coming out
in late 1999 to 2004,
I think probably
because of the stress
and the pain of all of
this and the humiliation,
my father deteriorated
very quickly into dementia.
So month by month, year
by year, he got worse.
(eerie music continues)
- Now, the diagnosis with
dementia is significant
because it means
that Frank can't answer
for any alleged abuses.
(eerie music continues)
Coincidentally, that
diagnosis is provided
by a guy named Dr. Gordon Lee
who served for 22 years as
a board member at Hillsong.
(eerie music continues)
- There was an
extraordinary correspondence
backward and forwards
between the Australian
Assemblies of God
and New Zealand
Assemblies of God
that showed that
they tried to limit
as much as they possibly could
any knowledge of Frank
Houston's sexual offending.
We learned that they
had meetings about
not telling anyone.
(eerie music continues)
They documented how they were
not going to tell anyone.
They wrote a statement
that they then agreed
they were not going
to release to anybody.
(eerie music continues)
It's the Assemblies
of God version
of the Nixon White House tapes.
- Confess your sin to the
Lord and He'll blot it out.
(film reel clicking)
(traffic whooshing)
(somber music)
- [Beckett] The main
person handling the matter
for the Assemblies
of God was you.
- Yes, trying to pull
in all the information
so I could bring it to this-
- [Beckett] You were the son
of the alleged perpetrator.
- Yes, exactly.
- [Beckett] How did you
expect that to be received?
- I understand
what you're saying.
The whole idea of a
conflict of interest,
to be honest, hadn't
even occurred to me
and was never suggested
by anyone else
until we got here
to the commission.
I saw it as me being in a role,
having to make tough
decisions and having the guts
or the courage to make
those tough decisions.
No matter what any
paperwork says,
no matter whatever else happens,
I knew he would never preach
again from that moment.
- The idea that Frank
never preached again,
that's not true.
(somber music continues)
- I remember when I
heard that audio in 2004
where he was still preaching,
that was chilling.
That was really,
really chilling.
- [Frank] What a wonderful joy
just to be in
church this morning.
- [Congregation] Yes.
- [Frank] Look at me today.
Nothing can separate you
from the love of God.
- [Alex] We heard from
former congregants,
some of whom wanted
to remain anonymous.
I understand that you were close
with Frank and Hazel
Houston in 2000, 2004.
- [Interviewee] Yeah, the last
years of their lives, really.
All we were told
is they were sent
to the Central Coast to retire.
(somber music continues)
- [Frank] God's got a
purpose for your life.
God has got a purpose
for your life.
- [Interviewee] I
never heard a word
about them being stood down.
(somber music continues)
They were like royalty.
They had their own parking spot
out the front of the church,
and their names
were on a plaque.
(somber music continues)
- [Frank] And the
little boy back there,
two little boys, one
bigger than the other,
but God's got a purpose
for their lives.
- [Alex] You had young
kids at the time, right?
(somber music continues)
- [Interviewee] He used to
tell my son, who was 10,
"You look like you're
a million bucks."
And you know what, if
I knew what I knew now,
I would've punched
him in the face.
(somber music continues)
- [Frank] What a fantastic
young fellow he is.
Curly hair, sort of.
Good looking.
(somber music continues)
It's not your fault
you're good looking,
so thank God you are.
- [Interviewee] Never, never
in a million years did I think
that myself and my
son were standing
in front of a
pedophile, a sex abuser
who had actually abused
other children at that age.
(somber music continues)
- [Frank] By the grace of God,
I'm still vibrant on the inside.
I'm still alive with the
Holy Ghost on the inside.
(somber music continues)
- [Interviewee] Like,
I just can't understand
that you would allow someone
to be in that environment.
There was children
there every week.
What the hell?
(somber music continues)
(film reel clicking)
- For years, I
would go to church
and I would try
to immerse myself
in everything
going on around me,
but I'd continue to
get these thoughts.
This is rubbish.
This isn't true.
And through the grapevine,
I found out that there was
gonna be an announcement
about Frank Houston.
(somber music continues)
- So I was Brian's intern.
Obviously super close
with Ben and Joel.
I was at their house when all
that stuff kinda went down.
I remember Brian
talking about it
and what he was gonna have
to do, to tell the church.
(ominous music)
- My own father,
who was my hero,
was accused of sexual abuse.
It was like
jets flying into the
Twin Towers of my soul.
(ominous music continues)
But the reason
why I'm still here
and the reason why I still
believe in the power of God
and still love to see
people transformed
through Jesus Christ is
because that still looks right.
What God says still looks right.
(congregation clapping)
Praise God.
(congregation clapping)
- All these people stood
up and applauded him.
I thought, 12,000
people are wrong.
That was the last time
I went to Hillsong,
and that was the last time I
was afraid of going to hell,
because if it's
between me and the guy
that's apparently covering
up for the pedophile,
then I'll stand by me.
(ominous music continues)
After that, I felt like
I had a responsibility
to just raise awareness,
to let people know
that they weren't
everything that they seemed.
(ominous music continues)
- Frank dies in 2004 without
being convicted of any crime.
(ominous music continues)
The police were never
contacted by Brian or the AOG.
Brian's excuse was
that he didn't know
that he had to
contact the police.
(ominous music continues)
In fact, however, it
was revealed later
that Brian had
sought legal counsel
on the matter at least twice.
(ominous music continues)
He knew that if he brought
the matter to the police,
his father could have
been incarcerated
and his church would
have been disgraced.
(ominous music continues)
- When I was at the
Royal Commission,
it was very interesting hearing
Brian Houston's testimony.
The majority of his statements
just didn't line up,
and I think it was like
there were too many
cracks in the damn wall.
(ominous music continues)
- [Prosecutor] Mr. Houston,
can I suggest to you
that the inconsistencies
and errors
in your statement
were deliberate?
(ominous music continues)
- Why would I admit it,
why would I bring it up here,
if it was deliberate?
- Mr. Houston,
I'm just making a
suggestion to you.
- If it was deliberate that I
was trying to hide something.
I mean, the truth is, I didn't
have to talk about it at all.
I spoke about it
because I'm saying I had
completely forgotten this
and now I remember,
so I'm telling the commission
this is what I remember.
- [Prosecutor] Thank
you. Nothing further.
(ominous music continues)
(ominous music continues)
- Typically the way that
Hillsong has handled scandal,
because I've been a part of it,
was what looks best
for the church.
(somber music)
But most of the time,
it serves everybody to
push everything down.
You just push it as far
under the rug as you can.
We choose narrative over truth,
and that leads to
absolute disaster
because the truth
doesn't go anywhere
just because you cover it up.
- The Royal Commission's
report has now published.
It's online, I encourage
everyone to read it.
- [Reporter] 17
shameful volumes.
"It is a national tragedy
perpetrated over generations."
- If you read the report
of the Royal Commission,
it's pretty clear what happened.
The church had known
about the abuse
for more than a
decade and a half,
and the church had told nobody.
(tense music)
Here is a modern
abusive institution
which the Royal Commission
had just exposed.
(tense music continues)
This material is out there.
The police have it.
Time for some action.
(tense music continues)
- The Australian government
and this parliament,
on behalf of all Australians,
unreservedly apologizes
to the victims and survivors
of institutional
child sexual abuse.
- It soon became apparent
that nothing was happening.
(dramatic music)
- We are sorry.
- This gross, gross failure
just kind of
dropped into a hole.
There's no institutional
explanation for this delay.
This isn't a hugely
complicated case.
(dramatic music continues)
This isn't some kind
of international
drug smuggling ring.
So the question was, well,
where are the police?
(dramatic music continues)
(church bell ringing)
- When Frank Houston died, a
remarkable scene played out.
The next New South Wales
Police Commissioner
attended Frank Houston's
funeral as a mark of respect.
That police commissioner
called Andrew Scipione
himself is a
Hillsong congregant.
(tense music)
- Post royal commission,
we still had very senior
members of the state government,
including the former
police commissioner,
very, very closely connected
with this institution
as though nothing had happened.
(tense music continues)
- Perhaps it's coincidence,
but for the duration of
Commissioner Scipione's time
running the New
South Wales Police,
there was no effective
investigation
into Brian Houston or Hillsong.
(tense music continues)
As a journalist,
this is a moment
that is really worth untangling.
(tense music continues)
- Hillsong followers are rife
throughout Australian politics,
throughout the Australian
public service,
especially within the police.
(tense music continues)
- And it turns out that in fact,
part of the church's
business model was
to put its supporters in
positions of power and authority
and look for people in
positions of power and authority
and make them their supporters.
And it had been extremely
successful in doing that.
In a few short decades,
Hillsong had managed
to capture a fairly big
chunk of Australian politics.
(tense music continues)
- The fact that
Frank has passed away
has made it extremely difficult
to make any progress in
terms of pursuing justice.
(tense music continues)
I don't know that
there's any way
to compensate for
what's happened,
and I don't think
money's gonna do it.
(melancholy music)
It's all the lost opportunities.
It's still there.
I still feel a degree of shame.
Not okay.
Don't quite measure up.
(melancholy music continues)
Not a whole person.
Slightly broken.
Every part of my life
has been impacted.
(melancholy music continues)
I just saw no hope.
(melancholy music continues)
Without the support
of my wife and family,
I wouldn't be here today.
(melancholy music continues)
(no audio)
(tense music)
- Not only was there this delay,
but there was also
very close associations
between the Hillsong leadership
and the then Australian
political leadership,
and we just got stonewalled.
(tense music continues)
All these institutional
barriers started going up.
Well, that gets my
hackles up, to be honest.
(tense music continues)
Thankfully, we had a survivor
who was not willing to let it go
and had the courage and
the emotional strength
to speak to a national
audience and demand action.
- My name's Brett Sengstock.
I appeared at the Royal
Commission as AHA.
That was my pseudonym,
and I now stand before you
with who I really am.
(melancholy music)
- When Brett spoke
to "60 Minutes"
he changed from being an acronym
in a block of text to being
this compelling, powerful,
brave human being.
(somber music)
- I'm tired of people
speaking for me
and telling the world how I
felt and how I am feeling.
Now I'm telling the world
how I really do feel.
- And how is that?
(somber music continues)
- Pretty annoyed.
Pretty annoyed.
And I'm not going away just yet.
(somber music continues)
- Neither Brian Houston
or any of the Hillsong
Church's leaders
have faced any
legal repercussions
for their failure to report
an indictable offense.
It's now 49 years since
the abuse started,
and 19 years since Brian
Houston was aware of it,
and three years after the
Royal Commission delivered
its damning report, yet
nothing has happened.
(somber music continues)
Brett Sengstock has
contacted my office for help.
He is suffering from a
life-threatening illness,
and he is concerned justice
will not be served
in his lifetime.
That would be a further
obscene betrayal.
While Brett's
waiting for justice,
we have the Trump administration
inviting Brian Houston
to be his extra-special guest
at a White House
reception in Washington.
(somber music continues)
- Well, what an honor to be
standing in the White House
in the Cabinet Room,
and to have just had the chance
to pray for President Trump.
- It's a fact that Brian
Houston is a close friend
of the prime minister,
Scott Morrison.
- What this country needs more
than that is the love of God.
(congregation clapping)
- I just want to guarantee you
that we will be praying for you.
And praying for you not
just now, but consistently.
(congregation clapping)
- No one, regardless
of their friends,
should be beyond the
reach of the law.
(somber music continues)
- I want my husband
to have justice.
He deserves it.
(somber music continues)
- To go on national TV as a
survivor of child sex abuse
and to demand your
measure of justice,
that is the work that finally
pushes institutions to act.
(somber music continues)
There is compelling evidence
that Brian Houston knew
while he was a church leader
about the abuse, about
the hush payments,
and that he failed
to tell the police.
This is a crime.
(somber music continues)
- [Announcer] A key question,
when did he first learn of
those allegations of abuse?
- [Reporter 1] Now,
amidst this turmoil
in church leadership,
an early leader of
Hillsong has come forward.
- [Reporter 2] Brian
Houston categorically denies
knowing any claims of
sexual abuse by his father
before 1999, but Bullock
says Houston knew
of allegations by his
father years earlier.
- I do know that
Frank was outed,
because Brian told
me in the early 90s.
(somber music continues)
I should've said something
and done something long ago.
Not only wasn't Brian
accountable, but neither was I.
(somber music continues)
- It was only after that New
South Wales Police Commissioner
departed the scene in 2019
that the police began a real
investigation of Brian Houston.
(somber music continues)
- December, 2021, a year
after Carl is banished,
Brian Houston is
indicted in Australia
for allegedly covering for
his father being a pedophile.
- Breaking news in relation
to a religious leader
and a friend of the prime
minister who's being charged.
- This is a New South
Wales Police statement.
A church leader is being charged
over the alleged concealment
of alleged child sex offenses.
- You need to know that
there is an enemy out there,
and his intent is to defile you,
and let's always remember
that when we see the church,
His beautiful church
on the Earth, attacked.
Royal commission week,
I have never felt so
exposed in my life,
and I remember I didn't
know what to do but wait.
And so all day, I waited.
I went out.
I did a manicure, a
pedicure, and a massage
'cause I wasn't ready
to back to my real world
which, gentlemen,
that's what you do.
(congregation laughing)
(somber music continues)
It is no point any
of us wasting energy
on how unfair this seems.
Not the issue, but the
unfairness that, yet again,
my husband's integrity
was about to be assailed.
(somber music continues)
- More than seven years
since the Royal Commission
first detailed what happened,
there is this chance,
this very real chance,
for the courts to
deliver justice.
- [Reporter 3] Houston is
facing serious jail time.
- [Reporter 4] Fate of his
church in the hands of the law.
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(melancholy music)
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(camera shutters clicking)
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