Hillsong’s Brian Houston in secret meetings at luxury hotel with megachurch elders

Embattled Hillsong founding pastor Brian Houston has held secret meetings with his megachurch elders and board members over two days at one of Sydney’s most expensive hotels.

Dressed very casually and wearing his hair pulled back in a ponytail, Mr Houston engaged in serious discussions at the $1500-a-night Park Hyatt with the senior Hillsong figures over two days of seminars at the luxury harbourside establishment.

Hillsong’s Global Senior Pastor, Mr Houston stepped aside as board chairman in September after being charged five months ago by NSW Police.

He is due to face court in 2022 on a charge of concealing his late father, Frank Houston’s alleged abuse of a seven-year-old boy in the 1970s.

Embattled Hillsong founder Brian Houston (above) has held secret meetings with his megachurch elders and board members at one of Sydney’s most expensive hotels

Brian Houston dressed casually in jeans with his hair scraped back in a ponytail at the $1500-a-night Park Hyatt Hotel, the frequent haunt of celebrities and movie stars

Mr Houston, 67 – who has recently spent time in the US – ate a sumptuous $45-a-head breakfast buffet with his wife Bobbie on Thursday morning.

The pair dined at the Dawes Point hotel on Hickson Road beneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge which has a spectacular view directly across to the Sydney Opera House.

Mr Houston is believed to have only recently returned to Sydney and attended the board sessions behind a door marked ‘private meeting’ in the Park Hyatt’s ‘The Study’ conference room. 

He wore jeans, a  blue-and-white checked shirt, a grey hoodie and runners, his wife Bobbie dressed in black, a pale pink shirt jacket and beige ankle boots.  

Bobbie Houston, who is also a senior Hillsong global pastor but holds no leadership role on the eldership or board, was not seen attending any of the meetings with her husband. 

Daily Mail Australia understands 10 board members and elders plus three staff stayed for two nights at the hotel – which is frequented by movie stars and celebrities who value its discretion.

Some of the senior executives from Hillsong – which tithes parishioners, meaning followers donate a tenth of their salary to the church – dined on two successive nights at Mantra and Cafe Sydney restaurants.  

The days of meetings came after a hellish year worldwide for Hillsong, an  international Sydney-based charismatic Christian ‘superchurch’ Brian and Bobbie Houston founded in Sydney’s Hills district in 1983. 

Hillsong now has 131 churches  in 30 countries.

Apart from the charge laid against its most high profile member, Mr Houston, this year Hillsong has been embroiled in a scandal involving US Hillsong members and a controversy over former celebrity New York pastor, Carl Lentz. 

At a white board session on Thursday, Mr Houston could be seen speaking seriously and gesticulating to attendees, who included other Hillsong elders who dialled in via video conferencing. 

The mood looked less sombre as the group broke for a snack around 11am, with Mr Houston chatting with board members, Sydney financial adviser Dr Stephen Crouch and Hillscorp property developer Phillip Denton. 

Houston and his wife and co-founder of the Hillsong empire Bobbie (above) sit opposite the stunning view from the dining room of Sydney Harbour 

The 67-year-old is currently standing down from the Hillsong Board while he is facing a charge of concealing alleged abuse by his late father of a seven-year-old boy in the 1970s

Houston and Hillsong board members including Sydney financier Stephen Crouch (right) take a break mid-morning from the megachurch meetings at the Park Hyatt

Frank Houston (right), who was accused of sexually abusing a seven-year-old boy from Sydney, confessed to a ‘problem’ of his sexual interest in young boys prior to dying in  2004 aged 82

Brian held meetings with Hillsong board members at the Park Hyatt (above) and attendees dined at the Mantra restaurant and also at Cafe Sydney at Customs House in Circular Quay 

Daily Mail Australia sought a response from Hillsong about the two-day conference and about the topics of discussion for the board and eldership.

Of concern to Hillsong currently is the poorly performing Hillsong Channel, a Christian-themed TV network and the joint venture of Hillsong and the American Trinity Broadcasting Network.

At least ten staff from Hillsong Channel were made redundant in recent weeks, with salaries of TV channel staff ranging from $49,000 for a video editor to $71,000 for a creative producer.

At Hillsong Australia, staffing is family-oriented with Bobbie and Brian Houston’s son Ben an employee and their son-in-law Peter Toganivalu working alongside other relatives of board members.

In an email in September, Mr Houston said he was resigning from his position as chairman of the Hillsong board, so that board members could function ‘to their fullest capacity during this season.

Brian Houston and wife Bobbie (seated, right) share a laugh with staff in the Park Hyatt dining room where the church power couple feasted on a breakfast buffet on Thursday morning

Mr Houston is captured wearing a mask ahead of a court appearance earlier this year after he was charged with allegedly concealing an offence committed by his late father

The Hillsong Global Head Pastor arriving (above) at the 2014 royal commission into child sexual abuse which delved into how Hillsong had handled his father’s abuses 

 ‘I also wanted to let you know that I’ve made a decision to step aside from my role on the Hillsong Church boards that oversee the governance of our operations.

‘I did this so that these boards can function to their fullest capacity during this season.

‘This doesn’t change my role as Global Senior Pastor. I thought it was important to let our church family know in the interests of transparency, and I wanted you to hear it from me directly,’ the email obtained by People said.

Mr Houston’s court matter is due for mention in the Downing Centre Local Court in January.

 NSW Police said in a statement that prosecutors would ‘allege in court the man knew information relating to the sexual abuse of a young male in the 1970s and failed to bring that information to the attention of police’.

The charges can carry a maximum penalty of up to five years’ imprisonment, depending upon the exact crime concealed.

Bobbie and Brian Houston founded Hillsong Church in Sydney’s Hills District in 1983 and made it into a global charismatic Christian empire

Former New York Hillsong pastor Carl Lentz (above, left with wife Laura, and right with onetime star parishioner Justin Bieber) was fired for cheating on Laura

Houston’s father, Frank Houston, was accused of sexually abusing a seven-year-old boy from Sydney’s east during trips from his native New Zealand  five decades ago,  in 1969 and 1970.

NSW Police began investigating Brian Houston after a 2014 royal commission into child sexual abuse delved into how Hillsong’s forerunners – the Hills and Sydney Christian Life Centres – handled 1999 abuse allegations raised against Frank Houston.

Brian Houston, then the president of the evangelical organization the Assemblies of God in Australia, allegedly confronted his father, who confessed, the royal commission’s final report said.

The inquiry alleged that instead of reporting the abuse to police, Houston allowed his father to go into retirement and gave money to the alleged victim.

There is no suggestion Houston was involved in offending against the child. 

 The victim told the commission he met Frank Houston at a McDonald’s restaurant in Thornleigh in 2000 and was offered a dirty napkin to sign in exchange for $10,000.

The victim said he felt ‘shame, fear and embarrassment’ for many years and suffered post-traumatic stress disorder.

Darnell Barnett, 32, resigned as creative director of Hillsong’s Montclair, New Jersey chapter in April after posting lewd photos (right) of himself wearing nothing but white Nike Pro workout tights which outlined his large manhood

Frank Houston died in 2004, age 82, after confessing to a ‘continuing problem’ of a sexual interest in young boys.

Houston told the royal commission he did not report his dad to police as the victim was 35 or 36 years of age at the time the allegations surfaced, and that weeks after he became aware of the abuse, the victim told him he did not want to go public or approach the police.

The victim has previously disputed that.

Brian Houston claims he is innocent and that the allegations took him by surprise.

‘These charges have come as a shock to me given how transparent I’ve always been about this matter,’ he said.

‘I vehemently profess my innocence and will defend these charges, and I welcome the opportunity to set the record straight.’

 Hillsong has been hit with a series of sexual abuse and harassment allegations against members of the megachurch, which once was popular among celebrities, including Justin Bieber and jailed footballer Jarryd Hayne.

Darnell Barrett, a 32-year-old pastor for Hillsong in Montclair, stepped down from his role in April over an Instagram story he posted of himself last month wearing nothing but white Nike Pro tights.

He then sent it to a 30-year-old woman had worked as a volunteer under him at the New Jersey church.

Hillsong board executive Dr Stephen Crouch (right) with Brian Houston on the verandah of the Park Hyatt which looks out on some of Sydney’s most spectacular and historic sights

The Houstons speak with staff inside the luxury hotel’s restaurant on the final day of the private Hillsong meetings after a hellish year for the megachurch

Barrett claimed it had been a mistake but admitted there was infidelity from his part in his marriage.

Barrett’s scandal came just six months after Hillsong pastor Carl Lentz was fired for cheating on his wife Laura with a New York City designer identified as Ranin Karim, 34.

It was Lentz who had baptised Bieber into the church and presided over his wedding to model Hailey Baldwin, the daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin.