Brian Houston: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 17:22, 19 June 2011
Brian Houston | |
|---|---|
| File:Brian Houston.jpg | |
| Born | 17 February 1954 |
| Occupation(s) | Senior pastor, Hillsong Church |
| Spouse | Bobbie Houston |
| Children | Joel, Ben and Laura |
| Website | http://www.leadershipministries.com.au/ |
Brian Houston (born 17 February 1954 in Auckland, New Zealand) is a Pentecostal pastor in the Australian Christian Churches. He is currently the senior pastor of Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia, Australia's largest congregation [citation needed] with a current membership of over 22,000+ people. [citation needed] He was also the National President of Australian Christian Churches, the largest Pentecostal denomination in Australia, from 1997 to 2009. The denomination is the Australian branch of the Assemblies of God.
Biography
Early life
Houston was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on the 17th of February 1954. His parents, Frank and Hazel, were then Salvation Army officers. When Houston was three his parents joined the Assemblies of God in New Zealand and began pastoring a church in Lower Hutt, near Wellington. Here Houston and his brother and three sisters spent their childhood. After completing school[citation needed] he went to a Bible college for three years. Shortly after completing college he met his future wife, Bobbie, on Papamoa Beach in New Zealand during a Christian convention. They were married in 1977.
Ministry
After moving to Sydney, Australia in 1978, Houston served at the Sydney Christian Life Centre in Darlinghurst, where he became the assistant pastor to his father, Frank Houston. In 1980 he started a church on the Central Coast and revived a church in Liverpool in 1981. In 1983 Houston saw a need in Sydney's north-western suburbs and hired the Baulkham Hills Public School hall to start a new church, the Hills Christian Life Centre. The first service was held on Sunday, 14 August 1983.
In May 1997 Houston was elected the President of the Assemblies of God in Australia (now called Australian Christian Churches) after Andrew Evans' retirement. He is a regular speaker at Christian conferences and churches across the world. He helped to create the Australian Christian Churches network of Pentecostal churches in February 2000. This alliance represents over 200,000 members in affiliate churches[1] and was its inaugural president.[2] He is also a member of the Australian Pentecostal Ministers Fellowship (APMF)[3] and a pastor for Leadership Ministries Incorporated. At the 2009 National Conference of Australian Christian Churches, Wayne Alcorn was voted in to replace Houston after he chose not to run again for the position.
In 2000 Brian took control of the Sydney Christian Life Centre, after his father Frank Houston confessed to the sexual abuse of young (under-age) male members of his New Zealand congregation 30 years earlier.[4] From an initial congregation of 45 people, the combined churches grew to become Hillsong Church with a weekly attendance of over 20,000.[5]
On 5 April 2009, it was announced that the board of Garden City Christian Church in Brisbane had nominated Houston and his wife Bobbie to become their new senior pastors. Garden City had been searching for a new senior pastor after the resignation of Bruce Hills in December 2008. On 26 April 2009, a majority of registered members of Garden City Christian Church voted to support the board's nomination.
Family and personal life
Brian and Bobbie Houston's home is in the suburb of Glenhaven, Sydney.
Houston's three grown children, Joel, Ben, and Laura, also live in Sydney.
Joel is a musician, a songwriter, and Hillsong Church's creative director. As of 2010, he co-pastors Hillsong New York with Carl Lentz.
Ben is married to Lucille and oversees Hillsong Sydney's extension services. They have two daughters.
Laura married Peter Toganivalu in 2008, and they have one daughter. Laura works for the church in the areas of graphic design & marketing and is currently in a partnership with her husband as a pastor of the Hillsong Wildlife Youth Ministry.
Books
Houston has written 12 books; his most recent, For This I Was Born, was released in 2008. His other books include For This Cause, Selah (2006), Selah 2 (2007), How To Build Great Relationships, How To Live In Health & Wholeness, How To Make Wise Decisions, How To Flourish In Life, and How To Live A Blessed Life. Books no longer in print include Get A Life (1996), You Can Change The Future, and You Need More Money (1999).
References
- ^ Rowland Croucher. "http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/183.htm". Jmm.aaa.net.au. Retrieved 5 March 2011.
{{cite web}}: External link in|title= - ^ "http://www.charismamag.com/display.php?id=527". Charismamag.com. Retrieved 5 March 2011.
{{cite web}}: External link in|title= - ^ "www.cdi.gov.au/submissions/222-AustralianPentecostal.doc http://www.cdi.gov.au/submissions/222-AustralianPentecostal.doc". Retrieved 5 March 2011.
{{cite web}}: External link in|title= - ^ Stephen Gibbs (2004-11-13). "Hillsong farewells a lost sheep pioneer". Sydney Morning Herald. John Fairfax Holdings. Retrieved 2006-06-21.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ [1][dead link]
External links