Australian Womens Weekly
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Special report “WE’RE NOT A CULT” Bobbie Houston T’S A BRIGHT Sunday morning spearheaded by Joel Houston, the pop found God at 15, in Baulkham Hills and already idol eldest son of founders Brian, 62, the traffic is backed up on the and Bobbie, 59, who now records and married her first Solent Circuit. Smiling teens in co-pastors in the US, and the rousing boyfriend Brian at 20 high-visibility orange vests and rhetoric of Pastor Brian. Whatever Iback-to-front baseball caps embroidered they come for, it’s working. and together they with Y & F – Young and Free – have There’s a dress code among the planted Hillsong, been directing cars for hours. They are church youths, teens and 20-somethings: BY BIANCA LANE. BOBBIE WEARS BY BIANCA LANE. BOBBIE WEARS G Australia’s fastest all heading the same way; to the Hills skinny black jeans, often ripped at the Campus to take part in uproarious knees, sequinned or sloganned T-shirts, growing and most worship at one of the four capacity waves of flowing boho tresses for the controversial church. services at the Hillsong convention girls and boy-band gelled quiffs for centre and chapel. the lads. In an exclusive Every Sunday, more than 10,000 The mix of parishioners is notably interview, she talks to parishioners descend on this hallowed multicultural, taking in Chinese, Pacific quadrant in the Business Park in Islander, Vietnamese, Indian, African Juliet Rieden about Sydney’s north-west, some by car, as well as white Australian. As they AND WITCHERY CAMI TOP. THESE IMAGES HAVE BEEN RETOUCHED. some in the church’s private buses, gather together in the sunshine , her mission to empower women, the and significantly more will be tuning drinking coffee and eating muffins in via Hillsong TV from all over the from the cafe culture stalls, there’s an day she discovered country and the world. Seventy-five overwhelming sense of community. Bobbie Houston has her per cent of the church’s followers People hug, chat about their families, own personal crusade – her father-in-law was to empower women are under 35 and 91 per cent under wave to one another in the throng. through the Hillsong a paedophile and 50. They come perhaps for the Around the corner, children flock to Sisterhood program. bringing Justin Bieber razzamatazz that has made Hillsong the Hillsong Kids’ Club. It’s manned Australia’s fastest-growing church, the by youth leaders in turquoise T-shirts. into the flock. > PHOTOGRAPHY BY NICK SCOTT. HAIR AND MAKE-UP SAM POWELL. STYLIN BIANCA SPENDER JACKET AND PANTS chart-topping, award-winning music The excited youngsters huddle in an MARCH 2016 AWW.COM.AU 51 Brian, the musician and preacher. His philosophy – people should come into church and leave more encouraged Brian and Bobbie Houston run a massive global business than when they came and their followers are urged to excel financially, too. – has struck a chord Left: Bobbie relaxes by the pool at the Houstons’ calm with parishioners. and comfortable home in Baulkham Hills, Sydney. enthralled circle around a guest visitor the prayer lists, specific messages from and for a young person on a Friday or it was high time for Bobbie and Brian to her church. I actually was hungry. I showmanship, the shininess, the expert from the Reptile Park who has Spike the people eager to get a special hotline Saturday night, it’s better than going to create their sanctuary. was searching for something more,” she marketing. Brian, especially, has a Iguana and a huge python to keep them to God and then a call for tithes and clubbing. And on a Sunday, it’s a great The couple is a living, breathing recalls. “My father had died five or six finely tuned business brain (he was a amused while their parents worship. offerings as buckets are passed along way to start the day.” example of what they preach: teenage months prior quite suddenly and I felt Schweppes sales rep in New Zealand) At 11am, the crowds move inside in each row. On the screen, there are But is it a cult? sweethearts who met as hungry young like my world caved in. Now I can see and his zeal for branding can feel waves, eager to nab the best seats. It’s a details outlining the ways you can ✽✽✽✽✽ Christians, waited until marriage to that God was awakening my desire, my distinctly ungodly. Also criticised is the vast arena with stacked rows of seating give – via the envelope on your chair, THE HOUSTON FAMILY home sits at consummate their love and have grown reality, my awareness that he was there.” perceived materialism of his church. This around an apron stage. Immediately in online, via the Hillsong app, BPAY. the end of a leafy cul-de-sac in the heart together as pastors and parents following Bobbie talks about being saved at isn’t a world where poverty is noble; front of the podium, overexcited teens A Youth Leader bounces onto the of Baulkham Hills. Houses are big in this the word of God. They are, Bobbie says, that moment, about experiencing her rather Brian and Bobbie encourage their fresh from summer youth camps swap stage and introduces young student part of the world and theirs is certainly still very much in love and on many own personal revelation, when she flock to earn money and be successful. complex handshakes and whoop and Jasmine, who retells her revelation of not the fanciest in the street. It is very levels their brand of worship is not just knew for sure that God was real, that “There’s nothing inherently noble about holler. Bobbie Houston, her daughter speaking in tongues at last week’s youth comfortable with a handsome swimming working for them, it’s a global success He loved her and was “on her side”. being impoverished. God wants us to be Laura, Bobbie’s young perky PA Nikki camp, to loud applause. Next is an pool out the back, decked verandas story, saving souls in record numbers. “It is a faith step,” she says. “I think resourced so we can help the poor and (an American who came to study at advertisement for the Bible college next and a rather slick “shades of white” It all sounds too good to be true and the human mind cannot figure God make a difference,” pleads Bobbie. Hillsong’s Bible college seven years ago door, where would-be pastors learn their renovation care of an interior designer. certainly the Houston path to the top because He’s so much grander and Resourcing is key in the Hillsong and stayed) and other senior members craft. And finally the leader of Hillsong, Inside, it’s an orchestrated bubble of hasn’t been without its pressures and greater than that. In faith, you open machine. There’s a jangling ker-ching of the ministry fill impresario Brian beauty and spiritual calm. By the door, its detractors. They met back home in your heart to the fact that He exists from the tills in the merchandise shop, up the premium “God wants us to Houston, dressed on a trendy perspex lectern, a vast New Zealand, where both were raised. and you invite him to come and be post-service; here, you can buy T-shirts, seats to the right down in jeans and quasi world encyclopaedia sits open Brian was a youth pastor following in a part of your life. It’s a personal caps, DVDs, CDs of music, books and, of the stage. And be rescourced so a loose white shirt, at pictures of children in Africa. “I the footsteps of his father, Frank, who encounter. It’s a personal revelation.” of course, Bibles. Those that Bobbie then the lights dim that we can help moves to the front. love it; it was a gift from conference had birthed his own Pentecostal church. It is guiding others to this encounter markets for her Sisterhood program – and the music starts. His rasping voice [Hillsong’s annual conference],” says Bobbie was a shorthand typist who had that Hillsong is all about. Bobbie and her own brand of religious feminism The stage comes the poor.” echoes around the Bobbie. On the wall, a framed photo found God at the age of 15. Brian talk about personal journeys, – are bound in soft cream leather and alive with a flashing centre. He talks of Mother Teresa with a handwritten “It was at a church in Auckland, about feeling God’s grace and building feature beatific photos of women. light show. Images of the heavens, of about the sanctity of marriage, about note underneath – “God is love. He called First Assemblies of God,” she boundaries to live by, which include In 2014, 19 per cent of the church’s water, of palm trees flash across the spiritual solutions to human problems. loves you. Love others as He loves you.” says. “There was this Jesus thing no sex before marriage, not being revenue – that’s close to $18 million central screen, which is surrounded His parishioners are rapt. They are – is another personal treasure. happening throughout New Zealand seduced by “the gay lifestyle” and – came from merchandise, including by stars and circles of beaming neon rapt for more than an hour. The home hasn’t always been this and I think all the pieces started to all-round sober living. To non-believers, music, while 58 per cent ($54.7 million) tubing. Meanwhile, the 14-strong band It’s easy to take aim at this happy, chic, Bobbie is quick to explain.