The statement Houston referred to was the March announcement made by the Hillsong Board disclosing that Houston was on leave for disciplinary reasons. Houston expressed that he had not seen that statement until it was emailed to Hillsong Church’s global database of congregants.
Houston explained, “So, in direct quotes from my resignation letter, I said, ‘The Board’s statement to the church has made my position untenable. The Board gave enough detail to allow the people’s imaginations to run wild and draw their own conclusions. The statement did nothing to add my perspective.’”
“‘The statements that are being made have left me with no choice but to end our time as pastors and as leaders of Hillsong Church,” Houston went on to read. “’Thank you for the opportunity. It has been an honor, and I can truthfully say Hillsong Church is our life’s work. I have no intention of retiring, and in the future will still be in ministry, whatever that looks like and wherever that is.’”
Houston had hoped that he would be able to serve the church in a founding pastor capacity, something that is now not likely to come to pass.
“Sadly, in the statements and announcements made, there was enough detail to pour ultimate shame and humiliation on me, but enough ambiguity to leave people to make their own conclusions about what did or didn’t happen,” Houston said. “Frankly, in many cases, those conclusions are wrong.”
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Houston then vehemently denied allegations that he was an alcoholic, calling the accusation the result of “whispering and innuendo,” adding that an “expert therapist” had reassured him that he does “not display the behaviors that are typical of an alcoholic.”
“My apology [to Hillsong Church] was about the specific incidents of which the Board are aware, incidents which were unbecoming of a minister of the Gospel, and for which I’m deeply sorry,” Houston said.
Houston then addressed allegations that he was addicted to prescription medication. Admitting that he had become dependent on sleeping pills in the early 2000s as a result of frequent global travel, something he said he had previously been open about, Houston clarified that it was not an ongoing problem and that he had not taken “even one sleeping tablet for a decade.”
“And the notorious night in 2019, where I mixed a double dose of anti-anxiety tablets with alcohol, was a one-off occasion,” he said, referring to an incident in which an inebriated Houston found himself in the hotel room of a woman not his wife. “It happened once. It hadn’t happened before, and it hasn’t happened since.”
“So I don’t have a problem with anti-anxiety tablets or any other prescription medication,” Houston reiterated. “And I respectfully ask you to please not label me that way or blindly accept that narrative.”
