Brian Houston says that he and his wife, Bobbie, expect to spend “at least another decade” in ministry, despite the recent challenges they have faced. The former pastor of Hillsong Church expressed these thoughts at an event he and his wife, Bobbie, held Wednesday in Sydney, Australia, called, “An Evening with Bobbie and Brian.”
“I had it in my heart to just have a meeting where we get the chance to connect with a lot of friends,” said Brian Houston, “a lot of people who we’ve done a lot of life with and, of course, some faces we don’t know so well as well, and it’s already been good for our souls.”
Bobbie and Brian Houston Look to the Future
Originally planned as one session on the evening of Wednesday, Nov. 9, “An Evening with Bobbie and Brian” will actually take place over two evenings. Due to the level of demand, the Houstons added a second session Wednesday evening and then a third that will take place the evening of Thursday, Nov. 10. Wednesday’s 7:30 p.m. session was live streamed.
“An Evening with Bobbie and Brian” took place at the Pioneer Theatre in Castle Hill (a suburb of Sydney) and featured prayer, worship, and messages from Brian and Bobbie Houston, respectively. Brian told those in attendance that he and Bobbie have been praying about their plans in 2023, but that they will not give those plans serious attention until they are through 2022.
The pastor expressed hopefulness about the future and asked people to pray for him and Bobbie to hear from the Holy Spirit as they consider their next steps. The couple expects “at least another decade of productive ministry, fruitful ministry, whatever that looks like.”
“I feel encouraged, believe it or not,” said Brian. “It’s been a h*** of a year.”
Brian Houston is scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 2 to face charges that he concealed child sex offenses committed by his father, Frank Houston, in the 1970s. The case is set to run for three weeks, and Brian Houston has denied that the charges are true.
The New South Wales (NSW) Police Force charged Brian Houston on Aug. 5, 2021, and the following month, he announced that he had stepped aside from Hillsong Church boards. In January 2022, the pastor announced that he would be stepping aside from leadership at Hillsong for all of 2022 in order to focus on the court proceedings.
In March, the Hillsong Global Board revealed that Brian’s sabbatical was related to the pastor’s past inappropriate behavior toward two women, as well as substance abuse. Days after this news broke, Hillsong announced that Brian Houston had resigned as global senior pastor.
