Hillsong's Brian Houston Hopeful of the Future Despite Waiting for the Verdict on His Criminal Trial

Hillsong Church's founding pastor Brian Houston is hopeful about the future despite awaiting the verdict on a criminal charge that he concealed his father's sexual abuse of a young boy. Houston says he will focus on "building for the future" until June 2023 when the verdict will be announced. 

"The last three weeks have been rigorous to say the least but we have felt the prayers of so many," Houston wrote on Instagram Thursday, days after he told the Downing Centre Local Court in Australia that his father, Frank, was a "serial pedophile."

Houston was formally charged last August with failing to report his father's abuse of a young boy after a two-year investigation by the New South Wales Police. Authorities charge that Houston, 68, "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." 

Brett Sengstock was sexually assaulted by Frank Houston, who was at the time a travelling preacher based in New Zealand, inside his family's Coogee home in January 1970.

Brian Houston, 68, vehemently denies the claims and says his decision to not go to police when he learnt of his father's offending in October 1999 did not amount to a cover up. Houston claims that he respected the wishes of his father's victim, Sengstock, by not reporting the allegation to authorities. Frank Houston died in 2004. 

"Obviously I can't comment on my court case but there's to be two more days of submissions in June 2023," he wrote on Instagram. "The delay is frustrating but it is what it is and Bobbie and I will be using the time committed to building for the future."

 

 

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