Some things that arrive in the Crikey bunker are just too good to keep to ourselves. So in the interests of sharing and for completeness of the historic record, we bring you the full-length video version of the all-in Zoom meeting earlier this year when shell-shocked Hillsong staff heard the grim details of global pastor Brian Houston’s career-ending “transgressions”.
Downfall: The Movie features stand-in global pastor Phil Dooley who delivers an emotion-charged address. The pastor just this month spoke of a new “no secrets” era as the giant church moves on from the Houston troubles, so we trust this is the kind of transparency he was hoping for.
But the cameo to look out for is that of Bobbie Houston, who sits through the roll call of her husband’s sins, starting with Brian’s flirty texts from a decade ago with a female Hillsong employee. Next came the revelation that her man had spent 40 minutes one night, drunk and apparently feeling the effects of anxiety tablets, in the hotel room of another woman at the 2019 Hillsong conference. Pastor Brian had allegedly lost his own hotel room key.
The most powerful woman in the Hillsong empire, co-global senior pastor Bobbie Houston had built her own massive female-focused brand as founder of the church’s Colour Sisterhood.
Now came the ignominy with Bobbie looking on, sullen and occasionally irritated, as long-held secrets came crashing out.
Keep this in your vault. Downfall: The Movie goes with our series of reports earlier this year in which we revealed the collapse of the Houston reign, along with a transcript of the all-staff meeting we published here.
The video was edited on Friday 24 June to cut out the full names of meeting attendees other than key people.
