Hours after an explicit pornographic post was shared with his more than 500,000 followers on X Thursday, Hillsong Church founder Brian Houston said his account had been hacked.
“This account was compromised overnight. Any odd posts, links, or messages shared earlier were not legitimate and have been reported and deleted. Thank you for your patience,” the 72-year-old Houston wrote in a statement on the social media platform just after 11 a.m. ET.
Despite stating that the post was deleted, the explicit video remained on the megachurch founder’s page as of 1 p.m. ET on Thursday. Several commenters on the statement pointed this out and urged him to delete the post.
“Brian, you need to delete it from your videos, it’s still there,” replied one commenter. As of 1:50 p.m. ET the post has been removed.
“Even if you were hacked, please take it down!! ‘But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.’ Matthew 18:6 Christians follow you,” another X user added.
In a separate incident in 2024, Houston said his X account was hacked after the account tweeted the words “ladies and girls kissing,” drawing scrutiny from social media users.
Houston later reposted a statement shared by one of his assistants urging users to disregard any recent posts that “seem out of the normal.”
“Rest assured we are working on discovering how Ps. Brian was hacked,” the statement read at the time. “Our team has ascertained that someone logged into his account from a location within the USA. We’ve changed his password so here’s hoping they no longer have access. Please disregard anything that seems out of the normal. For your safety remember Pastor Brian does not contact anyone privately.”
Houston resigned as Hillsong Church’s global senior pastor in March 2022, amid revelations that two women made allegations of sexual misconduct against him. In 2024, he said he and his wife, Bobbie, launched a new ministry called Jesusfollowers.tv.
“Bobbie and I believe in the Church. We believe in the local church and the power and blessing of being planted (Psalm 92). We also believe that in this day and age, God is creating multiple ways to water the seeds and greatness of calling within,” Houston states on the ministry website.
“Jesusfollowers.TV is here to welcome and extend our table of life and experience to you. This online platform (and church) is here to love, encourage, and be a trustworthy voice of hope and inspiration in the days ahead. Our heart is to serve the God-given potential within you and the Body of Christ.”
In January 2022, Hillsong Church announced that Houston was stepping down from his role at the church’s helm.
Before his formal resignation from Hillsong Church, Houston initially stepped down from Hillsong’s boards in September 2021 as he faced criminal charges related to allegations he concealed sex abuse committed by his father, Frank Houston, decades earlier after he heard about it in 1999. Houston denied any wrongdoing, and an Australian court later found him not guilty of the charges.
Sydney Magistrate Gareth Christofi ruled that Houston had a valid reason for not reporting his father’s abuse of Brett Sengstock to police in the 1970s, namely that Houston believed that Sengstock didn’t want the abuse to be reported to police.
Four months before the acquittal, Houston pled guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol and driving with a blood alcohol content of .08% or more in California. He was also sentenced to three years’ probation, a $140 fine, and other penalties.
Court records show that after an arrest on Feb. 26, 2022, Houston pled “not guilty” to driving under the influence of alcohol, driving with a blood alcohol content of .08% or more, and failing to display two license plates on the vehicle he was driving.
The Hillsong Church founder, who was set for a pre-trial hearing that June, reversed course on the drinking charges while the charge for failing to display two license plates on the vehicle he was driving was dismissed.
In addition to the three-year probation and the $140 fine he received for the driving under the influence charge, the court required him to complete a three-month first-offender alcohol program, victim impact counseling, and participate in self-help meetings for one year.
Contact: [email protected] Follow Leonardo Blair on Twitter: @leoblair Follow Leonardo Blair on Facebook: LeoBlairChristianPost
