Hillsong United's New Album at #2 on iTunes

Australian-based Christian rock/worship band Hillsong United has earned the #2 spot on the iTunes Top Album Charts for its just released CD A Cross The Earth:Tear Down The Walls. The album sits just behind Eminem's new CD Relapse, which is at #1.

"For a band that is virtually unknown outside the Christian culture to be selling more than Green Day and Lady Gaga and almost as many as Eminem on iTunes, it says something about United's amazing trajectory as an impact artist beyond just the Christian music scene," says Chris Estes, Director of Digital Marketing for Integrity Music, the label that distributes United in the U.S. in a press release. "And, they did all this without traditional industry drivers like heavy radio play and mainstream TV. Not only do they sell out major venues, churches around the world are singing their songs every Sunday."

My first thought was that it's a little ironic to have a Christian band with an album #2 in the nation, and yet still be "virtually unknown outside the Christian culture." I mean, wouldn't it be great if the message of Hillsong United and this album - Jesus Christ, compassion, social justice - was being heard in every corner of the market? Isn't that kind of what we're supposed to be doing, sharing the gospel and preaching Jesus to every corner of the globe, not preaching to the choir?

I'm not faulting Hillsong United, just questioning the reality that oftentimes the very things the world needs to hear are kept under wraps in the Christian culture. It's not Hillsong's fault. It's just the by-product of our commercialized subculture.

Now through August, Hillsong United is playing to capacity crowds, including sell-outs at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, the Roseland Ballroom in New York and the Verizon Wireless Ampitheatre in Atlanta. Remaining shows are:

5/27 Atlanta, Ga.
5/29 Birmingham, Ala.
5/30 Nashville, Tenn.
6/1 Washington, D.C.
6/2 Boston, Mass.
6/3 Virginia Beach, Va.
6/5 New York
6/6 Toronto
6/8 Grand Rapids, Mich.
6/9-10 Chicago (Willow Creek Conference)
8/21-22 Los Angeles (Encounterfest)
8/24 Denver, Colo.
8/25 Dallas
8/28-29 Miami (Encounterfest)

Updated tour details for Hillsong United can be found at the Hillsong United website.

U.S. Fans Make Australian Rock Band Hillsong United A Bonafide Grassroots Sensation

a_CROSS//the_EARTH: Tear Down The WallsROCKETS TO #2 ON U.S. iTUNES TOP
ALBUMS CHART

Contemporary Christian Rock Band Sells Out Atlanta-Area 12,000-Seat
Verizon Amphitheatre on Current North American Tour

NEW YORK, June 1 /PRNewswire/ -- American fans of Hillsong United, the
Australian rock band, are building a grassroots bonfire under the group
as a_CROSS//the_EARTH: Tear Down The Walls, the band's newly released
live album, rockets its way to the #2 position on the U.S. iTunes Top
Albums chart.

A musical dark horse on the iTunes chart, a_CROSS//the_EARTH: Tear Down
The Walls catapulted over mainstream competition last week from Adam
Lambert, Keith Urban, Green Day and Lady GaGa.

Fans have been generating standing-room-only ticket sales for Hillsong
United on the North American leg of the group's
a_CROSS//the_EARTHSpring Tour 2009 (please see itinerary following). On
Wednesday night (May 27), Hillsong United sold-out the 12,000 seat
Verizon Amphitheatre in Alpharetta, Georgia, just outside Atlanta,
delighting their ecstatic fans with an evening's worth of electrifying
spirit-filled rock presented in an astounding concert environment of
state-of-the-art light and sound.

Hillsong United is the music-making world-touring youth ministry of the
Hillsong Church, a pentecostal congregation located in Sydney,
Australia. Featuring Brooke Ligertwood and other charismatic worship
leaders and performers, Hillsong United host Encounter, an annual youth
conference, in the U.S. each summer, drawing thousands of fans from
across the country. This year's Encounter conferences will take place
at the Anaheim Convention Center (August 21-22) and the University of
Miami (August 28-29). For more details, please visit
www2.hillsong.com/united/#/encounter.

The Hillsong Church produced its first praise and worship CD, The Power
of Your Love, in 1992. The first Hillsong United release, the four-song
EP One, was released in 1998 and bundled with the annual Hillsong live
album. Since those humble beginnings, more than 6 million Hillsong CDs,
DVDs and other branded units have sold in the United States, with
Hillsong United selling more than 560,000 pieces in the U.S.

a_CROSS//the_EARTH: Tear Down The Walls, the latest in a line of live
Hillsong United albums beginning with 1999's Everyday, has been drawing
rave reviews:

Kevin Davis, writing for the Christian Music Review, called the album
"...a must have for your praise and worship collection."

Andree Farias, in Christian Music Today, found "...a combination of
stadium-sized praise rockers and ballads..." in the album while noting
that "Hillsong United goes back to their old ways with energy and
passion....In case you've been living under a rock, take heed: Hillsong
United is the biggest youth worship band on the planet."

"Hillsong United return with their first live CD recording since 2006,"
wrote Leigh DeVore in Charisma magazine. "a_CROSS//the_EARTH: Tear Down
The Walls features 12 songs, including 11 new tracks, in Hillsong
United's signature power, pop-rock worship melodies. The crowd stays
involved on this rousing CD, with its good mix of feet-stomping tracks
and heart-moving ballads....Hillsong United continue to usher crowds
into the presence of God with energetic, faith-building songs. Fans
will be so glad to hear them again...."


   Hillsong United - U.S. Tour dates
   Fri 5/29          Birmingham, AL        The Basement at Cathedral of the
                                            Cross
   Sat 5/30          Nashville, TN         Curb Event Center
   Mon 6/1           Columbia, MD          Merriweather Post Pavillion
   Tue 6/2           Ocean Grove, NJ       Great Auditorium
   Wed 6/3           Virginia Beach, VA    Wave Church
   Fri 6/5           New York, NY          Roseland Ballroom (sold-out)
   Sat 6/6           Toronto, Ont.         Christian Heritage Day
   Tue-Wed 6/9-10    Chicago, IL           Willow Creek Conference
   Fri-Sat 8/21-22   Los Angeles, CA       Hillsong United Encounter - LA
   Fri-Sat 8/28-29   Miami, FL             Hillsong United Encounter - Miami

www.hillsongunited.com

www.IntegrityLive.com

www.columbiarecords.com

SOURCE Integrity/Columbia Records

BLOG with Hillsong chief Brian Houston now

HILLSONG founder Brian Houston has appealed to his new flock at Garden City Christian Church to hold the faith.

Mr Houston said he hoped the community would hold-off passing judgment following his appointment to lead the 1000-strong Mt Gravatt church.

“Give it time and just see the real effect on people’s life,” Mr Houston pleaded.

More than 20,000 people attend Hillsong on Sunday in Sydney and Mr Houston says he is hoping that his Mt Gravatt ministry will be able to connect with people in Brisbane.

Mr Houston refers to last month’s takeover of Garden City Christian Church by Hillsong as a partnership.

He said the Rover St church, now known as Hillsong’s Brisbane campus, is its own legal identity, has its own assets and will decide its own future, but its faithful and the sign on the door belong to Hillsong.

Mr Houston says he has no problem with concerns that older long-time members of the former GCCC do not fit the perceived demographics of Hillsong.

“My experience in life is people come and people go and they are allowed to do that and I think the answer to that is it will come down to different individuals,” he said.

“At the end of the day you can only build a church on people who want to be there and want to be part of it.

“There is no doubt there is a lot of young people at our church, at Hillsong Church, but there is a good mix of people.”

When questioned about controversy that goes hand in hand with mentioning Hillsong, Mr Houston said: “We are an easy target.”

Mr Houston and his wife will continue to live in Sydney, and Pastor Steve Dixon is the local campus pastor at the Mt Gravatt church. Mr Houston said Mr Dixon’s position as the local campus pastor had no time frame.

“To me. the way it works is basically to work with lots of people and empower a great team of people and by empowering I mean really work with people on the ground and I fully intend to do everything I can to be here often and really put in ourselves.”

Source

Hillsong Church expands to Brisbane

The popular Hillsong Church has expanded to Brisbane, where it has taken over one of the city's largest Pentecostal churches, Garden City Christian Church.

Garden City Christian Church on Brisbane's southside that will now be renamed Hillsong Brisbane Campus, was acquired after church-goers voted in favour of the Houstons.

Pastor Brian Houston who resigned as president of the Australian Christian Churches, in a bid to focus on the Hillsong expansion, will be elected as the senior pastor of the acquired church on May 24.

According to sources, Houston chose to move into Brisbane because "it is a fast growing area with great potential for the Gospel".

Some speculate that the global economic crisis might be one of the reasons for Hillsong vying on its expansion ambitions.

However, although unverified, sources say, Garden City's senior pastor, Bruce Hills, was forcefully made resign by the congregation after scrutinizers noted the poor growth of the church.

When he returned from eight weeks' leave, Garden City Christian Church elders told him: "We'd rather have more of a CEO leader than you. We'd like you to resign," Brisbane Times quoted him saying.

Describing it as "the deepest, darkest experience I've ever been through", Mr Hills said he was "really angry about what these people had done".

Hillsong presently has a 21,000-strong congregation across Sydney. The Pentecostal group was founded by the Houstons in Sydney's Hills district in 1983 and now has branches worldwide.

Source

Brian Houston's Hillsong arrives at Garden City

HILLSONG evangelist Brian Houston has defended his takeover of the Garden City Christian Church, saying "we are all part of the same church".

Hillsong logos have already replaced Garden City Christian signs have in preparation of Mr Houston’s installation as senior pastor tomorrow.

In an exclusive interview with The Courier-Mail today, Mr Houston said the board of the re-branded church would be governed by three Hillsong members, three GCC members and himself.

“We’re all Australian Christian church, so we’re all part of the same church, so were already part of the same greater movement,’’ he said.

The Mt Gravatt church is one of Brisbane's oldest and largest pentecostal churches.

More than 70 per cent of registered members voted that he and wife Bobbie should be senior pastors of the church.

Mr Houston said while the Garden City Christian church will still exist, “it essentially will be like a campus of Hillsong’’ and will be called Hillsong Brisbane Campus.

Garden City Christian members who fear the loss of their church’s autonomy must adjust to change, he said.

The church’s constitution, which will be reviewed by Mr Houston, will still control the operations of the church.

“The members of Garden City control the assets, and are the ultimate decision-making body,’’ he said

Changes to the constitution require a 75 per cent vote of registered members.

Mr Houston said he felt the changes to the church were biblical.

“I absolutely do. In the new testament church, there was a real sense of cooperation and working together, town by town, village by village, city by city.’’

Sydney-based Hillsong, with a membership of 21,000 and assets estimated at $150 million, is considered Australia’s largest and wealthiest single congregation.

It has a television audience in the millions, and churches through Europe, but Garden City Christian is its first interstate campus in Australia.

Mr Houston said there were no plans for other interstate moves, but “I’m not saying we would never ever do another thing somewhere else,’’ he said.

Next stop secular Europe, says Hillsong founder

More money... Brian Houston, newly installed senior Pastor of Hillsong Brisbane.

IF HILLSONG founder Brian Houston had his time over, he would not write a book called You Need More Money.

That purposely provocative title - which encapsulates Mr Houston's "prosperity theology", but also irked Hillsong's many critics - has dogged him throughout the phenomenal growth of his Pentecostal church.

"If you said to me 'what are the three silliest things you've done', that probably would be No. 1. The heart of the book was never just about being greedy and selfish … I put a bullseye on my head."

Mr Houston doesn't shrink from his view that people need money to be effective, but the book title ensured his enormously successful church would forever be associated with proselytising for financial gain.

Hillsong estimates it earned $60 million in 2008, half of which came from its congregation. It would not disclose how much Brian and his wife Bobbie Houston were paid, but said all profits were ploughed back into church activities.

Unlike the sacrifice and humility preached by other Christian faiths, Hillsong members are told material success is nothing to be ashamed of. But Mr Houston cautioned it must be "prosperity for a purpose". "It's great if you want to go make money for a purpose. If it's just all about you and selfish, then we wouldn't [preach that]," he said. "It's about being effective, not just being self-absorbed, but living for things that are bigger than you are."

But since the global financial crisis, increasing numbers of Hillsong members are reporting financial hardship rather than financial gain.

"Definitely people are asking deeper questions about life and spirituality," Mr Houston said. "The people in our church are hurting like everybody else is, which means that we've got more call on us to be giving assistance to people and reaching out to people … That's definitely been magnified through the global crisis."

Hillsong now provides outreach services to 2000 people in Sydney every week. Yet the financial crisis isn't curtailing Mr Houston's plans to expand Hillsong. The church officially set up in Brisbane yesterday, after taking over Garden City Christian Church. It is likely to be Hillsong's only Australian branch outside Sydney.

While he says he receives letters "almost every day" from people around the world wanting a Hillsong in their city, Mr Houston is more interested in expanding further into Europe. Hillsong operates in London, Paris, Kiev, Stockholm and Moscow.

"Europe obviously has such a huge Christian tradition but has become so secular … I would like to think over the next few years it would be great to impact a few of those European cities."

Mr Houston said Hillsong does not receive any money from its international branches.

He said the church's growth from 45 people in a school hall in Baulkham Hills 25 years ago to 15,000 in cities around the world was a "miracle story".

"We're preaching to people's Mondays, not just to their Sundays."

Source

Hillsong pastor defends ministry against cult claims

CELEBRITY evangelist Brian Houston has defended his Hillsong ministry against allegations it is a "cult-like" organisation as the Sydney megachurch opened a "campus" church on Brisbane's southside yesterday.

He also denied Hillsong had misspent Commonwealth grant money or recruited students in NSW schools.

Mr Houston and his wife Bobbie were installed as the new senior pastors of one of Brisbane's largest Pentecostal churches, the 1000-member Garden City Christian Church.

The church's governing board is now dominated byMr Houston, pictured, and Hillsong appointees, and the church has been rebranded with Hillsong logos.

In an exclusive interview with The Courier-Mail, Mr Houston, credited the dramatic growth of the 21,000-member Hillsong to a need for fellowship and "the grace of God".

"It's also because people want answers to life," he said.

Criticism that Hillsong is overly focused on money, flashy entertainment and fund-raising, were rejected.

"We're big and because we're big people wonder what all this is about," he said.

Hillsong critics, including politicians who have been contacted by former Hillsong members, have accused it of cult-like behaviour, including psychologically abusing people who questioned the church's practices.

"Recruitment and fundraising is what it's all about," said Tanya Levine, whose book People in Glass Houses exposes her experiences with Hillsong.

"Fundamentalism is not open to free thought and questions."

But Mr Houston said Ms Levine was only a spectator.

"There's 21,000 people who attend Hillsong on Sunday in Sydney and I would say 20,500 or 20,800 have awesome things to say," he said.

Former ALP leader and long-time MP Carmen Lawrence, now teaching at the University of Western Australia, said there was not proper scrutiny of $600,000 in federal grant money Hillsong received for indigenous employment and hundreds of thousands more for other programs.

"One thing that worried me was whether they were using funds to recruit members for their church," she said.

Mr Houston said "absolutely 100 per cent" of the allegations were false, blamed people with "an agenda" for prompting the reports, and gave assurances the ministry had strict accountability for grant money.

Students in NSW were not being recruited by Hillsong in schools, he said, although Hillsong was active in schools, as other churches were.

He also said Hillsong members giving 10 per cent of their pre-tax wages to the church were not asked directly to do so.