...remember what I have said so many times about cults, this goes beyond Houston (Scientology no different, it was always about CONTROL)
...and remember what I said about leaders in high office belonging to cults, the culture rubs ...and is reflected in their behaviour.
...We must know what Christians they are and look beyond name tags and general association.
Former Hillsong pastors say they were threatened by Brian Houston to hand over their church and assets7.30 / By
Hagar Cohen,
Alex McDonald,
Raveen Hunjan, and
Mario ChristodoulouPosted 1h ago1 hours ago
Zhenya and Vera Kasevich led the congregations of Hillsong Kyiv and Moscow for two decades before their sudden departure.(ABC News: Isaac Mead-Long)
Two former European pastors have accused Hillsong co-founder Brian Houston and the church's general manager of sending threatening emails during a dispute over the transfer of their church, cash, and assets to Hillsong Australia.
Key points:- A 7.30 investigation has found Hillsong expanded its property portfolio partly by taking financial control over other churches
- Hillsong also keeps some of its Australian assets separate from church activities using a web of interlinked charities and trusts
- Hillsong boasts more than 120 churches across 30 countries
Zhenya and Vera Kasevich led the congregations of Hillsong Kyiv and Hillsong Moscow for two decades.
They have spoken to 7.30 for the first time about the circumstances behind their sudden departure from the megachurch.
It comes as the Pentecostal juggernaut faces one of its worst crises since its establishment in the early 1980s.
Last month,
Hillsong's Sydney-based global pastor Brian Houston resigned after the church revealed it had received complaints from two women about his behaviour.
Since then, nine Hillsong branches in the US have broken away from the church.
Now, the former lead pastors of the Kyiv and Moscow churches say they too attempted to break away from the church in 2014.
They say they ultimately chose to hand over their churches and assets after Brian Houston threatened to open a rival Hillsong church in Kyiv.
Vera and Zhenya Kasevich are speaking out for the first time about the takeover of their church.(ABC News: Isaac Mead-Long)
Documents signed by Hillsong Australia general manager George Aghajanian show that Hillsong Church Ltd requested the Kasevichs make a "voluntary donation" of the proceeds of the sale of a property, as well as over $US230,000 in cash.
"I was in an impossible situation," Zhenya Kasevich said.
"No matter what decision you make, you lose."
At that time, the Kasevichs were planning to emigrate to the United States and were in the process of applying for US residency. Hillsong had agreed to assist them in dealing with US immigration.
In one email obtained by 7.30, George Aghajanian writes that he "can make things very difficult" for them "with the American authorities".
A screenshot showing George Aghajanian's email to the Kasevichs.(Supplied)
In another email, Brian Houston warns that Vera and Zhenya Kasevich "have a lot to fear" and that his general manager has "a lot of useful information for the US embassy" about the former Hillsong Kyiv pastors.
"Basically [Brian Houston] said ... 'This church is mine. I will make your life small. I will squash it,'" Vera Kasevich said.
Brian Houston told 7.30 in an email that the Kasevichs' account of the takeover of Hillsong Kyiv and Moscow was "a complete fantasy", and that he made no threats regarding the US embassy.
The Kasevichs said they were finally free to speak out about their ordeal because their US residency had been secured and they no longer felt intimidated by Hillsong's Australian leaders.
"We were quiet for eight full years … and now we are safe," Zhenya Kasevich said.
He said the aim of the takeover by the church's Sydney head office was "to get the assets of [Hillsong] Ukraine into their own hands".
'A voracious appetite for money': Growing the property empireA 7.30 investigation has uncovered how the Sydney-based Pentecostal church has built a property empire, partly by taking financial control over other churches in Australia and globally.
The first takeover occurred in 2009, when Brisbane-based Garden City Christian Church merged with Hillsong. In the process, Hillsong acquired properties and assets valued at $12 million at the time.
Elsewhere in Australia, in 2013 and 2014, two churches in Victoria decided to merge with Hillsong, with three properties transferred to Hillsong. One of those properties was repurposed as a luxury rental.
In 2015, a Gold Coast church agreed to merge with Hillsong, transferring ownership and the mortgage on its Upper Coomera church building.
Hillsong has built a property empire since its establishment in the early 1980s.(AAP: Mick Tsikas)
A year later, two churches in Darwin valued at more than $2 million were also transferred to Hillsong.
In 2020, a church hall at Joondalup in Western Australia — worth an estimated $2.5 million, with a small mortgage owing — was handed over to Hillsong.
As a registered charity, Hillsong is not required to pay taxes such as stamp duty on any real estate that it acquires.
A previous congregant from one of the churches that merged with Hillsong has told 7.30 that he never supported the move.
Lance Goodall, who attended Brisbane's Garden City Church, said a vote of church members at the time decided overwhelmingly to install Brian Houston as their senior pastor, but he felt that the discussion at the time glossed over some important questions.
"Everyone was encouraged to consider [the merger] as being the best possible choice for the church going forward," he said.
"It was perplexing, to be honest with you."
Garden City Church eventually transferred the ownership of more than a dozen Brisbane properties to a Hillsong charity, with no money changing hands.
Lance Goodall attended Brisbane's Garden City Church and didn't support the merger with Hillsong.(ABC News)
Lance Goodall says he was always sceptical about Hillsong's motivation for merging with Garden City.
"One of the key objectives in the takeover by Hillsong is the acquisition of property and assets," he said.
However, it's not only properties that Hillsong acquires at no cost — 7.30 tracked down a church whose funds ended up under Hillsong control.
Jaime San Martin, a previous assistant pastor at the Botany Spanish Church in Sydney in the early 2000s, said when his church joined the "Hillsong family" the church had to transfer all of its funds to a Hillsong account.
Jaime San Martin was an assistant pastor at the Botany Spanish Church in Sydney in the early 2000s. (ABC News: Shaun Kingma)
"They controlled everything," Mr San Martin told 7.30.
