What God do we serve? Awesome Profits of God at Hillthong
Mark Tindall
> > > My God is AWESOME
> > Groovy!
Like far out and wow, man! You are soooo hip!
"Awesome" is the hip word with the groovy Houstons at Hillthong ...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The lord's profits
January 30 2003
The music is catchy, the mood euphoric and the message perfect for a
material age: believe in God and you'll be rewarded in this life as well as
the next. Greg Bearup reports.
A sexy young Christian, a walkie-talkie clipped to her hipsters, greets us
on our walk from the car park. "Hiya, howya doin'?" she says, with a flick
of her mane and a smile. "Welcome to God's house - what an awesome day!" She
points us in the direction of God's pad, a massive Olympic-style stadium up
on the hill, and returns to conducting traffic with a fluoro stick.
All around, beaming young folk (and they are mainly young) are decked out in
their coolest threads - no Amish-skirted Christians here. Hundreds walk with
us, and beneath the awnings and in the foyer of the building - all tubular
steel and glass - thousands are milling excitedly. By the end of the
weekend, almost 12,000 people will have made this walk. Once inside, the
first thing the faithful strike is not a crucifix or stained-glass window
(the building is devoid of Christian symbolism), but a vast bookshop, of
sleek frosted glass and wood, where dozens wait by the till for books and
tapes and CDs - or, as they like to call them here at Hillsong Church,
"Christian resources" - from around the world. Most prominent, and with
almost half the shop to themselves, are the titles by Brian Houston and his
wife Bobbie, Hillsong's senior pastors.
As 6pm approaches, the crowd spills into the church, a massive 3500-seat
auditorium in Sydney's Baulkham Hills. Australia's newest, wealthiest and
largest single church, it holds almost twice as many people as that city's
St Mary's Cathedral, its closest competitor (which has total weekend
attendances of fewer than 2000). They are crowds no one can afford to ignore
and, the day after he returned from visiting the scene of the Bali bombings
in October, Prime Minister Howard put aside his war on terror to open this
house of worship.
Today a 12-piece band with five back-up singers and a choir of 50-odd
youngsters literally bounce into action. Behind them, three massive screens
hang from the walls - the middle one morphs through different shades of red
and blue, only the message, "Glory to God", remaining constant. The momentum
builds with the tempo of the band as the packed stadium sings along to the
words flashed up on the screens, swaying in a one-armed, open-palm salute to
the band, to the Lord.
After 20 minutes, the warm-up pastor takes to the stage, chiming in with the
band - "Come on, church, you can groove" - and then segues into his spiel.
Our God, he says,
is a God who delivers miracles, a totally awesome God. He rattles off
stories, true stories, from this very congregation, of cancers cured, of
cripples healed, of sinners saved. Why, the Lord even saw his way to finding
$4000 for one student to pay his fees at the Hillsong Bible college. The
congregation hoot and clap; a young fellow beside me has his eyes closed and
as each miracle is proclaimed he shouts, "Amen, man. Awesome."
But you, too, should honour the Lord, the pastor tells his flock, and He
will deliver these miracles, because the Bible says so, right here in
Proverbs, chapter 3, which says that "if you honour the Lord with your
possessions, and with the fruits of your increase, your barns will be filled
with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine". He makes the point
numerous times, lets it sink in, then informs the throng that credit card
facilities are available, and cheques should be made out to Hillsong.
"Amen," shouts the pastor, thumping the air with his fists. "Amen, let's
pass those buckets along."
And the faithful oblige - last year they filled the Hillsong buckets to the
tune of $10 million. The church's music arm also bought in a tidy tax-free
$8 million, and one of its albums, Blessed, debuted at No4 in the pop
charts, above Shakira, and stayed there for weeks. Hillsong has bought into
medical centres. Its Bible college has close to 1700 full- and part-time
students, some paying annual fees of more than $4000. It has a staff of
almost 200, including 70 pastors. It has built a state-of-the-art conference
centre-cum-church worth $25 million. No fewer than five television cameras
are mounted in the auditorium; the services are recorded and then televised
in more than 80 countries.
Let's not be coy, Hillsong is not a church that is afraid of money - its
spiritual leader, Brian Houston, is also the author of You Need More Money:
Discovering God's Amazing Financial Plan for Your Life. Is that what makes
this the seemingly fastest-growing Christian church in Australia? The census
reveals that while millions identify as Catholic, Anglican or other
Protestant denominations, few of them actually go to church. There are, for
example, 3.9 million Anglicans, but only 180,000 attend church. (The
Anglicans are like South Sydney rugby league club supporters - plenty of
guernseys, but hardly any go to the games.) The Catholics are way out in
front with 875,000 attendees from their 4.7 million flock. But with almost
200,000 people attending Pentecostal services each weekend around the
country, they have nudged ahead of the Anglicans. The Pentecostals have a
truancy rate of almost nil. What brand of God are they selling that sees the
Almighty walking off the shelves, when the traditional churches struggle to
give Him away?
Brian Houston, 48, saunters over to greet me, a tall, tanned man with a
deep, radio man's drawl, and a silver and gold Breitling watch shimmering on
his wrist. The pastor drives, among other vehicles, a Harley-Davidson Fatboy
that a friend from overseas gave him. After emigrating from New Zealand, he
and his wife, Bobbie, started this church in Baulkham Hills almost 20 years
ago, preaching to a couple of dozen people in a hired school hall. Brian's
father, Frank, had already set up a similar fundamentalist Pentecostal
church (which has since joined with Hillsong) in the inner-Sydney suburb of
Waterloo. Brian grew up with the church, while Bobbie got saved and "met
Jesus" at the Auckland Town Hall at the age of 15. The couple met at church
camp when Bobbie bought Brian an ice-cream ("He was the first boy I ever
kissed," says Bobbie with a girlish giggle. "Can you believe I'm telling you
this?"), were married when Bobbie was 19 and are now Hillsong's senior
pastors.
They work out regularly and look like an advertiser's dream couple. Bobbie,
45, is blonde, busty and beautiful, and speaks in an airy, suburban
earth-mother tone - part Phoebe from Friends, part Kath & Kim.
When asked to explain their roles in the church, Bobbie says pleasantly: "We
are seen as one entity but obviously our roles will differ in that we kinda,
we are united in this together so we are not afraid of that, yeah, so, so,
we are not a kingdom divided against ourselves. So, we are yoked together in
this, I mean, they are biblical words, we are yoked together, obviously his
roles, I defer to him, I respect his role. Do you know what I mean?"
Brian and I leave Bobbie and go for a drive.
So why does he think the church has been so successful? "I think the biggest
issue is relevance, I really do," he says, as we tour around the bland
suburbs - row upon row of enormous, identical houses - of the Hills
District, which surrounds his church. "We are scratching people where they
are itching." This is the nearest thing Australia has to a Bible belt.
Houston says that when he and Bobbie set out to build a church, he wanted to
build one that he and his family would want to attend, with good music, good
sermons and a positive message.
So, at Hillsong services, the music is modern and uplifting and the
presentation theatrical. The show stopper is the communal baptism, held
every few weeks. The giant stage rolls back and beneath is a baptismal pool.
The faithful line up at the side to be dunked, fully clothed, while the
onlookers cheer and clap.
Then, there's the message, which is simple and alluring. It says that if you
embrace this brand of God you will be rewarded financially and spiritually
in this life, as well as the next. It is religion for our material age. And
there, as an example of what is possible, is the handsome, charismatic
pastor, his bubbly wife and their three beautiful kids (Joel, 23, the
oldest, is lead singer in the Hillsong rock band). All this comes with
Brian's guarantee - from More Money - that "anyone who puts the Kingdom of
God first (rich or poor) can expect bible economics to work in their life
NOW".
Many of the young people I meet at the services volunteer their stories of
financial success since joining Hillsong. "I was living in a housing
commission house, working in a factory job and struggling to pay my bills,"
says Brian Griffiths, aged in his early twenties and still sweating from
dancing in the bleachers. "Since I started coming [in 1999], great things
have happened." He got a job selling insurance over the phone, with someone
he met through the church. "God made me meet him." He is more than happy to
give
10 per cent of his wage back, as most are. "Granted, many people have a life
that's going great without God, yet I think that God probably had a whole
lot more in mind for them."
"If you believe in Jesus," Houston tells me, "He will reward you here [on
earth] as well [as in Heaven]." It is this prosperity gospel teaching that
puts him at odds with people like the Reverend Tim Costello, the former head
of the Baptist Union of Australia.
"The quickest way to degrade the gospel," says Costello, "is to link it with
money and the pursuit of money. It is the total opposite of what Jesus
preached. These people have learnt nothing from the mistakes made by the
American televangelists."
Not so, says Houston. When Jesus said it was harder for a rich man to enter
the Kingdom of Heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle,
he didn't mean rich Christians, because all you need is "God as your
foremost priority. Jesus talks constantly of people's attitude to money but
he never talks against money."
Costello, says Houston, "likes what we do generally" but has a problem with
Hillsong's success. He, like those from some of the more traditional
churches, is simply jealous of it, Houston tells me. "The irony is, Tim
Costello is a pretty successful guy himself. The big difference between us
is that I like to teach other people to be successful and not just enjoy the
success myself."
Hillsong, he says, has moved with the times, while the old churches are
stuck in the 19th century. "What good is a vow of poverty?" he asks. "A
person who has more is able to help more. That's what we are all about,
giving people a handout." The multi-million-dollar church's charitable arm,
Hillsong Emerge, according to ASIC documents, has an annual budget of just a
little over $400,000.
That's not to say that Houston's views on some other matters aren't
conservative. He believes in speaking in tongues. He would like to see
creationism taught in schools and abortion banned. Homosexuals are, of
course, unwelcome, but Houston says he's not a Fred Nile-type fanatic on
these matters. Picketing outside abortion clinics achieves little; a more
pro-active approach is to help teenage girls through their pregnancies. The
church partly funds a hostel, Mercy Ministries, for young pregnant women and
other troubled girls (there's another for troubled boys at Bankstown) who
can live there free for a year, on the proviso that they attend church.
Another of the Hillsong Emerge projects, Young and Gorgeous, sees young
Emerge women going into schools to teach 12- and
13-year-old girls about skin care and make-up, to help them learn, an Emerge
woman told me, "that each and every one of them is unique and precious".
Houston takes me for a drive past the youth hostel, in a bush setting near
his church, and then on to a medical centre the church has bought in
Baulkham Hills (they own another at Blacktown). It is all part of healing
people "body, mind and spirit", he says, explaining the Hillsong approach.
The medical centres are small, but with plans for expansion. And while they
may be helping the converted, they're also causing ripples among those
outside Hillsong. Local doctors are angry that they will have to compete
against a business that is exempt from all the normal business taxes - such
as payroll tax - just because it is a religious organisation.
It is a matter the AMA intends to scrutinise.
Max Wallace, a sociologist at the Australian National University, is writing
a book,
The Purple Economy, about the tax-free godsend enjoyed by the Australian
churches. He says that while the traditional churches are "immensely
wealthy", Australians had better get used to the "astronomical wealth
growth"
of young, corporate churches such as Hillsong, which haven't the burden of
maintaining ageing churches and small congregations (some don't even have
the burden of charity). New churches are also moving into a host of new
business ventures that have nothing
to do with religion - turf farms, fruit juice manufacturing, furniture
making - often sending their competitors broke along the way.
Tim Costello wants to know how much of the Hillsong wealth is going to Brian
and Bobbie. "The churches have an enormously privileged position in
society - not only do they not pay tax, but they are exempt from many of the
fringe benefit rules as well. As a result, they need to be open and fully
accountable. Anyone can walk into my church and find out exactly how much I
earn, what car I drive, whatever, including any other associated monies I
might earn from being a minister. I would like to ask the same of Hillsong."
So I do. Brian Houston's open, good-guy demeanour disappears. No, he will
not tell me what he or Bobbie earns. "All you guys [the media] want to know
about is the money,"
he says. "You don't want to know about the church." Well, it's a bit like
walking into Rose Hancock's house and not noticing the chandeliers - the
money at Hillsong just leaps out at you.
Houston says that while he draws a wage, he donates it back to the church.
"I want to make it clear that I cost this church nothing, I want that on the
record." He earns some of his money, he says, as a property developer,
"being a silent partner with a couple of guys from the church in building
developments", but he gets "the vast majority" of his money from overseas
speaking engagements at other charismatic churches. He and Bobbie also get
the royalties from those "Christian resources" out the front of the church.
Phillip Powell, a Pentecostal preacher and a former general secretary of the
Assemblies
of God (the umbrella group of which Houston is now president), says
Houston's overseas speaking engagements are at churches whose own senior
pastors are "on the circuit". Powell, who has set up a "watchdog ministry",
Christian Witness Ministries, in part to monitor Hillsong, says, "They get
paid huge amounts of money to speak at each other's churches. The money goes
to Brian, but his profile comes from Hillsong." It is a bit like the Pope
charging for speaking engagements, and then keeping the cash. (Houston says
Powell's sentiments are "pitiful comments from a pitiful man who knows
nothing of Hillsong or of me".)
The Hillsong church structure is tightly controlled. The general manager,
Brian Aghajanian (also an elder), says the elders are nominated "by Brian or
the other elders". No elections? "No, we feel that people might stand who
don't have a great understanding of the way the church works or have the
same vision we have for the church," Aghajanian says.
What we do know is that Houston wears a watch worth thousands of dollars, he
owns an enormous house overlooking a bush valley, in a suburb of other
enormous houses, at Glenhaven. He also owns a picturesque spread on the
Hawkesbury River, near Windsor, just west of Sydney, gets paid handsomely to
speak overseas and is a property developer - and he's not ashamed of any of
it.
"Look," he says, "I can tell you that if I was in business, and held this
sort of position, I would be earning three times as much. I don't do it for
the money."
So, you couldn't see Jesus running into Hillsong and overturning the cash
registers,
as he famously did with the money changers in the temple? "Absolutely not,"
he says. "Absolutely not. Because the spirit of those people was ... the
house of God wasn't even about God any more. It was about, you know, it had
become a marketplace inside the temple - it wasn't about Christian
resources, resources that are helping people. It [the books and tapes and
CDs] are not just about making money, it is about putting tools in people's
hands.
[But] I have no problem if it makes a profit."
So, what exactly is in those Christian resources? One particularly
irresistible title
is Bobbie's three-tape boxed set Kingdom Women Love Sex ($22, also available
on CD). In it, Bobbie explains why it is important for Christians to be good
at "it". "We need to
be good at sex ourselves so that if the world happens to come knocking we
can tell the story of God in our lives," Bobbie says, on the tape. "Without
being lurid or untruthful
- hello! - we can say [she whispers], 'I have a great marriage and a great
sex life' - wink wink, nudge nudge. Yeah, truly."
Bobbie also offers some practical advice.
Fat is out. Do some exercise. "If I carry weight I feel like a retard ...
How are you going to do anything to surprise your man when you need a
hydraulic crane just to turn over in bed?" Have plastic surgery, if it makes
you feel better and it is for the right reasons, and "girls, pelvic floor
exercises - can you believe I am saying this? - you know, I have heard that
orgasm is not as strong if you are really sloppy in that area".
As Bobbie says, "When you are doing what is correct in God there is a
protection over your life. Like - hello! - it is just there. So it is a very
powerful thing. Amen. Yeah, fully."
There have been some dramas in the House of Camelot in the past few years.
Houston
had to sack one of his senior preachers and good friends, Pat Mesiti, after
it was revealed he'd been visiting prostitutes. And then Brian's father,
former minister Frank Houston, confessed to being a pedophile.
Finding out his father had abused a child back in New Zealand was, Houston
tells me, "like the jets flying into the twin towers of my soul". It was,
understandably, one of
the hardest issues he has ever had to deal with. "Basically I received a
complaint, so
I confronted my father and he admitted it." Houston removed his father from
all roles in the church, but did not contact police in New Zealand because
the victim was old enough to do that himself. He said that he was candid
with his congregation, although he has been criticised for not acting
quickly enough.
"I told our church what had happened [several months after he found out],
but as soon as I found out I told the elders of this church and the
Assemblies of God," Houston says. "To my congregation, when I told them, I
used words like predator and sexual abuse and so on - I did not try to hide
it."
It is a matter that appears unlikely to go away, and Houston tells me that,
since the initial allegation was made public, other alleged victims have
come forward. Good Weekend understands that another alleged male victim of
his father is "extremely unhappy" with his treatment by the church and is
currently considering civil action.
Bobbie says that the sexual abuse claims were the hardest thing her husband
has ever had to confront. "But the leader in him rose and I think that is
what endeared the congregation to us. This issue is rampant through society
and you don't have to be Blind Willy to see that - sorry, blind Freddy, I
always get my sayings wrong - but as a church we are dealing with those
issues."
Phillip Powell, the watchdog, says he doesn't believe Brian Houston has
dealt adequately with a whole range of issues within his church regarding
accountability, and says he will continue to monitor the work of Hillsong.
"There are alarm bells and people need to ring them," he says.
On one of the Sundays I attend a Hillsong service, Anne Luckwell, a
36-year-old administration officer with the Harvey Norman retail chain, is
excitedly waiting to be baptised. She joined the church six months ago and
is now ready to "dedicate my life to the Lord". She has a child and has been
through a rough time. "I lived with a man for 15 years and we were splitting
up - he said he was not going to give me anything from the house [he owned]
in the settlement." She says that now, since she found Hillsong, she has
come to an agreement with her former partner for a share of the house. It
has as much to do with the law as it has with the Lord, but still she
attributes the agreement to Hillsong. I call her up a few days later to see
how she feels, post-baptism. "Not too good, actually," she croaks. "I've got
the flu. I think it's because of the wet hair." Still, she says, she'll be
back in church next Sunday, ready to hear the word of Brian - and, of
course, willing to give in order to receive.
from
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/28/1043804401241.html?oneclick=true
Deacon
news:40da...@dnews.tpgi.com.au...
> "Deacon" wrote:
>
> > > > My God is AWESOME
> > > Groovy!
Hey man keep the quote righteous. I didn't say "groovy" you did man. Don't bum
me out. OK man.
>
>
> Like far out and wow, man! You are soooo hip!
Wow man thanks thats too cool.
>
> "Awesome" is the hip word with the groovy Houstons at Hillthong ...
>
Old enough to know better, but then I don't really.
Later man,
Deacon
Mark Tindall
> > > My God is AWESOME
> > Groovy!
Like far out and wow, man! You are soooo hip!
"Awesome" is the hip word with the groovy Houstons at Hillthong ...
Another AWESOME offering ... originally printed in the awesome Sydney
Morning Herald ...AWESOME!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Lord will provide - HILLSONG
When young Christians flocked to the Superdome this week, ``awesome things
happened''. Kelly Burke reports.
MASS euphoria, record crowds and large sums of money changing hands: the
Superdome hasn't seen anything quite like it since the glory days of the
2000 Olympics. Every day this week more than 15,000 people converged on the
Homebush Bay site for what census figures tell us we're doing less and less:
Christian worship.
They've worshipped in the main arena, spilled over into the 1200-seat sports
hall, the similar-sized ballroom, the 300-seat clubroom, the 200-seat
boulevard terrace and 48 of the 52 corporate suites. ``The place is
packed,'' a Superdome staff member said on Thursday. ``They start singing at
about 8 o'clock in the morning and go on half the night ... I suppose
they're just, um, very happy people.''
Despite its status as a truly international event these days, the annual
conference of the Hillsong assemblies of God megachurch of north-west Sydney
has not lost its distinctive local style. Worship comes in a broad
Australian drawl and the catchword ``awesome'' is ascribed to pretty much
everything, including the Almighty himself. ``Yeah, you sing awesome, you
look awesome and yeah, praise God,'' pastor Brian Houston tells his flock of
15,000 most of whom appear under 25 and look like Britney Spears. And they
go wild.
On Monday night, service started with a Mexican wave, followed by almost an
hour of Hillsong's distinctive pop/rock live performance. Swaying, eyes
closed and with both hands raised towards the roof, few in the crowd seemed
to need the lyrics displayed karaoke-style on giant screens.
``Turn to the person next to you and tell them they are the best-looking
person you've seen all day,'' the crowd is instructed. In the
self-motivational world of contemporary Pentecostal-style Christian worship,
low self- esteem is the gravest sin of all.
``We want you have an awesome time,'' Houston tells the crowd, before
instructing everyone to turn to 2 Corinthians, 9:7: Give not grudgingly, nor
of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.
``Last year people were so faithful that by the last night everything was
paid,'' Houston enthuses. ``During this conference, every night like I say,
we're going to be taking offerings and I'm going to believe that people are
going to have a heart to give, and we're just gonna see hearts open and
awesome things happen ... I'm going to challenge you to really invest into
that ... Let's have purpose in our heart, that we're going to have the
spirit of giving, we're going to give in to the life of this conference and
let's be generous with it.''
And so begins the 15-minute spruik, culminating in the collection of
hundreds of buckets stuffed with cash (notes only) and credit card chits.
While each of Hillsong's 15,400 delegates has paid for the conference, the
evening services are free and reliant on the spirit of giving Houston has
clearly not misplaced his confidence in.
``The scripture says God loves cheerful givers, and that's the spirit under
which we'll be giving tonight, and I'm just gonna believe that the very
first night the giving to this conference is going to be awesome ... I know
you're full of purpose tonight to put the kingdom of God first, and giving
it all, cash, or if you want to write out a cheque please make it out to the
Hillsong Conference, and those who want to give with credit cards, there's
cards, there's cards on every seat, you're welcome to fill out the details,
put your details of your card there ... all our needs, our riches and glory.
I speak your promise, I speak your blessing into the life of every giver, in
the name of Jesus, amen, amen.''
Money has served its master well at Hillsong Church's 8.5 hectares in an
industrial park in Baulkham Hills. What Houston and his wife, Bobbie,
started as the Hills Christian Life Centre in 1983 has grown into arguably
Australia's largest single Christian church, complete with leadership
college, drug and alcohol program, personal development program and its own
top-selling gospel music label, Hillsong Music Australia.
Yet Houston's embrace of the prosperity gospel where God rewards the
faithful with worldly goods as well as eternal life has earned him fierce
criticism from within Christianity's own ranks.
His book You Need More Money: Discovering God's amazing financial plan for
your life, (``Brian challenges you to look beyond yourself, live according
to the principles of God and see His blessing on your life as you become a
money magnet'') has attracted the wrath of Baptist president Tim Costello.
On his Christian Witness Ministries Web site, Philip Powell, a former
general secretary of the Assemblies of God denomination which Houston now
serves as national president, maintains a constant scrutiny of Hillsong,
detailing events over the past year which have included the sackings of
Hillsong evangelist Pat Mesiti and Houston's father, Frank both for
transgressions described by the church simply as ``moral failure''.
``I cannot interpret Brian Houston's motive but I know that his method is
similar to the money preachers from America who offer all sorts of benefits
financial as well as spiritual to those who give to their ministry,'' Powell
said yesterday. ``It's unbiblical.''
The Hillsong juggernaut presses on nonetheless, with a new 3500-seat complex
nearing completion in the Hills, to cater for a congregation the church now
estimates at 12,000. Make that 13,000, if Monday night's conversion rate is
an accurate indicator.
As the first evening of worship draws to a close, Houston calls on the
uninitiated to join the fold. And there's a free gift for every repentant
sinner a Brian Houston CD. Hundreds surge forth to the mosh pit at the foot
of the stage, eager to give their lives to Jesus and Hillsong.
``Fill in a commitment card, fill it in and we will resource you in any way
we can,'' a jubilant Houston cries.``Is this awesome, or is this awesome?''
from
http://www.christian-witness.org/php_cwm/articles/art_art.php3?article=33
Mark Tindall
> > "Deacon" wrote:
> >
> > > > > My God is AWESOME
> > > > Groovy!
>
> Hey man keep the quote righteous. I didn't say "groovy" you did
> man. Don't bum me out. OK man.
Bummer! Like awesome!
> > Like far out and wow, man! You are soooo hip!
>
> Wow man thanks thats too cool.
Awesome!
> > "Awesome" is the hip word with the groovy Houstons at Hillthong ...
>
> Old enough to know better, but then I don't really.
Awesome!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Lord will provide - HILLSONG
When young Christians flocked to the Superdome this week, ``awesome things
happened''. Kelly Burke reports.
... Despite its status as a truly international event these days, the annual
conference of the Hillsong assemblies of God megachurch of north-west Sydney
has not lost its distinctive local style. Worship comes in a broad
Australian drawl and the catchword ``awesome'' is ascribed to pretty much
everything, including the Almighty himself. ``Yeah, you sing awesome, you
look awesome and yeah, praise God,'' pastor Brian Houston tells his flock of
15,000 most of whom appear under 25 and look like Britney Spears. ....
``We want you have an awesome time,'' Houston tells the crowd.... Houston
enthuses. ``... we're just gonna see hearts open and awesome things happen
... I'm just gonna believe that the very
first night the giving to this conference is going to be awesome ... "
... a jubilant Houston cries.``Is this awesome, or is this awesome?''
from
http://www.christian-witness.org/php_cwm/articles/art_art.php3?article=33
AWESOME!!!