Thank you so much for this powerful post…. I’m gonna be tweeting it all day!

thanks for putting into words what many of us on the ground don’t have time to do. Word up from the Town.

Standing ovation. I was looking at a colonial map of Africa on google (run across by accident) and it really disturbed me.. I flipped to facebook and saw your post and you nailed the unsettled “yuck” feeling I had perfectly. (not trying to put words into your post, of course!)

San Franciscans already voted for this brand of christianity, if you look at the churches in which they caucus. Especially the natives who left churches that serve baos for those that serve espresso.

Nate,

Your comments are much appreciated. Hopefully Hillsong will enter this City with humility and a heart for the disadvantaged. Although this video does seem ill-advised to many of us, the testimony of Hillsong is that God has moved through their ministries; let’s hope that they can reach our city too!

If there is one thing that we must agree on it’s that there are many in SF who still need to meet our Lord. There are many who don’t know God’s love, don’t know his invitation to join His family and our fellowship. Those who do not know includes those who are being displaced and those who are gentrifying. The Messiah is for not only the Israelites, but also the Gentiles; this means the Roman (oppressors) and the Israelites (the oppressed). In other words, the work in SF is far from completed, and I am ready to welcome my fellow co-laborers into this city. I will work side-by-side with them; hopefully from me they will learn that this is a broken City that needs humble leaders. I cannot wait to see how God uses them to speak to me.

I would caution you to not claim SF as your domain; it is unclear why Hillsong must come here and “sit at [our] feet” and wait for us to “say [they]’re ready.” This is not our land; this City needs Jesus–not us. We are not the sole messengers of God’s love; He can use a donkey to spread his Word if He chooses. If we are the Canaanites in the promised land, let’s welcome in Joshua! Why are we not ready to walk with Hillsong?

I for one am more than willing to be “insult[ed]” by Hillsong’s videos and prayers if it means that more will know Jesus. I hope that Hillsong reaches thousands in this City, even if those thousands of new converts are either “white” or gentrifiers.

Thanks again for your voice. Hillsong does have much to learn and I hope they seek communion with the many faithful ministries in this City. Maybe you and Ben Houston should get lunch?

“The Kingdom does not belong to us.” – Therefore as a part of the collective “us”, you don’t have any business judging the gospel efforts of another church! I assume you know all the entire history of this church to back up all the intolerant statements found within this piece? Is that Hillsong’s history – oppression?

I don’t disagree with your statements of a presence of churches for decades already in SF. But if they’ve been there so long, why is there still a need to help the people of the city? Should they have long ago accomplished all you claim the church should be about? No? Then why not welcome another part of the “The Kingdom [that] does not belong to us”?

My statements are general in nature, because, I don’t live there. But I find a lot of assumptions being made.

Brian Houston got those scriptures from Bruce Wilkinson and his book The Prayer of Jabez, which hit evangelical churches in the early 2000s. The theology of this book is straight out of name-it-and-claim-it prosperity doctrine. God wants to bless you, and praying like Jabez will make it happen. *gag*

These evangelical megachurches are built around American corporate practice. The pastors shell out thousands to attend “leadership” conferences with church-growth consultants who teach seminars on how to develop marriage counseling programs, plant multi-site campuses, and–most importantly–get everyone sacrificially giving so the empire can be supported. The bigger you can grow your church, the bigger your built-in audience for your latest book or the worship band’s newest CD, and the more conferences you are paid to speak at. Locations for a new site are strategically chosen based on demographics–where there are enough people, wealth, and lack of other large churches to support a 2,000+ member congregation. I’d bet $50 that Houston’s decision was hammered out behind closed doors with a well-paid consultant.

Have you ever noticed that nearly all of these megachurches have the same programs? Similar membership covenants? And that virtually none of those programs involve things like homeless outreach or drug rehab? Or how all these megachurch pastors seem to know each other?

Some might wonder why that is.

Or maybe God will use them greatly to reach people who have yet to meet Jesus. I think maybe what we do need is more churches and less Christians criticising each other on the Internet. John 13:15

This is such a beautiful post. For what it’s worth, I attend Hillsong. The North American church has been colonizing Sydney for years. They love its koalas, its Harbour Bridge, and they even turn up at Hillsong’s campus in their thousands and under the guise of their role as college students they displace Australian congregation members, and I sit here in the gay heartland of Sydney working amongst Aboriginal Christians who feel displaced and lost, thinking “oh my gosh, how do I reconnect and reconcile with my neighbours who hate me”? The thing is, I do have hope because of posts like yours. Perhaps we can together join our hearts and voices, and dialogue to learn what is God’s and what is simply ours. Oh, I need a heart of flesh, not one of stone. Thank you so much for your reminder.

I’m completely repulsed by colonialist approaches to church planting. However, you chose a different translation of Isaiah 54 than the one Ben Houston used in the video to emphasize your point (changing “occupy” to “dispossess”). IMO, that’s not cool at all. It shifts your article toward mudslinging, not correction.

Terrible article…great clip.

You don’t like the comment – We see great potential….Oh My Godzilla…does not our loving Father see great potential in us all – regardless of where we are at. He saw so much potential, he had so much love that he died for us…while we were sinners.

What potential for this city – a city that can reclaim its true identity, its original design – as sons and daughters of Papa – Daddy – Father God. Heis and co-heirs with Him. A city that can start to walk in the fullness that God has for them.

And like God spoke light in Genesis when He was in the middle of an earth that was formless, empty and dark – our God spoke what he could see…not what He was in.

Hillsong is being what we are all called to be – like our Father in heaven…speaking out what they see…not what they find themselves in.

Seriously….good on you Hillsong for getting in, getting your hands dirty and having a go. Continue to speak life, love and hope – the way Father sees it – not the way man does!!

Hillsong is just one more in a long line of church planting efforts in SF and Silicon Valley seeking to harness the “world changers” and change the world through them. They come with conference-fueled bags of tricks and seemingly good intentions to plant their flag and say they did it for God. What most discover is that people here are common, broken like everywhere else. Pastoral work is farming, painstaking work, not systems-think and “3 How-To’s to Do It Like I Did It”, so most fail or fall away. The same is true for the occasional “Take the Bay Back for God” programs that pester pastors and waste time and resources. I think it’s best for everyone to work their corner of the vineyard, pastor the people God brings and daily thank Him for the opportunity to love others in His name.

Wow that sounds angry! Heaps of pastors church plant in cities. 99% of them have no profile such as Hillsong but never the less your comments could be aimed at some of them as well. Instead of anger phone him up and welcome him to the city and ask if there is anything you can do for him. Then take him to coffee and love on him. There could come a day when you will need each other. Love and blessings. Ian

“Help the poor, seeking the hopeless folks, caring for the least”
Are you doing this in the city of San Francisco? If you are its a good shot but if your not it would be shame to criticize in such offensive judgement thrown words without realizing that one’s daily life is to do such comfort-zero life and to live as follower of Christ

Lets not question Hillsong but look to ourselves. Are we actually helping, caring, loving to the extent of giving one’s life for the ‘one’ person?

I’m not from San Francisco, but in New York City we also face issues of churches/organizations coming into communities, contributing to greater issues of gentrification and income inequality, in favor of the indoctrination of entire communities. Amazing critique, which offers a very important prompt: the difference between planting a church, and colonizing a community.

Or… instead of a lengthy blog post criticizing their plans, y’all COULD pray for them, and ask God to lead and guide them, and bless their efforts. Starting a new church planting effort is not anything new and everybody knows it’s not easy. There’s no guarantee of success. Perhaps they start the project with pie-in-the-sky, starry-eyed ideas, but then there’s ALWAYS the reality of the rubber hitting the road. That hard reality brings us to our knees, which is a good place to be. It’s the right place to be.

God bless them!! Who are we to say whether God really spoke to them or not? It’s not our place, and it’s not our business.

This seriously pisses me off. Christians bringing down other Christians. We are suppose to be supporting each other and be thankful that churches are being opened. People act like they know Ben Houston but they don’t. I don’t myself but I take part of Hillsong LA and have seen all the good it has been doing for homeless people and families.

People are so blind . Be thankful a church is being opened up not ANOTHER JAIL or strip club. I grew up in church and one thing I learned is that some Christians are WORSE then people who don’t go to church!

You go Ben Houston open up all the churches you want change this world! Let’s make it a better place !

This is an amazing article. I suspect that the problem most of the commenters are having is that “colonizing” is so much a part of the evangelical mindset still that it’s difficult to separate it from spreading the gospel. Everything goes as long as people are “getting saved”… right? I’ve seen it time and time again, people, places, other churches, families, all play second fiddle to the overarching goal of “reaching” people and can cheerfully be steamrolled. Until evangelicals can move beyond seeing people and cities as a notch in a spiritual conquest belt, nothing will change.

Maybe instead of analyzing the shit out of his vernacular and sifting through the messiness of this article we can have humility to hear our brother and assume it’s a valid perspective FIRST. Your church is probably preaching right now on the “unattainable image of perfection” releasing you to let god accept you “as you are”. Let’s do the same with Nate. Also, what’s the problem with questioning or even criticizing Hillsong? I think the point is people see the great videos, hear the music, see the glitzy glow and they just accept it – never taking the time like Nate did to seriously question it. Its not based in fear. Its a grounded educated perspective that we should shut up and listen to. We all bought all of Hillsong’s records and books and videos without a blink. We are effectively putting our money where our mouth is and where our hearts are. We’re funding this without knowing if it’s agreeable.

Nate, You are a great writer — but you have terrible perspective. Jesus came to seek and save the lost — at no point in the journey of any Hillsong church has there ever been a plan to “dispossess” anyone. Our job as Christians is to love on humanity in the way that He would (this blog does none of that). To simply put it dont sit at your computer and criticize someone that you don’t know anything about. I’m not sure what your intention of this blog was — not sure if it was to turn people away from going to Hillsong Church or to not like Ben Houston – but whatever your intent was I pray that God gives you a revelation of who He (Jesus) really is. Regardless of what you think, God has a plan for San Francisco – I was born in the Bay Area and I still have family there. I pray that Hillsong Church brings the LOVE and CHARACTER that Jesus showed throughout the gospel. Praying for you man – I think God has huge plans for you and to use your writing skill in an incredible way.. But this blog was a waste of that talent!

Hi Nate,

Before I say anything, I just want to say thank you for a thoughtful response and that I really do echo your sentiments and concerns with Hillsong SF coming. I personally was not that excited mainly because of the watered-down Gospel that they preach in the name of “relevance” that basically has no transformative power in peoples’ lives, but that’s another matter…

I have to say though, that despite some legitimate concerns, this response is pretty unbiblical in attitude and character for a couple reasons:

You cannot DEMAND humility. Isn’t it ironic (and prideful) to call out someone’s lack of humility by pridefully demanding it?? I think it’s perfectly okay to notice a character flaw and call them to repentance, but you have no biblical right to DEMAND that someone sit at your feet and basically “sit down and know your place.” That is SO unbiblical and ironic. Yes, Houston’s comments were ignorant and lacked much tact, but that doesn’t give you justification to basically tell someone that they can’t come here. Is there a certain type of “qualified” missionary that you allow here? Which brings me to my next point..

Do you own San Francisco, or does God? How are we okay with letting in Syrian refugees who might have intentions to blow up the city, but we’re not okay with letting in another church, a member of the Body of Christ, because they have iffy intentions? And trust me, I think you’re right about the blind ignorance and optimism, but you don’t have a biblical right to shut them out in protest and rise up in anger against them.

May I suggest a similar attitude to Paul said in Phillippians 1 as an example?

“Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill; the former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely…” (Let’s say this is them, in our eyes)… “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.”

Jesus also said in Luke 9:50 of someone trying to do the work of the Kingdom, Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side.”

Maybe Hillsong can reach some people in SF that you can’t, Nate. And the right response of the Christian is to say, yes, they’re being a little foolish, but if they’re here to preach Christ, we rejoice and we welcome the missionary that comes in the name of the Lord. If they’re here to genuinely preach the true Gospel, then we should be rejoicing at the furtherance of the Gospel.

These are just a couple of the main points of concern I have with this response. Not to mention the implications of this attitude to foreign missions – what if the church in India or the Phillippines said “No, no one will ever come here until they understand the plight of the people, and if they do come, they will sit in total silence because they have nothing to offer.” What kind of attitude is that to a well-meaning brother or sister in Christ? How many of us have gone on missions thinking that we were bringing them something, only to realize that they taught us so much in return? That’s what I think is going to happen to Hillsong SF. I think they will come here and possibly “learn the hard way” about ministry here and I personally just wish them good luck, you know?

Again I’ll say this: you totally have the right to question Hillsong SF and you do have a right to raise concerns about the way they’re coming about the whole situation. But the way you do it should be of loving concern and NEVER with anger, offense, and bitterness. I would humbly submit this to you for your consideration because it brought me a great deal of sadness when I read this post. It’s got some good points, but to me, it’s done in the wrong spirit.

Thanks for hearing me out 🙂 Hope you’ve been well & I would love to catch up with you sometime 🙂 –Emily

We all live among different cries of God’s heart. Some universal, some particular to a time and place and people. Nate writes and speaks out prophetically from some universal and some particular cries of God’s heart, cries that have heard the passion and pain of people in a time, place, and moment, cries that are spiritual and political, cries that are gospel and kingdom. I don’t think he says them because he claims to be wise or to have superior knowledge, but because he spends time listening to those cries and prayers. They’re in the red words (and black ones) of the Scriptures; they’re in the humble witness of folks who have lived, served, and suffered in a city for generations; and they come from loving and travailing for Jesus’ church.

I cherish those cries that Nate is speaking from, and they sing from a part of God’s heart that the church desperately needs to attend to. They don’t contradict God’s heart to save, heal, and free… in fact, they’re inseparable from them.

Mr. Houston bears witness in his video to listening to God’s voice, humbly acknowledges not knowing how things will unfold (and maybe not knowing the city itself?), and expresses a desire for God’s unfolding plan in SF. If I had the privilege of sitting next to Mr. Houston, I would suggest that someone speaking loving truth from a place of hearing those universal and particular cries might be part of how God teaches you, a person of influence and responsibility in his church, to bear Christ’s name, to attend to our language and the story we tell as we try to follow his call. And as much as I’d have benefitted from learning from Mr. Houston’s teaching and ministry, I’d offer (if asked) that this is an instance when Paul’s attitude in 1 Cor 9 matters. Whether he agrees with some people’s cries or sentiments or not, if he cares about San Francisco, there’s a history where a certain narrative hurts, for good reason, and a conscientious ambassador of Christ would do well to listen.

Nate, you’re not just a good writer. You’re quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, in my experience. After all, you only post on your blog once every three months or something 😉 But when you write, it wells up from prayers, time spent, sometimes tears, often study, and human relationships and conversations. This piece bears all the marks of that, so thank you for the risk it takes to speak from that.

And I’m also chastened, after reading your post, to work on my own listening. Grateful for you.

To me, it sounds like you have been hurt by the city, and feel like because you have whethered the storm you deserve to pastor in that city more than those who have not. To me, it sounds like hillsong is excited to be apart of Gods plan for the city, and you want to keep them out so you can personally play a bigger part in that plan. Your words are clearly not anointed from God, but hateful rooted in jealousy.

I have been attending Hillsong NYC for the past few years now, and the church that I have come to know and love doesn’t operate under white christian exceptionalism in any way shape or form, and by no means does Hillsong believe that they are the only ones capable of facilitating the gospel message. I would agree with your statements 100% if I wasn’t immersed in the culture of Hillsong Church, and if I didn’t know the hearts of the pastors and have knowledge about how the church operates. While the phrases seem imperialistic the language used to describe the San Fransisco church plant is the same language that the main pastor Brian Houston uses at his home church in Australia, and at all of the campuses across the globe. Every Sunday I hear both “The best is yet to come” and that “God has great plans for this city,” because he does. Hillsong is not saying that they are going to make San Fransisco great it’s already fabulous. No disrespect Bay Area you are much loved.

Nate, I love this post. It’s everything great about you – from Darlene Zchsehlkjsshchhch to calling out Hillsong’s colonialism to defining supersessionism. Wow dude.

Having said that, I disagree with your main point. I think you’re WAY over-reacting and the colonialism imagery is over the top. There’s definitely an egomania to church planting that’s evident in Houston’s language and Hillsong is no exception but selfish ambition and kingdom ambition are not easily separable. Houston sees what I hope every church planter sees – a need that he want to address.

I’m also not convinced the video is truly evidence of a supersessionist perspective. His interpretation of Isaiah and 1 Chronicles is pretty self-centered but that’s not surprising given what he wants to do. I appreciate a guy who dreams big dreams for God.

I also have no problems with more churches being started in a secular city. They will probably draw the same target group Reality SF does – people who have moved to the city in the past five years. Are newcomers – the Twitter, Square, Uber, high-tech crowd – is this the San Francisco you’re talking about? Because that’s who Hillsong will likely reach. Your 135-year old church will reach a different group, most likely not the same people, which is fine. We need different churches for different groups of people.

So to say: “You will come and sit at the feet of Black, Latino, and Asian American elders. You will not say a word. You will do this for years, until those elders say you’re ready. ” That’s too much. Did your church do that when it first started? Does any church?

Lastly, you’re giving Hillsong too much credit. They’re going to do their thing and build their brand and have people come and all that – they will lead people who have never heard about Jesus to know Him and that’s awesome. They’re a group of Christians living out their faith in the best way possible. They may do it differently from how you you would approach it, they may misinterpret scripture but to respond in anger and disgust at what they’re doing – it’s as if they’re the WalMart of Christianity and I don’t find that an adequate metaphor.

I love the passion you display for the disenfranchised and dispossessed in the Bay Area.

I also find it curious why Hillsong has decided to parachute into SF to save the day? I wonder how much it has to do with the financial gentrification of the area and the fact that the area is on the leading edge of making money, making tech, making culture and doing business.

If its greatest concern was reaching people in need of the life changing gospel, why not Hillsong Karachi? Hillsong Changsha? Hillsong Aceh? Hillsong Mogadishu? etc…America is overchurched already compared to 99% of the world. Why won’t Hillsong go lengthen their cords in the parts of the world that aren’t rich, aren’t white, but ARE mostly untouched by the Gospel?

Sadly, Hillsong SOMA seems to fit the branding so much better.

Wow, Nate. I agree that the cheesy video makes me sad, but don’t worry so much. In the thirty years I’ve lived here, we’ve seen a lot of “church planters” come and inflict their model on us and then leave. Many great people were involved and some stayed and loved the City even as the megachurch organizations pulled out. A couple of the churches that came planted deep roots and now they feel the joys and pains of this land. We become brothers even though we were born brothers.

At one point in the late eighties, a local pastor who had been here for a generation, made a comment to me about how tired it made him to have yet another young church/ministry planter show up with a plan to save the City that didn’t respect (or even acknowledge) the many years of ministry that have happened here. I hear you saying the same thing a generation later. Guess some things don’t change.

Hello Nate,

What a timely article for me personally. My soon-to-be wife and I are planning on planting a church campus in San Francisco this upcoming Fall, so it was interesting to hear the perspective of a local.

I was personally challenged by your article and by the dozens of comments I read to approach the city in humility. Although I pretty much grew up in SF, I have yet to sow tears into the city through prayer. I have yet to thoroughly walk through the broken streets of each district and interact with the people who inhabit this beautiful city. I have yet to have my heart completely broken for San Francisco. I look forward to doing these things in the coming months before we officially launch our campus.

I look forward to connecting with different pastors and different ministries to learn from their wisdom and experience; to adopt God’s heart for San Francisco through their stories. I look forward to honoring the work God is already doing in the city through them. I understand that we’re not going to be the saviors of the city. Only God can save San Francisco.

With that said, I feel like your criticism of Hillsong is unfair. A lot of what you argued against them is speculatively drawn from their short promo video or your own biased understanding of their ministry. You make assumptions about their motives and their vision without so much as having had a single conversation or dialogue with them. I understand that there have been many pastors and many ministries who have done it wrong, but is it fair to judge Hillsong before they have even set foot in the city?

Your assumptions may be correct and your criticism may be justified, but couldn’t grace be extended to them before pointing the finger? Couldn’t we see this as an opportunity instead of a travesty? Couldn’t we help them do it right? Wouldn’t it be the heart of God to at least try instead of closing our hearts off to them? Isn’t that that the beauty of the Gospel? That grace is extended where grace is not deserved?

As a pastor getting ready to make the move to San Francisco, that’s the grace I would love if it were extended to us. I know we haven’t earned it. I know we haven’t spent years praying for the city or getting to know the people. I know we haven’t poured as many tears or hours into the city as you have. I know there is still so much to learn. But our hearts burn for the same thing: to see San Francisco saved.

I can’t speak for Hillsong but I can speak for myself when I say I humble myself before you and all those who have poured their lives into the city. I look forward to learning and growing to a place where I have fully embraced God’s heart for San Francisco and can adequately become His hands and feet in the city.

Thanks again for the thought-provoking post and look forward to seeing what other conversations are sparked from this!

I remember when far-right intolerance and racism was being passed off as Christianity in the 80’s. It failed, badly. Here, far-left intolerance and racism is being passed of as Christian humility. Fail!

Jesus always (always) responded to the faith and humility of the individual (or the lack, thereof). He did NOT respect the arbitrary group identity assigned to that individual. He was hated for that. How dare Jesus not bow down the to manufactured social imperatives meant to control Him! Didn’t Jesus know he might hurt someone’s feelings or piss of the ‘elders’?

No, Jesus knew their hearts. Instead, He healed, forgave and even performed miracles for both the oppressed AND the oppressor. Jesus didn’t play identity politics, nor respect pigment-based, status-based, residency-based or culture-based bias and racism. This post, quite beautifully, cosigns a divisive deception of our time – this neoliberal intolerance and racism, married with the delusion of entitled tribalism. And, how many admonitions are in the Word to NOT mistreat (AKA pre-judge, marginalize, ridicule, accuse) newcomers, visitors, transplants, and migrants entering your city?

Look, the challenge to check your motives and sit in judgement of yourself first is a true one. We can all use more of that. But, this post betrays the core example Christ gave to us to live by. It sounds like a Pharisee wrote it – sitting in his high-chair of entitlement.

In a world where black slavery is again rampant (black slaves captured and owned by other black Africans), where Christian genocide is currently being perpetrated throughout the middle east, this blog article illuminates not the Hope of the Gospel, but the twisted, myopic, anti-Christian ideology of entitled intolerance and outright racism. An ideology mired in manufactured victimhood and a perpetual self-disenfranchisement. There is no healing, no peace, no hope, no light in your words, Nate. Praying for you!

Nate, I am an African-American baptist minister residing in Oakland, California. Last year, I was awarded a proclamation by the Oakland City Council for my work in bringing healing to the troubled, violent streets. I teach Bible Study at the world renowned Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco. I am also the author of five books. I read your article a few days ago. I was glad that I was sitting down. If not, it might have knocked me off my feet! Let me explain. Last April, there was a knock at my door. It was my landlord. He pointed at a man standing next to him and informed me that this gentleman had just purchased the building where I’d lived for eight years. At that point, gentrification became more than a word in the dictionary for me. It was real. Displacement didn’t hit me as hard as it hit some of my neighbors, some of whom now live in cardboard boxes and tent cities. I heard the story of one poor woman who now has to perform sexual favors for the new landlord in order to maintain housing for she and her children in a quickly gentrifying section of the city. I could go on. Hillsong Church, your Christian brothers and sisters of color are under siege and sinking fast. We’ve got enough praise singing going on in Bayview-Hunters Point, the Tenderloin, Oakland, Richmond and

East Palo. What we need is some good old fashion Christian social justice. People are being evicted illegally every day in the hood. If you say that God sent you to help us, the good news would be that you are setting up a clinic in your church so that we can learn what our rights are in regard to rent increases and evictions. The good news would be that you are coming to bring help to fight the foreclosure debacle that is putting our children out on the streets. The good news would be that you are going to help inner city school children master STEM education so that they too will be able to work for the tech companies that have ripped the fragile social fabric of the Bay Area’s inner cities in half. So you say that you only want to talk about soul salvation? Do any of the above and I can almost guarantee that anything you say will get a sincere hearing because your Christian deeds, would have matched your Christian creeds. In April, my newest book : “Street Cred: A Hood Minister’s Guide To Urban Ministry” will be released complete with cover endorsements from Dr. Cornel West, Dr. Ray Bakke and Shane Claiborne. Please check it out because I deal bluntly with subjects like the one raised in your blog. You can find out more by accessing: http://www.revharrywilliams.us.

Thank you for saying it! For too long we’ve wanted to be seen to be “doing great things for God”, yet very few have wanted to come and simply serve and support someone else’s work.

I believe it’s time to stop bringing in ‘our’ brand, ‘our’ platform, ‘our’ god to the table. Instead, how about we get down from the table altogether and start washing the feet of those who were already there…

As someone who is ex-Hillsong Sydney, I agree with this article wholeheartedly. I ‘knew’ Ben when he was a teen and in the youth group under me, I know the Houston empire, etc. The church is heartbreak, pure and simple, because they don’t take the time to observe for the reasons mentioned in the article above. I still know many people who have been scarred greatly by this church and it’s ‘fit with us or you are not serving God with your whole heart’ philosophy. Ben is ok as a person, but his father and the church is evil to its core.

My old church had a very negative interaction with Hillsongs when they were looking to plant a church in another big city (I will withhold the city to protect anybody that was involved). Anyways, my old church used to meet at a club/bar that we would transform into a church on Sundays. A team from Hillsongs came to check out the location and befriended the pastor/staff at my church. We offered to let them borrow our seats if they chose to also rent out the space (we only had one morning service so the venue was unused after our service was over). They agreed and held their preview services in the venue.

Anyways, to make a long story short, the time came for us to renew our lease with the building owners. We didn’t think much of it until the owner told us that they would not be renewing our lease and that the upcoming Sunday would be our last Sunday meeting there. We pretty quickly found out that Hillsongs had signed a lease to use the venue the entire day essentially displacing my church. My pastor went to their pastor and asked if we could meet 2 more times so we could find another place to meet and to tell the congregation members about the change. The Hillsongs pastor/leadership team would not allow this and pretty much told my church to take a hike. The rest is history…

Nate, regardless of your assumptions and sweeping generalizations Hillsong will plant a church in San Francisco, they won’t bow at your feet for approval prior to establishment as you desire.

In a few years time there will be a huge thriving Hillsong Church in San fransico with 10,000+attendees and thousands saved.

Hillsong San francisco will be assisting the poor and will be running multiple community programs to assist those in need. The Church will made up of people from different ethnic backgrounds, age groups and social backgrounds. I suspect they will be looking for larger buildings to contain the growth and will have multiple campuses across San francisco.

The critics will continue to throw rocks and Hillsong will continue to win people for Christ. I suspect this will all happen because it has already happened in 20 cities in which Hillsong has planted.

It doesn’t matter how hard you spit your dummy and protest Hillsong will be a success.

I am in Australia and I am standing and applauding. I’m reading a book called Slow Church: cultivating community in the patient way of Jesus…everything hillsongs plan is not! May SF be spared our exported colonial mentality…we think because the British did it and started Australia in 1770 (?) that this should be the model of our churches as well…nope, God is already at work in SF and Ben Houston needs to not get in God’s road.