The Hillsong Church founder was accused of bullying former pastors into turning over church assets.
Founder of the Australian megachurch Hillsong, Brian Houston is now facing allegations that he bullied former pastors into handing over real estate and cash to his network. Houston recently resigned after facing allegations of sexual misconduct.
The husband and wife team of former Hillsong pastors Vera and Zhenya Kasevich, who led the megachurch network's Kyiv, Ukraine and Moscow, Russia churches for more than two decades, revealed to ABC Australia that they were threatened by Houston when they tried to leave the network in 2014.
The Kasevichs, who recently immigrated to America, accused Houston and George Aghajanian, who serves as the general manager and a director of Hillsong Church Australia and its international entities, of threatening to hinder their plans for immigration unless they complied with their demands for money and property.
According to the Christian Post, the Kasevichs also appear in the recently released Discovery Plus documentary titled "Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed," in which they shared their past experiences with Houston's megachurch network. They founded their Ukraine church in 1992 with financial assistance from Hillsong Church. The Kasevichs said that despite naming their church Hillsong, they remained independent from the megachurch network.
By 2008, the Ukrainian congregation had grown into a thriving church community that earned $1 million in income just from donations. This caught the attention of Houston. Zhenya recounted having to shell out large amounts of money to get guest speakers to attend a Hillsong conference in Kyiv.
"We had to pay $13,000 for first-class tickets from the USA to Ukraine," Zhenya recounted, admitting that he and his wife became uncomfortable with the large sums of money being spent. "We could not look at our poor people's eyes and tell them we are using church money for our benefit and our luxurious life. So when we saw this, we started to raise questions."
In 2014, the couple decided to break away from Hillsong Church as they tried to immigrate to the U.S. with the help of the church. However, they alleged that a disagreement caused Hillsong Church to threaten to derail their immigration publication. In an email, Aghajanian reportedly warned them that he "can make things very difficult" for the couple "with the American authorities."
The Kasevichs were also threatened by Houston himself, who told them via another email that they "have a lot to fear" and that his general manager has "a lot of useful information for the US embassy" on them. Vera said, "Basically, [Brian Houston] said ... 'This church is mine. I will make your life small. I will squash it.'"
When contacted by the media outlet, Houston denied the bullying allegations by the Kasevichs, describing it as "a complete fantasy." The former Hillsong Church pastors said that now that they have successfully immigrated to the U.S., they no longer feel intimidated to speak out against Houston and the rest of Hillsong Church leaders in Australia and their dealings.
"We were quiet for eight full years ... and now we are safe," Zhenya said. The Kasevichs said they were forced to comply with Hillsong Church officials' wishes to prevent their congregation from being spread out amidst threats by Hillsong to launch their own church in Kyiv. The former pastors said they were also forced to "completely cut" ties with their members.
The Kasevichs refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement with Hillsong Church, which would have banned them from attending any Hillsong service in Kyiv or Moscow or speaking with Hillsong staff or volunteers directly.
Hillsong Church over the years have faced controversy, with the rise and fall of Carl Lentz as one of its more popular pastors who was fired in 2021. Houston stepped down from his senior pastor role in February.
