What is ‘Hillsong Family’, and Why Do Some Churches Pay $100K a Year to Join It? Ft. Judah Smith
Hillsong Family is an initiative started by Brian and Bobbie Houston. According to the embattled church:
The HILLSONG FAMILY is a group of like-spirited, forward-thinking, kingdom-building visionaries and ministries working TOGETHER for a greater cause. This group of churches and ministries are joining our ‘FAMILY’ in an effort to develop and strengthen one another – a family relationship in which to find wisdom and encouragement, spiritual accountability and support as they continue to build the church and ministry that God has uniquely called them to do
Initially designed to be a partnership between churches only, it has expanded to include celebrity leaders and their ministries over the years.
But it’s costly to join.
To be a part of the Hillsong Family, churches must pay Hillsong 3% of their yearly tithes and offering, capped at $100,000, each year they wish to be members. Hillsong notes that this is a “relationship-based arrangement” and “nothing in this agreement implies a legal partnership or association.” In exchange, the churches are permitted to use the “Hillson Family branding,’ but the branding itself must abide by specific parameters:
By joining Hillsong Family, churches and organizations can show that they are in a “relationship” with Hillsong and reap the benefits, which include aces to the conference circuit and an invitation to the Hillsong Family Gatherings (retreats) held twice yearly in luxurious international locations.
It’s here where pastors can network with other celebrity pastors within the Hillsong Family and make arrangements to travel first-class to speak at each other’s churches and conferences and collect massive “honorariums in the process” These honorariums are typically between $10,000-$20,000 for a 30-minute sermon but can be as high as $100,000. See more about this here. With such high honorariums- the conferences usually operate a loss, but the church absorbs the loss as the cost of doing business, because there are plenty of congregants on hand waiting to give generously and make up the deficit.
One pastor reaping the rewards of this scheme is Judah (and Chealse) Smith of Churchome. Churchome is a hip-to-be-cool, celebrity-endorsed 10,000-member Seattle-based megachurch that recently cemented their theological obliviousness by bringing on Trinity-denying Modalist T. D. Jakes as a Board Member of their congregation.
The Smiths are about as seeker-sensitive and biblically compromised as they come. They live in a multi-million dollar home and have a penchant for Gucci luxury clothes, where a single outfit can cost upwards of $ 5000$. They count Justin Bieber as one of their members and let him occasionally lead worship, with theoerotic songs like Reckless Love being a mainstay. We last wrote about them after Judah Smith said masturbation is a weapon/ gift for single folks to prevent lust and after his wife Chelsea’s answers to abortion questions were breathtakingly bad.
The Smiths are currently teaching on giving/ tithing, which is prescient after we discovered that for nearly a decade, congregants at Churchome have been paying the full $100,000/year to Hillsong for the privilege of their pastor getting to hobnob with other celebrity pastors and rake in the big bucks.
In a few months in 2019, just from speaking at Hillsong alone, Smith personally made 50K for two sermons, with his first-class flights, meals, and hotels also covered.
That alone would be profit enough, but that’s only one family member, and Hillsong Family has nearly 40 others.
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Absolutely disgusting – I can hardly believe this is true.
I can almost see Jesus fashioning a whip this very moment. It’s coming.