A new video has surfaced showing Hillsong senior pastor Brian Houston acknowledging that two openly homosexual men served as their church's choir members a year ago.
However, Houston recently claimed to have been taken by surprise when he found out that two men from their New York campus have gotten themselves engaged.
Back in November 2014, Houston was interviewed on ABC's "Nightline," according to Christian News Network, and was asked, "If a gay couple came to Hillsong, would you want them to change?"
"The short answer is that I think all of us need to be changing. That's what serving Jesus does—we're changing," Houston replied. "Apparently—someone told me—there's two gay guys singing in the choir in New York."
He explained that Hillsong does not inquire about their members' lifestyles before they are allowed to join the choir.
"We'd never be the kind of church that when people join the choir, we ask them, 'Are you heterosexual? Are you homosexual?'" he said. "We'd be the kind of church that focuses on Jesus and believes in the power of the Holy Spirit to convict. I think it was Billy Graham who said, 'It's the Holy Spirit's job to convict. It's God's job to judge. And it's our job to love.'"
"I think that's a good way of looking at it," he further said. "Let God be the judge. Let the Holy Spirit do the conviction. And we do the loving of people."
However, in a statement provided last week, Houston said it came as a "complete surprise" for him to learn that two men in the choir had become engaged, and that the revelation was "unexpected."
The two men concerned were Broadway performer Josh Canfield and his boyfriend Reed Kelly. Canfield revealed that he is a choir director at Hillsong, and that he admitted his homosexuality to his church.
"I thought, I need to be truthful with everyone," Canfield said. "I became truthful with my church. I'm a part of Hillsong NYC. I'm one of their choir directors. I also sing on their worship team."
He is grateful that "nothing changed" after his admission, and that people have actually been amazing to him and his boyfriend.
