Hillsong Church. - People in glass houses: an insiders story of a life in and out of Hillsong

PEOPLE IN GLASS HOUSES

PEOPLE IN
GLASS
HOUSES

AN INSIDERS STORY OF
A LIFE IN & OUT OF Hillsong

TANYA LEVIN

Published by Black Inc.,
an imprint of Schwartz Publishing Pty Ltd
3739 Langridge Street
Collingwood VIC 3066 Australia
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Copyright Tanya Levin 2015
Tanya Levin asserts her right to be known as the author of this work.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior consent of the publishers.

The National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:

Levin, Tanya, 1971- author.
People in glass houses : an insiders story of a life in and out of Hillsong / Tanya Levin.
Edition: 2nd edition.
ISBN: 9781863957427 (paperback)
ISBN: 9781921825583 (ebook)
Levin, Tanya, 1971- . Hillsong Church. Pentecostal churches - Australia.
3. Big churches - Australia.
289.940994

Cover design by Thomas Deverall

This book is dedicated to

My father and mother, because its the only commandmentthat comes with a promise, and because they are the twofinest human beings I have ever met

My sun, Sam: may freedom of thought be the revivalof your generation

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE
Thank you for the music

CHAPTER 1
Two tribes

CHAPTER 2
Cmon Aussie, cmon, cmon

CHAPTER 3
The Justice League

CHAPTER 4
Friends forever

CHAPTER 5
Reason to believe

CHAPTER 6
Sympathy for the devil

CHAPTER 7
Into temptation

CHAPTER 8
Its hard to be a saint in the city

CHAPTER 9
Money changes everything

CHAPTER 10
Eight is enough

CHAPTER 11
Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, were free at last

CHAPTER 12
Walk this way

CHAPTER 13
Last night a DJ saved my life

CHAPTER 14
Will you miss me when youre sober?

CHAPTER 15
Hollaback girl

CHAPTER 16
Saving all my love for you

CHAPTER 17
Lets hear it for the boy

CHAPTER 18
Kids

CHAPTER 19
Theres no business like show business

CHAPTER 20
I just cant wait to be king

CHAPTER 21
When the generals talk

CHAPTER 22
If it makes you happy

CHAPTER 23
Consider me gone

CHAPTER 24
Blank Space

You dont want the truth, because deep down, in places you dont talk about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall.

We use words like honour, code, loyalty we use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline.

I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I dont give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

A Few Good Men

Perhaps it would be as well, first of all, to try to make out what one means by the word Christian. It is used these days in a very loose sense by a great many people. Some people mean no more by it than a person who attempts to live a good life. In that sense I suppose there would be Christians in all sects and creeds. The word does not have quite such a full-blooded meaning now as it had in the times of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. In those days, if a man said that he was a Christian it was known what he meant.

Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not a Christian (1927)

A number of terms are used to describe people who attend churches like Hillsong. In some situations they can be used interchange ably, but to do so in others will result in partial or total inaccuracy. In this book I have used definitions that are to the best of my theological understanding of the fraction of Christian climates I have studied. They are broad characterisations, intended simply as an overview of religious beliefs held by millions of people worldwide.

Being a Christian meanswhat? The problem with nailing a definition is that there are too many contending authorities. The Christian church has an infinite number of fragments and offshoots, in a body that requires itself to have unity. Christianity evolves continually, and with it the doctrines that underpin it.

Being a born-again Christian narrows it down a little. Born-again Christians believe Jesus when he allegedly said that no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. This involves repentance of your sins and acceptance of Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour. Liberal born-again Christians think very differently to fundamentalists, who are generally quite conservative.

Fundamentalist Christians believe that every single mark on the pages of the bible is there as God breathed it, and that every word should be taken literally. If it says it rained for forty days and nights, then thats what happened. Thus, since Jesus said it, all fundamentalist Christians know they must be born again.

An evangelical Christian believes that you must be born again and that it is each born-again Christians responsibility to convince others of the same. This is in direct response to The Great Commission Jesus gave the eleven men closest to him, instructing them to go and make disciples of all nations. Not all evangelicals are fundamentalists, but all fundamentalists are evangelical.

Southern Baptists are strict fundamentalists, particularly when it comes to matters of sexuality and womens rights. They are born-again evangelicals who often aim to share their puritanical morality with everyday citizens by gaining political power. Southern Baptists are not often Pentecostal, although they are fond of demon exorcisms.

Only Pentecostals have the lot. Taking born-again, evangelical, fundamentalist Christianity literally, Pentecostals seize upon the verses in Acts 2:15:

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heavenand filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemedto be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. Allof them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in othertongues as the Spirit enabled them. When they heard this sound, acrowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard themspeaking in his own language.

If it was good enough for the disciples, then the Pentecostals decided it was good enough for them. They are distinguishable by the signs and wonders that accompany them.

Founded in 1914 in Hot Springs, Arkansas, the Assemblies of God was an organisational exercise designed to ensure representation on the Pentecostal council for white ministers not faring well in a majority African-American church. This Pentecostal offshoot had minor theological differences with its forerunners, but grew to sizeable proportions through both world wars.