Alabama Church of the Highlands pastor Chris Hodges was mentioned by name in an Australian parliamentary session, amid questions about an international megachurch’s lavish and allegedly fraudulent spending.
During his speech to Parliament, Wilkie mentioned a number of financial transactions he found concerning.
“There were also the curious payments of $10,000 each to Paul de Jong and Chris Hodges, the external pastors who investigated allegations of Brian Houston’s 2019 sexual misconduct in a Sydney hotel room involving a female parishioner,” WilkieChurch of the Highlands’ Chris Hodges talks about 20 years of growthPayments from Hillsong Inc. to other pastors and entities. Document and highlights courtesy of the Parliament of Australia.
Wilkie said the leaked documents show hundreds of thousands of dollars in church donations were spent on honorariums and airfare for visiting U.S. evangelists like Joyce Meyer and T.D. Jakes as part of a reciprocal scheme in which Houston traveled to American churches and received his own “eye-watering honorariums.”
Under Australian law, Wilkie said, it could be illegal for charitable organizations to send payments overseas or to claim certain types of payments as tax-deductible. Wilkie also accused Hillsong leadership of lavish spending “that would embarrass a Kardashian,” saying Houston and others dropped hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax-exempt church funds on luxury trips, private jets, designer clothes and cash gifts to church board members. He said Hillsong earns $80 million more in annual income than it publicly reports.
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