Brian Houston may not be planning another bricks-and-mortar church - but the former Hillsong global senior pastor has apparently already picked out the name, just in case.
Houston made the revealing aside during the latest episode of JesusFollowers.TV, the online ministry he now hosts with his wife, Bobbie Houston. While discussing the surprisingly available "Jesus Followers" name, Houston dropped perhaps the most intriguing comment of the broadcast.
"If I ever started a physical church again, which is unlikely," Houston said, "if that ever happened, I'd actually call it Jesus Followers. I just really like the name."
It was only a passing comment - but considering Houston's history, it is one likely to get people talking.
The couple are currently pouring their energies into JesusFollowers.TV, which Houston described as their "ministry going forward." The name itself apparently came as something of a surprise: Houston said he was shocked to discover JesusFollowers.com was still available, recalling that during Hillsong's global expansion, domain names associated with proposed new Hillsong locations were sometimes snapped up by outsiders hoping to profit from them.
And while Houston says another physical church is "unlikely," he certainly isn't talking like someone finished with ministry.
During the same broadcast, Houston preached a message titled "My Spirit, My Responsibility," tackling failure, success, criticism, accountability - and, perhaps inevitably, what happens when people turn against you. The themes carried unmistakable resonance coming from a man whose own ministry journey has included extraordinary success followed by years of public controversy.
Houston declared that failure should not be allowed to "frame" a person's life and pointed to the Bible's comeback stories as evidence that hitting bottom doesn't necessarily mean the story is over. "This is not the end," he told viewers. "This mess is going to become a message. This test is going to become a testimony."
He was equally candid about success.
Houston recalled Hillsong growing from a first-week offering of just $650 to an Australian ministry bringing in more than $100 million annually, using the extraordinary financial trajectory to warn that success can expose what is already lurking inside a person's character.
Then things got even more personal.
Speaking about "sabotage," Houston said he has been subjected to gossip, misrepresentation and online impersonation intended to damage his credibility. He also claimed that people who once wanted to network with him and Bobbie disappeared when the couple reached their "lowest" point and no longer had anything to offer them.
"Gone. Gone," Houston said.
That makes his little comment about another church all the more fascinating.
Houston isn't announcing a comeback congregation. In fact, he explicitly says starting another physical church is unlikely. But after building one of the world's most recognizable church movements, he hasn't completely slammed that door shut either.
And if it ever opens again, apparently don't expect Hillsong 2.0.
The sign outside might simply read: Jesus Followers.
