Countdown: Top 10 Luxury Hotels Hillsong Leaders Expensed to the Church (Spoiler: The Cheapest is $8457.42)
According to released documents from the Hillsong trove, senior leaders within Hillsong church had corporate church credit cards that they regularly used to buy luxury goods and high ticket items on the church’s dime, with former Global Senior Pastors Brian and Bobbie Houston, in particular, having an affinity for multi-thousand-dollar meals and hotels.
These were all paid church tithes and offerings, making new Global Senior Leader Phil Dooley’s recent insistence that “stewardship of church resources is something we take very seriously” all the more laughable.
Per their internal policy, if you had a Hillsong church corporate card, it was “only be used for work/ ministry-related expenses properly incurred in the performance of your duties.”
If it wasn’t clear enough, their policy included a reminder for cardholders to ask themselves:
Am I spending this money with the same care that I would show if I was spending my own money? Am I being mindful to steward the church’s money? Is the expense really needed?
To that end, we wanted to highlight a few of the hotels that Hillsong leaders and pastors have been expensing to the church. This list is not exhaustive or definitive but results from a couple of hours of perusing.
10. $8457.42 Spent on Mount Nelson Hotel in Capetown.
9. $9,149,33 for an Air BNB in London.
8. $9,580.11 Spent at the Soho Grand Hotel in New York
7. $12,746 spent for two nights at the Balbao Bay Resort in Newport Beach.
6. $13,950 spent at the Port Darling Harbour Wollongong, with another $1920 two days later.
5. $16,017 spent at the luxurious Brooklyn Bridge Hotel.
4. $18,616.75 spent at the Hyatt Hotel in Orlando.
3. $22,662 spent at the Hotel Archur Napa.
2. $23,256 spent at The Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel hotel.
10. $26,722 for Two nights at the Avenue of the Arts Costa Mesa, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel
