27th May 2002

When I was four years old (over forty years ago) my parents moved "house and home" to be a part of Sutherland Assemblies of God church. I can remember it. Leaving behind friends and a much-loved swing. God had spoken and my father heeded the call to build the church and build we did. First a big house with (what was then) a super-sized lounge room for home meetings and a rumpus and garage that converted to an extra rumpus, both for the Sunday School, a satellite work of the Sutherland AoG. On Sundays we picked up and dropped of dozens of children and were often late to join the ranks of the faithful at Sutherland for the morning service. This in turn translated to a late departure and we had barely had our baked dinner before we were back again in the evening. I'm sure we were also last home as my father often stayed to minister to any in need and at the end of it all drive someone home who inevitably lived a long distance from our house.

It was a small, humble congregation; not everyone had cars nor a big home like ours and my father was going to share what he (and we) had, the least of which seemed to be time but he poured it out nonetheless.

Building the church. It was a call not exclusive to my dad. Pastor Norm Armstrong planted the church after receiving a vision, later pastored by Gerald Rowlands and for many years after that, Ted Irish. The small and humble congregation gathered on street corners and held open-air meetings during busy Saturday morning trading hours -- we all handed out tracts and the ranks swelled somewhat... somewhat swelled by adult children marrying.

My aunty married pastor Irish's son, my older friends married young people from Petersham Assembly, some went as far as Tamworth for a partner. But they all came back to Sutherland where they had been called and it was decided that we needed a church hall.

And so it was done. No offering sermon, no merchandising gimmicks, no seed offering blackmail for the desperately needy, just a decision.

That decision was to be obedient to God and it perpetrated every area of life and this small and humble slightly increased group went from building their own fibro homes on weekends to building The Maranatha Hall. Maranatha, the Lord is coming, that is of course the reason behind it all.

My father, Graham Evans *6, was the architect of name and building. (He was of course inspired by the Holy Spirit and took no credit till his dying day.) It seemed like every spare dime and every spare moment we had was spent on a concrete slab behind that church at Sutherland -- we didn't have work cover in those days so we all carried bricks and we built the hall. And then one day the hall was filled and the church pews - lovely padded seats - were not enough and again God spoke and the people followed.

We moved to an abandoned theatre, I'm quite sure we were the first to make such a move -- more people came and in the meantime the new church building was being erected.

There were three hundred members (led by Pastor John Wilkinson) shortly before we moved into our new big building. Again, I believe in the early eighties we were the only AoG church to have such a grand establishment and still no offering sermons, no barometers on the wall, no hundred men country clubs -- actually no country club types. Amazing -- this six hundred seat auditorium with multiple toilets and offices to boot and no big pay packets walking around disguised as sheep, no rich men being put at the head of the table, no pastor with an idea to make this place his vehicle, that is, not just a Holden car but a Mercedes Benz. But wouldn't you know it, wherever there is booty there is someone willing to claim it. And along came one who has since named himself the Pastor of Prosperity (known to us then as Steve Penny *5 ) and decided that, along with saving many souls, (who incidentally did translate to money in the offering) he would use this place as a platform as a launching pad for his ministry and a bank roll for his aspirations.

This man was "old" AoG, just like me - actually nothing like me but certainly long term AoG. His father was a minister, they like most AoG ministers of the time were poor and probably pastored a congregation much the same as ours where the pastor lived in a manse and tweaked the pennies to make ends meet -- our lovely Pastor Irish would call at our house (and everyone else's) nearly once a week -- he enjoyed a cuppa and cake and his children grew to be financially successful much in response to the fact that they grew up with so little. So how does a man who was raised in the ministry and is called to the ministry avoid perpetuating the penny pinching of the past? Well, we all know. We have seen these men take their cue from those disgraced evangelists in America, far from being embarrassed or ashamed, or learning from the follies of others (as the bible tells us so) they have caught the idea like wildfire and in the pursuit of clothing -- designer suits to cover shabby threads -- we have all become prey. Not just souls for the taking but Tak-ings.

But did we ever think it would come to this and are we responsible???

We, the Sutherland AoG, by this time known as The Christian Growth Centre -- a name the Holy Spirit gave my father, relating to spiritual growth and not mere numbers as has so regretfully become the case - was a church run by a board of elders . It was the bane of the Pastor of Prosperity and certainly the bane of any others who would likewise seek to use the CGC pulpit to launch their own jet-skis (as we were soon to find out).

The next pastor, Michael Murphy (MM), second in command to Brian Houston, then at Baulkham Hills, was wanting to spread his wings, heard about the position vacated by Steve, Penny's "my name, money's my game", and seized upon his career opportunity.

It was in large part the fault of the then board that this man was allowed to come. But, in their defence, these men (without my father who had long since gone to be with the Lord) were naive, and ignorant of the machinations of corporate Christianity and were therefore, not expecting a takeover! There was however one man, known for his gift of discernment and therefore who should have been heeded, who went on record to state that the Holy Spirit had not given them a word to bring Mike Murphy to pastor this very precious people.

We were as the word says a peculiar people.
We prided ourselves on it.
When the rest of the AoG seemed to be being swept away by Hillsongs and Pringlesque ideas, we remained ourselves, faithful to our calling: Christian Growth Centre was never Paradise, never Glad Tidings, never never Hillsong -- never would be and never could be as I explained to Mike Murphy when he came to Sutherland in 1995.
There was history, there was prophecy, there was the hand of God on a faithful people of prayer who had their own unique vision and God would not allow Hillsong to be raised in it's place. But far from getting down on his hands and knees and seeking God's will for CGC he changed the name to Shire Christian Centre, shunned anyone with discernment, in like manner as were the prophets of old who carried an unpopular message, and took my words as a challenge rather than a word from the Holy Spirit.

I informed others in the ministry of what the Holy Spirit had shown me, in brief, a man with a big smile who was not what he appeared to be -- not a friend to this people, a man with his own agenda and an even more ambitious wife -- these men could not see.

Mike Murphy was playing a shrewd game of wolf in sheep's clothing; wooing everyone with that laid back "I'm your buddy" approach at the expense of Steve Penny whom he openly decried (really a pussycat in comparison) and then, when this guileless group were settling into honeymoon phase he stepped in to change the constitution.

Admittedly a few people opposed this move, they were branded and maligned - even brother stood against brother -- the accusations came thick and fast. One woman stood before the congregation absolutely aghast and made an emotional plea to trust this man of God, after all, she was renting her waterfront house to him at a greatly reduced rate so she was in the enviable position to "know" his heart.

And so it was done, the constitution changes passed by allowing non-members to vote, partners they were called, I'm still not sure if it was entirely legal, at best it was deceitful as the real agenda was not revealed until after the deed was done: Membership was annulled, the board became powerless, at least two out of three trustees were changed. And as the wheels churned one by one they saw it, even those who purportedly knew his heart were treated to a glimpse behind the mask. Board members were coerced to leave, the ministry team was dismissed, replaced by "his" people - each member of the ministry team, from pastor to home group leader, was forced to share their booty to Hillsong or suffer the consequences - when one long-term home group leader dared to ask a fellow congregant how he thought the church was going word travelled quickly back to MM who suspended the home group leader for a number of months. MM was ruthless and when asked why (Why Michael, why do you act so?) he would reply "I can only do what I see my father doing."
Fair enough, if he had been referring to our loving heavenly father but he was referring to Brian Houston! Does Brian Houston know he has been ascribed this behaviour, not by a detractor but by a friend?
More and more people began to ask questions, and no sooner had they raised their heads they disappeared: -- quickly and quietly.

People were being asked to go, for the sake of unity - one pastor was even threatened, if he did not resign he would be sacked, it would be public and of course that would hurt the body of Christ -- the faithfulness of the people and their commitment to the work of the Lord and the sharing of the gospel was being used against them and one by one they left to the accompaniment of whispers -- they were not moving with the body of Christ, they were disgruntled, questioning God's anointed, Poor Mike they would say, the dispensers of this compassion not knowing that they too were on the hit list.

Person after person, member after member, mature Christians who had their eyes opened went to MM with the same word from God, the same exhortation, the same scripture, without any consultation one to another, it was Ishmael and not Isaac, man's ways not God's ways. Before we knew it the face of the church had changed, the seats were filled with young aspirants from Hillsong who knew nothing of the vision of this place, who had for the most part been saved into this "corporate Christianity" and knew no better; their knowledge of the word was scant and tainted by the motivational, selective use of the word of God preachers they had been subjected too and most importantly, their visions had been coloured by the prosperity preachers' greed. As one who has worked behind the scenes in this machine I can tell you that most of these people come into the ministry with a genuine desire to serve the Lord and see souls saved, they follow this ruthless power hungry path because they know no better, milk babes that they are. Others are more calculating; they climb the ladder on other people's backs and over the gravestones of the saints who have gone before them with shameful disregard. *1

Steve Penny for one told me he did not care what had gone before. People like me are "stuck in the past" or trying to hold back the work of God - people like me are expendable. But who are people like me? Are we old fuddy duddies, legalists, Jezebels? We have been called all of these things... Perhaps the problem is that we are not the "best looking" people in the world and as such we don't fit in?
After all, the now disgraced "best friend" of Brian Houston, Pat Mesiti told the world on his television show that the best looking people in the world go to Hillsong church... Mr Houston is it not possible that given the closest around you have fallen and/or deceived you that Michael Murphy might also be in error? I tell you, pretty, plain, young, old, we are all of these and much more, not legalists, we would not be tainted with that wickedness; we are a people of the Word of God... And yet, cast aside for "the sake of the kingdom."

My Jesus went out on a cold night after one sheep (and not for his fleece I might add). *2

Mike Murphy and others like him have (symbolically speaking) blood on their hands and we pray they are convicted of their sin and therefore able to repent in this day of grace for according to Revelation 9:20 there will come a time when they can not, when the prayers of the saints come before the Lord and plagues are poured out upon the earth still they "did not repent of THE WORKS OF THEIR HANDS." Such is the degree of error that these are left when the bride is taken. And hence the seriousness of the appeal:

	"Brian Houston, call back your protégé, give us back our church."

Mike Murphy has had that church for seven years, he has run up debt, changed the faces of the congregants but added nothing. SutherlandAoG *3 , now the Shire Christian Centre, is only a shadow of what it was, Mike Murphy struggles to extricate money from the congregation to support his life style and ambitions - it will never be Hillsong. God will not allow him the success he desires on the backs of the saints, not in that place.
Go home.
Please. There is already so much damage - hundreds of Christians have left, only a fraction of them have found other spiritual homes *4 - so many are no longer in fellowship because they are burned and disappointed. Others still have become stronger in their faith, stronger in the word because the error was so egregious they sought even more diligently for the truth, and these don't really care about the building, you can take our building but you cannot take our faith, you can call us a cult and you can do your worst but we will not imbibe your Jesus who instead of sending people out in a pair of thongs sends them out in four wheel drives searching for waterfront houses -- it is not the way to catch fish and that is the point -- we won't have our life's work and that of our forefathers in the faith used for such purposes. It is wrong. We cannot sit back and let it be taken (without protest) because that too would be wrong.

To whom much is given much is expected.

Brian Houston, is Hillsong and all it's resources not enough for you? I know I speak for all those faithful who have been scattered to the wind in saying, bricks and mortar are not important to us, this is about fairness, this is about honesty and integrity - in the words of Job (27:5) Far be it from me that I should declare you right; Till I die I will not put integrity from me.

Don't countenance the lie that only Mike Murphy can save the Sutherland Shire - we built on the Word of God -- he has decimated.

Job 27:13+ describes the inheritance which tyrants receive from the Almighty: "Though his sons are many they are destined for the sword; And his descendants will not be satisfied with bread..." The converts to "pop" Christianity are easy targets to be cut down by the enemy and hence the constantly changing face of the Charismatic congregation; looking to have their ears tickled, they are not satisfied with the bread of life... and so it is "Though he (the tyrant) piles up silver like dust, And prepares garments as plentiful as clay; he may prepare it, but the just will wear it, And the innocent will divide the silver."

In not returning our inheritance you will be deciding yours.

What will it be?

Job 28:28: "Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding."

On behalf of my brethren I ask you, the Executive of The Assemblies of God, to do the right thing. If there is any question regarding whom the property should be handed over to please do not hesitate to contact me or to recall the duly constituted board (pre-Murphy) for consultation.

	I urge my brethren who read this open letter to write to

Brian Houston and the Executive of The Assemblies of God
at PO Box 336
MITCHAM 3132
and say, "Give Back Christian Growth Centre." (I believe that is still the legal name.)

Thank you.

Yours in Christ,
Cherilyn Faith Evans
[ address on file -Ed ]

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1... Better that a millstone be...
2... Matthew 12:11+
3.. Suburb of Sydney, Australia. Murphy is still there.
4... My family still live near Sutherland church but meet with the other "renegades" in a school hall a stone throw from the big church they built and paid for. They are far happier there than in the big building with the cruel and deceptive "shepherd"
5... Steve Penny is in Queensland, pastoring an AOG church on the Sunshine Coast, he is an ordinary member of the AOG Executive and he announced to his congregation recently that he is "the pastor of prosperity". About four years ago it is alleged that when he spoke at an AoG pastor's conference (Port Mcquarie), he spoke of earning money from evangelism, having two jet skis and claiming any evangelist who wasn't earning thousands per year [ exact figure not available ] was doing something wrong. Not one pastor complained about what he said, although I know two who thought it was "on the nose". I was very disappointed in the two, who I know personally, that they did not have the guts to speak out.
6... Father of Cherilyn but no relation to Andrew Evans.

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[ Of interest is that others have written after reading this letter: -Ed ]

"I have had some response to my letter from others who have received it, they knew nothing of the history of the place but felt something was wrong, the scriptures and points I made ministered to them and they are making a move towards the truth. I am very encouraged by this response." - CE

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