AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Suspended evangelist Frank Houston continued to preach despite sex abuse claims, royal commission told

October 8, 2014

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

High-profile evangelist Frank Houston continued to preach and deliver televised sermons despite being suspended from his church over child molestation claims, a witness told the royal commission on child sexual abuse.

Barbara Taylor, a senior pastor with Emmanuel Christian Family Church in Plumpton, told the royal commission she had raised concerns about the sex abuse allegations with the state executive of the Assemblies of God in 1998, but it took months before officials took action.

Ms Taylor said she raised the alarm after learning that Houston allegedly molested a young boy, given the pseudonym AHA, for a number of years from the late 1960s.

She told the commission she voiced her concerns in 1998 but Houston was not suspended until December 1999,…