I read today that Michael Guglielmucci has been lying about his cancer. You can read all about it at News.com.au. Basically it has been confirmed that he lied - but here is the part that amazed me:

"This news has come as a great shock to everyone including, it seems, his own wife and family," Hillsong general manager George Aghajanian said in an email to his congregation yesterday.

How can your wife not know that you don't have bone cancer? I'm not saying that there is some conspiracy here, but there is only one sort of person that can get away with faking a terminal illness to people who are close and care about them, and that is a practiced pathological liar. I say this means that he has been lying for a long time, and got so good at it that he managed to convince even those closest to him that he was dying of an illness that he didn't have. Kind of like Frank Abagnale Jr. from the movie Catch Me If You Can (imdb), a man who made millions pretending to be a solicitor and a pilot.

Someone must have been suspicious, someone must have noticed something, but it seems like nobody said anything. We tend to assume that someone must have checked it out, he is on a stage, so it must be fine right?

Here is the Hillsong video - tubes up his nose and everything. At the moment Hillsong seem to be trying to take this down, so if it goes missing, I will try to find a replacement.

EDIT I can't find another video - some poor intern at Hillsong must be working 16 hour days filing copyright claims with every video host on the planet.

So when did Michael start lying, and how did he perfect the art?

I read this in a forum post at gush.com.au from 2006:

when i heard he was sick, i laughed... not because i am happy he is sick, but because while he was at our church he was healed of:

* Glandular Fever
* Blood Clot in his brain
* Brain Tumor
* Burst Ear Drum [source]

That's right, isn't it amazing that one man can have so many severe illnesses miraculously cured by God. Another post in that thread claimed to have seen his broken leg healed on stage. Now I actually believe that God can and does heal people, but it seems likely to me that Michael has been faking it for a long time, and that christians are so eager to have their "faith confirmed" in front of them that they jump and cheer at anything that seems to fit the bill.

I remember a man that preached at a church I used to go to (Gateway City Church in Wollongong). He was going to heal people's backs, and he did this by sitting someone in a seat on stage, looking at their legs, declaring that one was longer than the other (there was someone from the church helping him and agreeing that the legs were not the same length). Then he got all the young children from the church to come down the front (the stage is over a meter high). Then he prayed, and said that the legs were the same length now, the other guy on stage agreed, and the "healed" walked around and said they felt better. But then he asked the children to confirm to the congregation that it had actually happened.

The whole congregation cheered wildly at the kids saying that it happened, despite the fact that it was completely impossible for any of the kids to have seen what happened, or had any idea if there was a change in the legs. Who knows, maybe the people were healed - but why the show? Why pretend to have kids witness something? The whole situation makes a mockery of the word proof.

So here is the challenge - just because a person says they have proved something, doesn't mean that there is any proof at all. Just because someone is on stage doesn't mean they are telling the truth. Just because you aren't in charge doesn't mean you don't have a responsibility to the truth - if something stinks, then find the rot and deal with it.

Source

THE remarkable fall from grace of porn pastor Michael Guglielmucci may not just be a personal embarrassment for his family but also a financial blow for churches.

The Reynella-based Edge Church is a rapidly expanding financial force, recording a 12 per cent rise in revenue to $5.53 million in its most recent financial report.

In addition, the 2007 annual report shows a net asset base of $11.56 million, up from $4.01 million the previous year, in part helped by the $4.5 million donation of the land and property of Findon-based Westside Christian Church.

Like all religious organisations, it also benefits from its tax-free status, meaning it pays no income taxes such as stamp duties when buying new cars.

Most of the church's income comes from its congregations based at its three campuses at Reynella, Goodwood and Findon.

The Reynella church boasts a database of 3400 people, while the Goodwood campus is expanding into the city at the Greater Union site in Hindley St and the Findon location has a congregation of more than 250.

It also has an offshoot in the English city of Bristol.

It's a a big jump for an organisation church which started with only 30 members in 1994.

Attendees at the church contribute "tithes", which is an Old Testament concept literally meaning contributing a tenth of income to support a church.

Edge followers contributed $3.12 million in tithes in the 2007 financial year, up from $2.64 million the previous year. Weekly offerings from the congregation averaged $60,000 a week over the year and spiked to more than $80,000 a week by the end of the financial year. Believers can also send their children to the Edge Kids Life child-care centre.

A visit to the church's website also offers many ways for believers to part with cash.

The webshop offers books by Michael's father, Danny Guglielmucci, as well as a host of CDs, DVDs, music books and teaching aids.

The particularly keen can also sign up to next month's Edge Conference for $259 for an adult, $60 for a child between three and 11 and $45 for a child aged between one and three.

According to the annual report event registration raised $364,505 last year.

The pentecostal church within Australia has been a growing and interlinked movement for many years and Danny Guglielmucci has been at the centre. According to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Mr Guglielmucci is also a director of the Assemblies of God in Australia, Assemblies of God World Missions, Australian Christian Churches and Edge Church Property. Until recently, he was also a director of Mercy Ministries.

Also, according to ASIC files, Mr Guglielmucci has listed his birthplace as both Adelaide and Montevideo in Uruguay.

The Assemblies of God, which has a close association with the Family First political party, is also financially strong, recording $16.1 million in revenue in 2006.

Business Review Weekly has also estimated the related Hillsong Church in Sydney turned over $61 million in 2005, while the Paradise Church in Adelaide generated $6.2 million in 2005.

Source

THERE are rarely darker times for a church than when someone in leadership falls from grace.

In the case of Michael Guglielmucci, he has fallen spectacularly and very publicly.

The extent of his deceit is hard to fathom and, sadly, I think there are more revelations to come.

I have a faith in God. While no church at present is my home base, I have visited a number, searching for the right place to laymy Bible.

I have been to Edge Church International a few times. I found the people very warm and hospitable, very inclusive. With them I have no problem.

However, I think something is on the nose within the Assemblies of God movement, or the Australian Christian Churches, as they are now known.

While there were quiet dissenters before this scandal, now many in the church are finding their voice.

Reverend Philip Powell left Paradise Community Church in 1992, quitting his post as secretary-generalof the AOG because hewas so disenchanted with what he was seeing in the movement.

"It was very, very political," said the pastor, who now leads a Brisbane non-denominational church.

"It's become like a corporation, like a business operation."

He said the downfall of Michael Guglielmucci was a symptom of the denomination heading in the wrong spiritual direction.

"When the church becomes money-driven or music-driven, it's on the wrong track - they're excellent servants but poor masters," Mr Powell said.

"Many of the people wake up too late and realise they've . . . lost the significance of what the Gospel is all about."

In my view, serious questions must be raised about the way people are promoted to positions of authority in the church.

Family dynasties dominate the leadership of Australia's biggest - and richest - churches.

Michael Guglielmucci is the son of Edge Church International founder Danny Guglielmucci.

Michael was a pastor at Russell Evans' church in Melbourne - Russell himself is the son of AOG legend Andrew Evans.

Brian Houston, who runs Australia's biggest church, Hillsong in Sydney, is the son of Frank Houston, another preacher who suffered a fall from grace.

Brian's son Joel helps run the church's music department, including the prolifically profitable music-selling arm - which creates the albums that often top the ARIA charts. It seems wrong some pastors are getting around in expensive cars and expensive suits, holidaying in their beach homes and riding their jet skis and Harleys.

When did that become part of the deal with answering God's calling?

The "love offerings" - an offering taken up for a guest preacher - seem to have become a "scratch my back I'll scratch yours" exchange between powerful pastors, knowing a weekend visit to another church can net upwards of $10,000.

In my opinion, the rise of the celebrity pastor is something that must be addressed. Somehow the church has embraced all that is destructive about the world of celebrity.

The money, the fame - ultimately it has a tendency to corrupt. Why should we expect those in Christian circles to be any different?

Many AOG churches have become so obsessed with presenting a picture-perfect world, they have forgotten they are meant to be the one place where it is OK not to have it all together - to have problems, to sin, to have doubts. Churches are hospitals for the soul.

But instead, those who do not fit the cookie-cutter vision of a "successful Christian" have been cast aside, or even pushed out the door.

Services have become lavish displays these days - rock music-style praise, flashy video presentations - young, pretty-looking vocalists performing with their hands raised dutifully (yes, all carbon copies of Matt Corby).

Speaking in tongues, something which had previously confused and dismayed some visitors, has been banished.

Nothing about church these days is controversial, it is all about projecting success - "become a Christian and you too could have a life as perfect as mine".

I wonder whether this vision of unobtainable perfection actually now turns people away.

The sick in body and the sick in spirit are seldom prayed for out the front as they were in years gone by. This is now done during weekday meetings in believers' houses - away from potential visitors.

Many AOG churches do fantastic things for their community, as do churches of all denominations. There is good in every church.

I just think they have been striving too hard for success.

In the wake of this sorry affair with Michael Guglielmucci, questions must be asked and churchgoers should not be content with what the all-powerful pastors tell them from the pulpit.

My hope is this horrendous breach of trust will not damage the faith of believers - we are all human, but we need to ensure we are not blinded by faith.

Source

AN AUSTRALIAN pastor who inspired hundreds of thousands of people with his fight against terminal cancer has admitted he faked his illness to hide an addiction to porn.

Police are now investigating disgraced pastor Michael Guglielmucci over the collection of public donations to his cancer cause.

The alarm is understood to have been raised by the Hillsong Church in Sydney which revealed the pastor's hoax in an email.

His deception was so great his wife quit work to care for him, he forced himseld to vomit regularly at night and even lost his hair to fool his family and the public about the extent of his illness.

Guglielmucci, whose parents established Edge Church International, an Assemblies of God church, had earlier this year released a hit song, The Healer, which debuted at No. 2 on the ARIA charts and was featured on Sydney Hillsong church's latest album.

It since has become an anthem of faith for believers, many of whom are suffering their own illness and were praying for a miracle for Guglielmucci - more than 300,000 people have watched one performance on YouTube.

In a frank TV interview, Guglielmucci explained fabricating a terminal cancer battle to hide his 16-year obsession with pornography.

"This is who I am - I'm addicted to the stuff, it consumes my mind,'' he said of pornography.

"... I'm sick and this is why I had to come up some sort of explanation of what was happening in my body.''

The shame manifested itself physically, resulting in him losing his hair and purging his body.

"I don't know how you can fake vomiting all over yourself night after night after night, I'm not that good an actor,'' he said.

To conceal the two-year cancer lie which he hid from his wife and family, he sent phoney emails to his loved ones from non-existent medical practitioners.

"I've been living a lie for a long time,'' he told the Seven Network's Today Tonight. "I've been hiding who I am for so long. I can honestly say to you that the last two years have been hell for me physically, emotionally, but I never sat down and said ... let's try and fool the world.''

Detectives have begun investigating claims that disgraced pastor Michael Guglielmucci deceived people into donating money to a fake cancer cause.

The South Australian police commercial and electronic crime branch has contacted officers in Victoria and New South Wales.

It has also been checking various Pentecostal church-related websites.

Guglielmucci's wife, however, has vowed to try to save their marriage, despite the humiliating revelations of his cancer hoax and pornography addiction.

Amanda Guglielmucci, 29, has also defended her husband, insisting he is a good man, trapped by lies which had spiralled out of control.

"I know he's not an evil man, there's not evil in his heart,'' she said yesterday.

Mrs Guglielmucci, who is staying in their Sydney home while Michael is with his family in Adelaide's southern suburbs, said she would try to salvage her marriage.

"I know that I love him, I know that much,'' she said.

"We're just not going to rush anything, we're gonna walk through the process, however slowly it needs to happen, in order for the healing and restoration to be complete and then we'll go from there.''

She has turned to a counsellor to help cope with her husband's massive deception, which has shocked not only his family's church, Edge Church International, but the world-wide Christian movement.

Just over two weeks ago, the world-renowned pastor and songwriter sat his wife of seven years down at their Sydney home and told her the awful truth.

"I was the first one he told, he confessed everything to me,'' Mrs Guglielmucci said.

"He just went through it - where it had started, everything in his life as a young kid, the patterns. He was crying, sobbing actually, absolutely sobbing, he just said 'I don't have cancer'.

"He was terrified, I still remember the look on his face . . . it was a very hard moment for him, as it was for me hearing it.''

Despite his elaborate deception and his admission of an addiction to adult pornography, Mrs Guglielmucci said it was feelings of sympathy and shock rather than anger that overwhelmed her.

"I could just see a really broken, unwell man. At that point I found it really quite hard to get angry,'' she said.

"Seeing your husband of seven years absolutely sobbing in front of you, risking everything coming forward and telling the truth - in that instance it was really hard to be angry or mad.''

Mrs Guglielmucci said she understood people struggled to believe she could not have known her husband was faking his illness. However, she maintained his real symptoms - vomiting, hair loss and apparent pain - never gave her reason to suspect otherwise.

"I never questioned it, when you love someone you trust them. I had no reason not to trust him,'' she said.

"Perhaps I feel a little bit foolish in this, hindsight's a fabulous thing . . . but I'm trying not to beat myself up.''

Mrs Guglielmucci even quit work to look after her ailing husband. "In the middle of the night he was in so much pain I would put towels in the microwave to try and give him some relief in his back,'' she said.

However, she never attended doctors' appointments with him, a move she now regrets.

Source

THE wife of fraud pastor Michael Guglielmucci has vowed to try to save their marriage, despite the humiliating revelations of his cancer hoax and pornography addiction.

Speaking exclusively to The Advertiser, Amanda Guglielmucci, 29, defended her husband, who faked a two-year battle with cancer.

She insisted he was a good man, trapped by lies which had spiralled out of control.

"I know he's not an evil man, there's not evil in his heart," she said.

Mrs Guglielmucci, who is staying in their Sydney home while Michael is with his family in Adelaide's southern suburbs, said she would try to salvage her marriage.

"I know that I love him, I know that much," she said.

"We're just not going to rush anything, we're gonna walk through the process, however slowly it needs to happen, in order for the healing and restoration to be complete and then we'll go from there."

She has turned to a counsellor to help cope with her husband's massive deception, which has shocked not only his family's church, Edge Church International, but the world-wide Christian movement.

"I'm actually seeking professional counselling myself. I need to be able to unravel a lot of emotion that's bombarding me at the moment, I owe it to myself to work through that properly, and to him," she said.

"I had questions after the shock of it all, but my initial thoughts after hearing that were a sense of sorrow for the church and that a lot of people were going to be hurt because of it."

Just 15 days ago, the world-renowned pastor and songwriter sat his wife of seven years down at their Sydney home and told her the awful truth.

"I was the first one he told, he confessed everything to me," Mrs Guglielmucci said.

"He just went through it - where it had started, everything in his life as a young kid, the patterns. He was crying, sobbing actually, absolutely sobbing, he just said `I don't have cancer'.

"He was terrified, I still remember the look on his face . . . it was a very hard moment for him, as it was for me hearing it."

Despite his elaborate deception and his admission of an addiction to adult pornography, Mrs Guglielmucci said it was feelings of sympathy and shock rather than anger that overwhelmed her.

"I could just see a really broken, unwell man. At that point I found it really quite hard to get angry," she said.

"Seeing your husband of seven years absolutely sobbing in front of you, risking everything coming forward and telling the truth - in that instance it was really hard to be angry or mad."

Mrs Guglielmucci said she understood people struggled to believe she could not have known her husband was faking his illness.

However, she maintained his real symptoms - vomiting, hair loss and apparent pain - never gave her reason to suspect otherwise.

"I never questioned it, when you love someone you trust them. I had no reason not to trust him," she said.

"Perhaps I feel a little bit foolish in this, hindsight's a fabulous thing . . . but I'm trying not to beat myself up."

Mrs Guglielmucci even quit work to look after her ailing husband. "In the middle of the night he was in so much pain I would put towels in the microwave to try and give him some relief in his back," she said.

However, she never attended doctors' appointments with him, a move she now regrets.

"Before I stopped working to care for him, I was busy, he'd have doctor's appointments when I couldn't be there and he would say `it's fine you don't need to be there'," she said.

"Or I would just drop him off at the hospital."

While his initial confession to his wife did include his addiction to porn, Mrs Guglielmucci said she had not even begun to process that element of his deception.

"We're only talking two weeks (since admitting his lies), there's a lot of stuff to deal with," she said.

"That sort of side of things hasn't really hit me yet, there's many levels and layers to everything. I can almost talk about it like I'm removed from it. That's where the professional help will help me work through that - it hasn't hit me yet."

Mrs Guglielmucci said her faith in God had remained unmoved throughout the ordeal.

"At times like this, it's just a stronger resolve," she said.

Source

Disgraced pastor Michael Guglielmucci has finally told of fabricating a terminal cancer battle to hide his 16-year obsession with pornography.

"This is who I am ... I'm addicted to the stuff, it consumes my mind," he said of pornography in his first interview on Today Tonight since the story was first revealed on AdelaideNow last week.

"... I'm sick and this is why I had to come up some sort of explanation of what was happening in my body."

The shame of his addiction manifested itself physically, resulting in him losing his hair and purging his body.

"I don't know how you can fake vomiting all over yourself night after night after night, I'm not that good an actor," he said.

To conceal the two-year cancer lie which he hid from his wife and family, he sent phoney emails to his loved ones from non-existent medical practitioners.

"I've been living a lie for a long time," he said.

"I've been hiding who I am for so long. "I can honestly say to you that the last two years have been hell for me physically, emotionally, but I never sat down and said ... let's try and fool the world."

Today Tonight insisted that it did not pay for the interview from the man who has been in hiding and receiving psychiatric help since AdelaideNow revealed the web of lies last week.

Mr Guglialmucci, who claims to have written the hit song Healer after being inspired by God, also insisted that all monies received via song sales would be returned.

"I don't have any desire to attain any financial gain from that, we're already making stages to sign those royalties over," he said.

"I'm so sorry, not just for lying to my friends and my family even about a sickness, but I'm sorry for a life of saying I'm something I'm not ... from this day on I'm telling the truth."

Mr Guglielmucci has written to Police Commissioner Mal Hyde offering to fully co-operate with any police inquiries into his fake illness.

A statement from Edge Church International General Manager Steve Hilder- sent to The Advertiser a short time ago - advises that the letter, written by Mr Guglielmucci's lawyer, says the police will be told "all pertinent information".

The statement also states that Mr Guglielmucci is an "itinerate minister who held a credential with the Australian Christian Churches"

"His credential was immediately suspended," it says.

"The National Executive of the ACC is taking this matter very seriously and is awaiting the results of the medical tests before determining the full extent of the discipline that will be imposed upon him.

"Michael Guglielmucci has not been a paid staff member of Edge Church for eight years.

"Michael has lived in three other states of Australia since leaving us and has been a minister on staff in two other churches since leaving our employ.

"He has not received any money from Edge Church International toward his alleged medical expenses."

The statement says the church understands a post office box will be set up in the name of his father, Danny Guglielmucci.

"Michael's lawyer has written to the Police Commissioner advising him of all pertinent information and notifying him of Michael Guglielmucci's intention to fully co-operate with police inquiries," it says.

"Edge Church is committed to the truth and honouring the people of our church. Our history has been one of integrity and openness. We love the people of our community (who) have been actively involved in trying to bring life and hope to the hurting and the needy and will continue to do so.

"Hope, truth and love is not just our motto, it is our life mission."

Source

A high-profile preacher who lied about having cancer has promised to return any money he received from donors.

Michael Guglielmucci's father, who is also a preacher, has told the congregation of their church in Adelaide's south that his son needs their prayers more than ever.

Michael Guglielmucci spent two years playing to packed houses on the Christian rock scene, sending an anthem of faith and healing to the top of the charts.

But last week the Melbourne-based pastor came clean about the terminal cancer he did not actually have.

His father Danny issued a public apology to the congregation this week.

"Mike thought he could escape the pain by creating a diversion from his addiction to adult pornography, so he created the cancer scenario," he said.

Danny Guglielmucci is a founder of Edge Church International, at Reynella in Adelaide, part of the Assemblies of God network.

His son was a pastor with Planetshakers, an international Christian youth movement that started in Adelaide.

"We fully understand the questions, shock, disbelief and even anger you may feel, but Michael is struggling with a different kind of illness and is receiving professional help," the pastor told the congregation.

As for money donated to Michael Guglielmucci in good faith: "[We will] gladly pay it back if people want their money back, absolutely. We are glad to make restitution," Danny Guglielmucci said.

Michael Guglielmucci has not appeared publicly but a church leader read a statement from him.

"As a result of this secret life of sin, my body would often break down. I would report the cause of my symptoms simply as illnesses but the truth is, that although I was ill, I did not have cancer, but again used a mis-diagnosis to hide the lie that I was living," the statement said.

Many of the congregation at Reynella have spoken of the need for forgiveness.

"Michael was a man, he sinned, and he needs to be forgiven," said one.

"Everybody is a sinner and we've all been forgiven by God," another said.

Danny Guglielmucci says his son is receiving psychiatric care and legal advice and may need to go to an overseas clinic.

Source

It took 11 days before an Adelaide pentecostal church exposed the details of pastor Michael Guglielmucci's fictitious battle with cancer.

Danny Guglielmucci, the father of the fallen pastor and founder of Edge Church International at Reynella, told his faithful followers yesterday the church went public at "our first opportunity".

The man at the centre of the scandal that has rocked the church, also spoke publicly for the first time yesterday. But his words only came in a written statement, which claimed the reason behind his fictitious cancer story was to hide his 16-year obsession with pornography.

"For over 16 years, I have struggled with an addiction to adult pornography. As a result of this secret life of sin my body would often break down," his confession began.

"Two years ago, I reported that I was suffering from cancer. The truth is that although I was ill, I did not have cancer but was again using the misdiagnosis to hide the lie that I was living."

The fallen preacher was a Christian superstar, who said God inspired his hit song Healer. The song became an anthem of faith for believers, many of whom donated money to the Guglielmucci cancer cause.

The church said it was unknown how much money had been raised deceptively through websites, preaching and song sales.

When asked by The Advertiser if he would go to the police, Danny Guglielmucci said he was seeking advice from church lawyers, but that an audit of accounts was taking place.

Danny Guglielmucci also said that the first he knew of his son's web of lies was on August 13. Three days later, a meeting of the national executive of the Australian Christian Churches was convened at which his son confessed because of a dream of Jesus on the cross looking down at him saying "the truth will set you free".

At that meeting, a strategy was decided including seeking medical and legal advice. Michael Guglielmucci also agreed to take part in one exclusive TV interview, to be shown tonight.

It was only after a brief email from Hillsong Church in Sydney, which produced the hit album featuring Healer, was obtained by The Advertiser last Wednesday that church followers were finally allowed to know that the cancer was a lie.

The reason for that lie - Michael Guglielmucci's addiction to pornography - was exposed yesterday.

Danny Guglielmucci stood before 1200 people packed into the former indoor cricket arena for forgiveness, but maintained that he and the church had acted ethically.

"I have led you with openness and integrity and declare that we have not lived a lie before you," he said, before receiving a rousing ovation.

Michael Guglielmucci remained in hiding yesterday and is receiving psychiatric help.

Despite the betrayal, forgiveness was the catchcry for an overwhelming majority of those at yesterday's service.

"Obviously it was the wrong thing to do, but I'm proud that he's come out and admitted it," said 18-year-old student Daniel Sutherland.

Source

About two years ago, Pastor Michael Guglielmucci announced to his congregation that he had terminal cancer. Today, he is cancer-free.

To the shock of many church members and fellow pastors, at a recent Australian Christian Churches (ACC) - formerly named The Assemblies of God - national executive meeting, the pastor admitted to having a lied about his battle with cancer. The Advertiser stated that the ACC was going to audit Mr. Guglielmucci's bank accounts, which were filled with donations he willingly accepted from people who prayed for his plight.

After inventing his cancer story, the pastor wrote a hit song titled Healer, which - according to the newspaper account - became "an anthem of faith for believers, many of whom are suffering illnesses and were praying for Mr. Guglielmucci." While performing it live at his church called Planetshakers - a subset of the church Guglielmucci's parents founded called Edge Church International - he wore an oxygen tube in his nose. The song, which is on Hillsong's latest album, appeared at No. 2 on the ARIA charts.

In the Healer video, Guglielmucci talks about his feelings after he found out about his so-called "agressive form of cancer."

"I just went home," he said. "I knew I had to go home and needed to get alone with God."

And his followers were not the only one surprised by the deception. Among them also were his wife and family. Guglielmucci's parents are with him while he seeks professional help. Sources in the church community report that he attended his medical appointments alone.

Jonathan Fontanarosa, Edge Church's executive pastor, says everyone is waiting on a better explanation pending further investigation.

Source

Fallen pastor Michael Guglielmucci released this brief statement to explain his actions, read by read to a packed congregation by his father, Danny.
"Today is a very sad day for our family and church family.

For many years our son, Michael has suffered from unexplained illnesses. We have been worried as we have seen him suffer and spend periods of time in hospital.

Two years ago our lives were totally turned around by the sad news of our sons' cancer diagnosis. The love and support shown by our local church and all of our many friends around the world helped us get through a very difficult situation.

During the last two years we have experienced the favor of God, his love and grace, and also the constant pain of the possibility of losing a son.

On Tuesday 12th of August we received a call to come and meet with Mike and Amanda but weren't ready for what we were about to hear. Mike began to share how he has lived a lie for the last 16 years of his life because of addictive behavior he couldn't break free from.

He loved God and would throw himself into prayer, worship, and serving God with full energy and enthusiasm but still couldn't break free.

In September in 2006, Mike had an accident and went to hospital. It was at this time, because of his torment of living a double life, Mike thought he could escape the pain by creating a diversion from his addiction to adult pornography, so he created the cancer scenario.

The pain of this addiction was so deep that he started something he couldn't stop and proceeded on a downward spiral that led to him experiencing pain and suffering that resulted in constant vomiting and many other symptoms of a genuine sufferer.

Sharonne and I witnessed these episodes and pained and wept over his suffering. Michael wrote the song Healer because he wanted God to set him free from his addiction but hid it behind the lie of a fabricated illness.

Once he had started down this track he felt he couldn't stop so he continued to act out this sickness, feeling he had gone too deep into the lie.

I can't begin to tell you how much this is hurting us on the inside. A few weeks ago Mike had a dream of Jesus on the cross looking down on him saying, 'the truth will set you free' and so he decided to confess and bring everything out into the open.

I immediately contacted our National Executive and submitted to their advice and council. Church, our family needs your prayers at this time. We are so, so sorry to bring you into this.

I have lead you with openness and integrity and declare that we have not lived a lie before you. We fully understand the questions, shock, disbelief and even anger you may feel over this announcement. Please pray for us and we will pray for you.

Michael is struggling with a different kind of illness and is receiving professional help and will do so as long as is needed. On the council and advice of our executive and board, after our up and coming Edge conference, we will take time to be with Mike and get him all the professional and spiritual help he needs to come to full recovery.

We have an amazing team. Thank you, executive, board, staff and church, for your love and support. We will do what is right before God and man and see this situation turned around for the glory of God. We love you. "

Source

The father of a Christian preacher who has admitted to lying about having cancer has told a congregation that his son must go through a restorative process.

Pastor Daniel Guglielmucci addressed more than 1,000 worshipers at the Edge Church in Adelaide's south this morning, after his son Michael last week admitted to lying about having a form of leukemia.

"So now these five things must apply to him. He must humble himself, he must again hunger after God, he must be committed to holiness, to honour God, to honour church, and to honour everybody in the community," he said.

"He must also have a heart to heal his own brokenness before he can ever reach out to the brokenness of others."

Last week his Melbourne-based son, Michael, revealed he had lied about having a form of leukemia, while releasing a music single called Healer.

It is also believed he received a number of donations for treatment for his fake illness.

Pastor Guglielmucci read a statement from Michael, admitting to a 16 year obsession with adult pornography.

He earlier said his son is a sinner who must seek repentance and anyone who gave money to his son will be able to get it back.

Pastor Guglielmucci says his son may need to attend an overseas clinic, to overcome his behaviour.

Mr Guglielmucci's lawyer says the preacher is receiving psychiatric treatment in Adelaide.

Source

The father of a Christian preacher who falsely claimed to have cancer says anyone who gave money to his son will be able to get it back.

Michael Guglielmucci faked having a terminal form of leukemia for two years while preaching to the Planetshakers group in Melbourne and Adelaide.

It is believed he received a number of donations for treatment for his fake illness, and even released a music single titled Healer.

His father, Daniel Guglielmucci, a founder of the Edge Church at Reynella, faced reporters this morning.

He said his son was a sinner who must seek repentance, and might need to be sent overseas for treatment in a specialised clinic.

He said the church and his son are taking legal advice about the situation.

He then read a statement from his son to a packed congregation.

In the statement, Michael Guglielmucci said he had been addicted to adult pornography for 16 years, apologised to those he had misled, and promised restitution.

Michael Guglielmucci has been stood down by the Australian Christian Churches, formerly known as Assemblies of God.

The Australian Christian Churches is investigating the incident and says it is still deciding what form of discipline it will take.

Mr Guglielmucci's lawyer says the preacher is receiving psychiatric treatment in Adelaide.

Source

MICHAEL Guglielmucci hung around in doctors' waiting rooms as part of a web of lies to convince followers that he was dying of cancer.
Family members of the fallen Christian superstar were also convinced God had healed him of some of the debilitating effects - including broken bones - of his fake battle with cancer.

Details have begun to emerge about how Mr Guglielmucci deceived those close to him. A friend of 15 years, Adelaide motivational speaker Colin Pearce, revealed his adult sons had been fooled by Mr Guglielmucci.

On a blog he posted this week, Mr Pearce said: "My twin sons were very close to Michael . . . they travelled with him when he preached. They nursed him through deep pain.

"They worked on his websites, backed him up in his quest to stay alive and supported him through thick and thin. And it was all bogus.

"He never had multiple myelomas (sic) or kidney failure or 33 broken bones or leukemia or stomach cancer.

"He never even saw a doctor. He went to hospitals and clinics but hung around the waiting rooms."

Speaking with the Sunday Mail, Mr Pearce said he believed Mr Guglielmucci had read up on the illness before telling people about the symptoms he was suffering.

"His illnesses all progressed from the chemo and his treatment," he said. "So he'd say, `Oh, you'll never guess what's happened, it's gone to my kidneys now' or `It's gone to my stomach'. It was always an extension of the original illness.

"These secondary illnesses can occur . . . if you read the internet and it says be careful you could develop this or that . . . I suppose he just read that."

Despite the fraud, he defended the disgraced pastor.

"He's a beautiful man with a flaw," he said. "He is just the kind of guy everyone loved. He's a big, beautiful cuddly bear who has done something really bizarre which I don't understand."

Source

The father of a disgraced Melbourne preacher who faked a two-year battle with cancer says his son's porn obsession fuelled the deceit.

Shocked father Danny Guglielmucci - also a minister - said his son Michael's bizarre double life was underpinned by the 16-year addiction.

Michael Guglielmucci, until recently a preacher at the popular Planetshakers youth church in Melbourne, inspired Christians around the world with a hit song, Healer.

The song featured on Sydney church Hillsong's latest album and debuted at No. 2 on the ARIA charts.

But the high-profile church leader was stripped of his credentials this week after he admitted fabricating his battle with terminal illness.

The deception included conducting performances with an oxygen tube in his nose and telling audiences he had broken bones and other unexplained symptoms.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Herald Sun Mr Guglielmucci said he, his wife and Michael's wife had no idea about the deception until recent days and they were all in "absolute shock" to discover Michael wasn't terminally ill.

"My wife and I, over the past two years, have watched him vomit in buckets, having nose bleeds and even his hair fell out in clumps at one stage," he said.

"As a professional minister I've stood in front of my congregation and cried and said to pray for my son."

Mr Guglielmucci revealed his son had suffered "mystery illnesses" since the age of 12 -- about the time his porn addiction began.

Mr Guglielmucci said his son was not motivated by fraud, but by guilt.

"To deal with the guilt he would pour himself into doing good work. He's touched the lives of young people all over the world. Now they are all affected by this."

He said his son was undergoing psychiatric assessment with Adelaide doctors.

"They have said to me that he is very ill. They are assessing where reality stopped and fantasy kicked in and what's caused all this," Mr Guglielmucci said.

Guglielmucci's fake battle against terminal illness had attracted the support of Australian Idol winner Guy Sebastian.

It is understood Guglielmucci had performed onstage with Sebastian, whose MySpace page yesterday still included a link to a website where supporters could raise money and show support.

Guglielmucci's bank accounts are being audited by his church and leaders have promised any money raised deceptively will be returned or donated to charity.

Source

The father of disgraced pastor Michael Guglielmucci has revealed his son has been addicted to pornography since the age of 12.

Danny Guglielmucci - whose high-profile preacher son this week admitted his two-year battle with cancer was fake - said the "severe addiction to pornography" was part of a bizarre double life his son had been leading.

Mr Guglielmucci said Michael had made a full confession to his family about his past, including revelations about the 16-year porn obsession and the lies over his supposed battle with terminal illness.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Mail this week, Mr Guglielmucci also revealed:

HIS son has been suffering "mystery illnesses" since the age of 12.

DOCTORS gave his parents the option of admitting him to a psychiatric ward for assessment as a child over the ongoing "illnesses", but they refused.

THE family's "absolute shock" at discovering Michael was not terminally ill.

Mr Guglielmucci said he and wife Sharonne - who founded Edge Church International - were struggling to comprehend what their son had done.

They are expected to address the church's Adelaide congregation today to explain his actions.

"When (Michael) rang me last Tuesday, I was on my way to New Zealand," Mr Guglielmucci said.

"He said, `Dad you've got to come and see me'.

"I said to my wife, `Maybe the doctors have told him he's only got a few weeks to live'.

"So we cancelled everything and jumped on the plane and went to see him in Melbourne, and that's when he told us the story.

"We were just in absolute shock and we still are. We haven't had time to get our head around it. He said, `I don't have cancer. I've had two lives that I've lived'.

"His wife (Amanda), who has been with him for seven years, found out the day before we did and she's had no idea.

"Michael has had a severe addiction to pornography. The addiction to pornography started when he was 12.

"It's horrendous because we don't have that sort of stuff around. He was raised in a Christian home; we've never brought that stuff into our home."

Michael Guglielmucci was one of Australia's highest-profile Christian preachers, inspiring hundreds of thousands around the world as he performed his hit song Healer with an oxygen tube in his nose. He was a pastor with Planetshakers, Christian youth movement that began in Adelaide and has grown into an international ministry. Guglielmucci was based in Melbourne.

But that all came crashing down this week when his deception became public.

Mr Guglielmucci said his son finally confessed after the guilt of his lies and addiction became overwhelming.

"He lived the two lives and he would get sick as a result of the guilt," he said.

"He was feeling like he was letting God down, letting his family down, his church, his friends.

"He's been living this for so long, feeling like he's had these two lives and now he's the one that's come out in the open. He confessed it, he didn't get caught.

"To deal with the guilt he would pour himself into doing good work. He's touched the lives of young people all over the world. Now they are all affected by this.

"He hasn't done this for any reasons that have been portrayed that he's a fraud.

"It was either keep pretending or come out with the truth and tell everything. He's come out with everything but now we've got the consequences of it all.

"We have to accept it. We're hoping to share with our congregation how it all started and how it got where it is.

"We understand people's anger, we understand their questioning.

"There's so many questions.

"An addiction like this is not going to be fixed overnight. You can't have a 16-year problem and fix it in a week."

Mr Guglielmucci said his son was undergoing psychiatric assessment with Adelaide doctors.

"They have said to me that he is very ill. They are assessing where reality stopped and fantasy kicked in and what's caused all this," he said.

"The doctor believes that at times Michael was totally convinced that he had this sickness."

Mr Guglielmucci said his son had a long history of "mystery illnesses", starting in childhood.

"When he was about 12 he did vomit all the time, he'd get really really sick," he said.

"He was in the Adelaide Children's Hospital for seven weeks at one stage; he didn't eat and we thought we were going to lose him.

"They took out his appendix, thinking that it might be that, but they realised that it wasn't.

"They gave us the option of putting him in a psychiatric ward to see if there was something psychological but we felt uncomfortable with that at the time.

"We signed him out from hospital and then he would go a few months and then he would get sick again.

"We'd always take him to hospital; we'd always do the proper thing but they couldn't get to the bottom of it until now."

Mr Guglielmucci said he and his wife were in "absolute shock" to discover their son was not terminally ill.

"We have watched our son go through what we thought was cancer," he said. "My wife and I, over the past two years, have watched him vomit in buckets, having nosebleeds, and even his hair fell out in clumps at one stage.

"Every time we saw him, we saw symptoms. He stayed with us for a while where we had to put a special air-conditioner in one of the rooms because he would heat up so much in the middle of winter.

"He had this cold air-conditioner blowing on him to try to keep the heat down. As a professional minister I've stood in front of my congregation and cried and said to pray for my son.

"I've travelled the world asking people to pray for him. Can you imagine what a horrible thing it would be if I was playing a game?

"To be honest, I ask myself as a father, `What did I miss, what did I not do? What could I have done better?' "

Mr Guglielmucci said Michael's wife was "getting really good counselling".

"She's not made any decision at this point," he said.

"It's happened so quickly. There's so many questions."

Source

Angry Christians have condemned disgraced pastor Michael Guglielmucci's cancer hoax as the ultimate act of betrayal - and they want their money back.

His lawyer revealed yesterday that the inspirational preacher was receiving psychiatric help after confessing to faking a two-year battle with terminal cancer.

Lawyer Matthew Selley told The Advertiser his client had no plans to report to police despite Pentecostal church officials advising him to reveal details of any cash that may have been raised deceptively.

Mr Guglielmucci remained in hiding yesterday but has already made an exclusive arrangement with Channel 7's Today Tonight.

Mr Guglielmucci has been described as a Christian superstar, inspiring hundreds of thousands around the world as he performed his hit song Healer with an oxygen tube in his nose.

One of those was former Edge Church International member Alex Saint, 24, who bought the music and was touched by his idol's supposed strength.

The video editor, who lives near Murray Bridge, felt a connection because his mother had recently died of breast cancer.

As a result, he donated a small amount to the now-defunct Facebook page "Praying Together for Mike Guglielmucci".

"I believed every word he said. I believed he was going through hell," Mr Saint said.

"My heart goes out to all the people who have been hurt . . . to make all this up is extremely crushing for anyone who has gone through cancer. There's no better script than to be dying of cancer and giving glory to God in a Christian context . . . it's the highest form of fraud."

Another believer, Caroline, 46, donated $800 after seeing Mr Guglielmucci perform at the Edge Church at Reynella about five months ago.

The grandmother, who is receiving a disability pension, was saving the money to take her four-year-old grandson - who is wheelchair-bound with cerebral palsy - to Sydney for a holiday.

"I feel like a real idiot," she said. "I saw Michael talk and sing and he's so very charismatic.

"I decided to donate the money because I thought it could benefit more people, but what a con."

But supporters have rallied around Mr Guglielmucci, including former Family First MLC and Paradise Church pastor Andrew Evans, who believes people will turn the other cheek.

"My gut feeling is that people will forgive him," he said.

Mr Evans' son Russell founded PlanetShakers and has preached alongside Mr Guglielmucci.

Source

A pop-star pastor who lied about having terminal cancer has been told to report to police over donations given to him by concerned people.

Michael Guglielmucci, whose song "Healer" was a massive hit among young evangelical Christians, has admitted to lying about having terminal cancer.

Australian Christian Churches, which suspended Mr Guglielmucci after his confession, has ordered the disgraced preacher to speak to police and will audit his bank accounts, the Adelaide Advertiser reports.

Mr Guglielmucci claimed that "Healer" came to him as "a gift from God" on the day that he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.

He appeared on stage wearing oxygen tubes in his nose and appeared in documentary programs describing his battle with the disease.

It is believed Mr Guglielmucci's wife and family believed he was genuinely ill.

"Healer" appeared on the most recent album from Australian mega-church Hillsong and propelled Mr Guglielmucci to the forefront of Australia's evangelical youth movement.

Source

DISGRACED Christian pastor Michael Guglielmucci is receiving psychiatric help after being exposed for faking a terminal illness, his lawyer has revealed.

In a statement issued a short time ago, Adelaide solicitor Matt Selley said Mr Guglielmucci has been struggling with issues for many years, but did not elaborate on what those issues were.

Mr Guglielmucci inspired hundreds of thousands of young Christians around the world as he performed his hit tune Healer with an oxygen tube in his nose.

The Advertiser revealed today that pentacostal church officials told him to report to police, who will investigate what has happened to money raised during his two-year cancer deception.

"I have had only a limited opportunity to confer with Mr Guglielmucci," Mr Selley wrote.

"I understand that he has been in the care of a psychiatrist this week seeking assistance in dealing with issues with which he has struggled for many years - and which I understand may explain how this situation has arisen.

"I have spoken with Mr Guglielmucci's psychiatrist, who has confirmed that Michael is unwell and no doubt the publicity he has attracted in the past day or so is adding to his pressures.

"In the circumstances, Mr Guglielmucci will not be making any further statement to the media."

Source

On August 20, 2008 by Guglielmucci's own admission he had presented a false claim about his health, specifically having cancer. This was documented in the media as to being a shock to his church and his own family.

Australian Christian Churches vice president Alun Davies gave a statement that Mr Guglielmucci had admitted to fabricating his illness:

"Representatives of the National Executive for the Australian Christian Churches recently met with Michael Guglielmucci. At this meeting, he read a statement indicating that his claim to have cancer was untrue." His credential with the Australian Christian Churches was immediately suspended.

According to The Advertiser (Adelaide) Mr Guglielmucci may release a statement on the situation soon.

Shortly after the news broke of this alleged fraud, videos were removed from Youtube which showed Guglielmucci speaking openly about his cancer and also featured various footage of him wearing an oxygen mask while leading worship. The Youtube messages indicating that the Hillsong Publishing was asserting their copyright of the material and having the videos removed. However, Hillsong Publishing had not previously asserted their copyright for the video on Youtube featuring Guglielmucci and his song "Healer" and even recently saw the video reach as high as 300,000 views. Since the news of Guglielmucci's alleged fraud, every other attempt to host the videos has been met shortly thereafter by Hillsong asserting their copyright to have them removed.

Source

An Adelaide lawyer acting for a preacher who admitted falsely claiming to have cancer says his client is now in the care of a psychiatrist.

Melbourne-based Michael Guglielmucci has been stood down by the Australian Christian Churches, formerly known as Assemblies of God.

Lawyer Matthew Selley said Mr Guglielmucci will not be making any statement to the media.

But a statement about the preacher, who is the son of the founder of the Edge Church at Reynella in Adelaide, will be read at churches on Sunday.

Source

He preached to thousands about his terminal illness and tugged at hearts with a hit song.

The problem is the pastor wasn't dying at all

Michael Guglielmucci, who inspired hundreds of thousands of young Christians with his terminal cancer "battle", has been exposed as a fraud.

Guglielmucci, whose parents established Edge Church International, an Assemblies of God church at O'Halloran Hill in Adelaide's southern suburbs, now is seeking professional help.

Earlier this year, Mr Guglielmucci released a hit song, Healer , which was featured on Sydney church Hillsong's latest album.

The song debuted at No. 2 on the ARIA charts.

It since has become an anthem of faith for believers, many of whom are suffering their own illness and were praying for a miracle for Mr Guglielmucci, who has claimed for two years to be terminally ill.

In one church performance that has attracted 300,000 hits on YouTube, he performs his hit song with an oxygen tube in his nose.

It appears Mr Guglielmucci, who was a pastor with one of Australia's biggest youth churches, Planetshakers, may even have deceived his own family.

"This news has come as a great shock to everyone including, it seems, his own wife and family," Hillsong general manager George Aghajanian said in an email to his congregation yesterday.

"Michael has confirmed that he is not suffering with a terminal illness and is seeking professional help in Adelaide with the support of his family. We are asking our church to pray for the Guglielmucci family during this difficult time."

The Advertiser was told last night Mr Guglielmucci may release a statement on the situation.

The Australian Christian Church said Mr Guglielmucci's credentials immediately were suspended once he told the national executive that his cancer claims were "untrue".

"The national executive is taking this matter very seriously and is awaiting the results of medical tests before determining the full extent of the discipline that will be imposed upon him," vice president Alun Davies said.

"We are very concerned for the many people who have been or will be hurt by Michael's actions.

"We encourage all of our churches to pray for all those affected."

Source

TWO months after Hillsong Church scotched plans for a $78 million mega-church and office block at Rosebery, the Christian group is eyeing off a site just two bus stops down the road.

The Herald understands the church made a multimillion-dollar offer to the City of Sydney for the former South Sydney Hospital site in Joynton Avenue, Rosebery.

The council did not accept the offer but instead will seek expressions of interest in the old hospital from potential developers, which may include Hillsong.

Hillsong decided in June to withdraw its application to build a 2700-seat auditorium at nearby Rothschild Avenue. Independent experts contracted by the council had found earlier that month that the proposal would breach height limits and worsen traffic.

The Herald learnt yesterday that a senior council staff member subsequently suggested to Hillsong that they offer to buy the former hospital, acquired by the former South Sydney City Council for $14 million in 2002.

A spokesman for the City of Sydney would not confirm or deny the suggestion, saying only that: "Hillsong and other parties have approached us about the South Sydney Hospital site, which is publicly known to be zoned for redevelopment.

"The City is regularly approached by developers or other groups about our properties.

"Any eventual development will be subject to a development application process and will need to respect the site's heritage items."

Members of the Rosebery Residents Action Group are furious, saying that such a church in Joynton Avenue would cause the same traffic problems as the plan rejected by council experts in July.

"It is truly just two bus stops up the road," said the group's spokesman, Graeme Grace. "I would hope the council would not be interested in entertaining a mega-church or entertainment centre on the hospital site. This has nothing to do with religion; we are extremely worried about the traffic."

The Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, confirmed at a community meeting last night that Hillsong had expressed interest in the hospital site but would not say if she supported their plan.

The Greens councillor Chris Harris said the council should not be in a rush to sell: "It would be good site for a future school or hospital or aged-care facility."

The Labor candidate for the mayoral elections, Meredith Burgmann, said: "I have been convinced by the residents that its absolutely the wrong area to have a mega-church with a 3000-odd seat auditorium. The traffic issues in a quiet suburb would be awful. The council should put a caveat on what it could be used for, saying it has to be an aged-care facility or something."

Hillsong declined to comment.

Source

STUDENTS opting out of scripture classes at a Sydney high school are being invited to attend a personal development program run by the Hillsong Church where they are hearing personal testimonials from church members, a teacher at the school says.

The teacher's federation representative for Cheltenham Girls High, Doug Williamson, said non-scripture students at the school were being invited to join the Shine program, where they were exposed to religious content.

Hillsong Church says Shine is non-religious and the volunteers who conduct the program do not evangelise, but Mr Williamson said children had been told stories about finding religion.

"My understanding is that on a number of occasions the facilitators have spoken about their own lives and how they came to be members of the Hillsong Church," Mr Williamson said. "It is inappropriate for students to be subjected to this kind of closet evangelism."

Speaking through the Department of Education's media unit, the school's principal, Susan Marshall, told the Herald all parents were informed the Shine program was run by Hillsong and had to sign a permission slip.

She said there was no evidence to suggest testimonials were provided during the program and that "if they were, the program would be terminated".

But Mr Williamson said he believed many parents were not fully aware of what the classes involved, and that without constant monitoring, there was "no way to know exactly what's going on".

A parent from another Sydney school said students at her child's school were automatically enrolled in the Shine program if they chose not to attend scripture.

"When you tick the box [for non-scripture] you are automatically told that your child will be enrolled in Shine," the parent said. "It appears that they don't have enough teachers to supervise the kids if they don't do scripture, so they just bung them in Shine. It's an alarming situation because most of the mums and dads don't even know it's happening."

The NSW Greens yesterday called for Shine to be suspended while allegations that it put an unhealthy and inappropriate emphasis on physical appearance were investigated. It joined the NSW Federation of Parents and Citizens in expressing concern that the program could damage the self-esteem of the at-risk girls it purported to help.

Hillsong Citycare said grooming was an aspect of the program but not its main focus.

Source

Charities, churches set to fill tax coffers

CHARITIES and other non-government organisations could lose billions of dollars' worth of tax perks as the Rudd Government's taxation review prepares to examine whether the concessions offered to the $80 billion non-profit sector are justified.

The investigation, by Treasury boss Ken Henry, is expected to meet with resistance from some of the sector's most powerful groups, The Australian reports.

Most of the country's religious groups, which make up about $25 billion of the sector, run commercial enterprises.

Among them is the Seventh Day Adventists' cereal giant Sanitarium, which generates more than $300 million a year.

Exemptions

Many of the operations have little to do with charitable work but are exempt from various taxes including corporate tax and capital gains tax.

The Catholic Church has long opposed reforms such as the creation of a national charities commission to regulate the sector, or charging tax on commercial enterprises.

While any changes eventually recommended by Dr Henry may offer the opportunity to bolster Treasury's coffers, it will create a significant political challenge for Kevin Rudd, a devout Christian who has courted the religious vote.

Australian Industry Group head Heather Ridout, a member of the Henry review's committee, said the non-profit sector was a huge part of the economy and so it made sense to look at it as part of the review.

"The agenda is broad and so all types of entities will be looked at in this review," she said. "The non-profit sector is a very big and important part of this, particularly since we have had a lot of changes in welfare benefits and their interface with tax."

Business enterprises run by religious groups range from pizza chains, insurance companies, wineries, farms, schools, hospitals and aged-care facilities. All are exempt from tax. Australia is one of the few countries in the world where religious groups are not forced to pay tax on business ventures.

Source

THE Hillsong Church has withdrawn its $78 million Sydney church proposal on the day before it was due to be refused.

The development application was pulled yesterday after an independent report blasted the proposal as being too big, too tall and causing too much traffic congestion for the suburb of Rosebery.

A decision was due to be made tonight, but Hillsong general manager George Aghajanian stepped in at the last minute to cancel the Central Sydney Planning Committee (CSPC) meeting.

"We disagree with the recommendation and many of the findings of the independent planner's report, and are re-evaluating our options," Mr Aghajanian said.

"We believe we have a strong case in defending our application and we will continue discussions with council about finding a way forward for a church in the Green Square precinct."

The Angelini Planning Services said the proposal for a 2700-seat auditorium and an office block, included 679 parking spaces, which "would duplicate week-day peak traffic volumes on the weekend".

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said more than 1092 submissions were made to the council over the development, 276 objecting and 816 in support.

Brian Houston, senior Pastor of the Hillsong Church, said they would not be deterred by this latest setback.

Source

Every Tuesday afternoon during the first term at Matraville Sports High School, a group of young women take part in classes intended to boost their self-esteem. Some have personal problems, others have behavioural issues, while a few simply go because their friends do.

For the next two hours they learn a range of skills including how to put on make-up, do their hair and nails, and walk with books balanced on their heads.

The program, called Shine, was created by the Hillsong Church. It is being run in at least 20 NSW public schools, numerous small community organisations and within the juvenile justice system.

Hillsong describes Shine as a "practical, life-equipping, values-based course" and its website is awash with glowing testimonials from young women whose lives have been improved by learning about "being a good friend" and "learning about myself".

But serious concerns have been raised by teachers, adolescent developmental experts and parents groups. They say the program is inappropriate for troubled young women, that the under-qualified facilitators are reinforcing gender stereotypes. and that some parents have not been properly informed.

Shine was originally developed by the CityCare arm of Hillsong as an explicitly religious program. The church says it is now "community-based, not religious-based" but, as recently as 2005, promotional material referred to young women's "created uniqueness".

"Through skin care, natural make-up, hair care, nail care girls discover their value and created uniqueness," the material says.

The term has been omitted from more recent material but the beauty classes remain, as do etiquette and deportment lessons.

The program has set alarm bells ringing for psychologists such as Dianna Kenny, an adolescent development expert at the University of Sydney. "They are essentially saying you are not appropriate as you are and we're going to show you how to be appropriate," Professor Kenny said.

"We don't have control of our physical characteristics. To emphasise that takes away from the autonomy of people as individual human beings. That runs completely contrary to what we know about adolescent development.

"We do want our young people to feel good about themselves, but what [they] need is help from professional counsellors."

Most of the facilitators who deliver Shine in Sydney classrooms have no university counselling qualifications, although Hillsong says they must have some qualifications or experience.

In some schools, Matraville Sports High included, the program is run by careers or physical education teachers. At other schools, including Alexandria Park, Glenwood and Cheltenham Girls, it is run by young recruits from Hillsong's leadership college.

Schools pay Hillsong to run the program, with parents asked to pay for books and materials such as hair spray and make-up.

"Over the last two or three years teachers have been coming to us with concerns about Shine," said the president of the Hills Teachers Association, Sui-Linn White. "It is the gender stereotypes that they are imposing. The focus on skin care, nail care, hair care - it objectifies women %u2026 These are things women fought against for centuries - they've got no place in a public school."

One teacher from a Hills district school, who asked not to be named, said Shine facilitators had run activities that undermined other teachers. "They were asking the kids to talk about which of the teachers they didn't like."

He said parents may not have been properly informed. "I don't know whether the parents, knowing what we know now, would have put their kids in. I don't know whether the school would have hired them in the first place."

Parents groups from Queensland and the Northern Territory have complained that their schools have tried to sneak Shine in almost unnoticed.

"In our view, this is a way of getting religion into schools through subterranean means," said one parent, Hugh Wilson. "The principal or the chaplain decides it's a good idea and, next thing you know, your kids are being taught about make-up by the Hillsong Church."

The church says parents have been overwhelmingly supportive of the program.

Source

This page gets a lot of interesting traffic from search engines.

Here are some actual keyword web stats. They are are from the Past 30 Days (as of 17th April 2008). They are keyword/phrases have been used that has seen people land on this page.

I've removed names of people for the sake of privacy*.

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* I've taken the liberty of removing more than one persons actual name where it has associated them with what some might consider controversial. This is not to say that search strings are true or that they are allegations, just that they are merely a factual account of what people are searching for to end up on this page.

The names of all four agencies vying for the Gloria Jean's creative account have been revealed, with a decision on the winner expected within the next three weeks.

Incumbent ReedMiltiadesKaye, an independent Sydney agency that also counts Starbucks among its list of clients, today confirmed it was part of the pitch for the Gloria Jean's account.

Industry sources reveal ReedMiltiadesKaye is up against SMART, 303 and M&C Saatchi as part of a four-way shootout for the high-profile account.

Creative agency Kindred, which was merged into SMART Sydney in September last year, created a TVC campaign for Gloria Jean's over a year ago as a one-off project, while the account was still sitting with ReedMiltiadesKaye.

The Australian-based cafe chain, which also sells its own brand of coffee beans, spent an estimated $2.7 million on main media advertising in the 12 months to January 2008, according to Nielsen Media Research, up significantly from the $800,000 it spent during the previous corresponding period.

Gloria Jean's confirmed the account had been put out to pitch last month, with an announcement on the winner expected in May. Although Gloria Jean's had not returned calls at time of writing, AdNews understands the pitch process is well on track, with a winner likely to be announced within the next two or three weeks.

Gloria Jean's came under heavy media scrutiny recently for its sponsorship of Mercy Ministries and association with the Hillsong Church. A spokesperson for Gloria Jean's, however, told AdNews last month the current creative pitch was unrelated to the recent controversy and had been called long before media interest spiked.

Source

Hillsong Church leaders say they are thrilled that their song "Shout to the Lord," was chosen for American Idol's Give Back broadcast that aired Wednesday.

But they also said they were not asked about the removal of the name Jesus in the broadcast performance.

"Hillsong Church was thrilled to see the song "Shout To The Lord" performed recently on American Idol," officials with the Australian church said in a statement issued late Friday.

"It received an incredible response and was the fifth most downloaded song in this week's U.S. iTunes charts," a church spokesperson said.

The show's eight final contestants from season seven first sang the song during American Idol's second annual charity drive Idol Gives Back. But during the broadcast, the opening line of the song was changed to remove the name of Jesus. The word 'shepherd' was inserted instead.

But in a reprisal of the song Thursday night, and in the downloaded version, "Jesus" was left in.

"Darlene Zschech and Hillsong Church were not asked, nor approved, of the name of Jesus being replaced," the spokesperson said. "We were pleased to see that the song was performed again with the correct lyrics."

Wednesday night's performance became the number one download from that night in the United States.

"Wow. I've never heard this song until they played it on Idol Gives Back," said one reviewer of the downloaded performance. "I really liked how it was giving praise to the Lord and was full of hope. It was beautiful."

On Wednesday, millions tuned in to the charity show to see the needs spread across the globe -- everything from hungry children to AIDS victims.

Numerous celebrities participated in the event to encourage viewers to donate, including Bono, Miley Cyrus, Brad Pitt, Billy Crystal, and Peyton and Eli Manning -- just to name a few.

Producers expect the event to raise $100 million.

Source

When the Hillsong Church introduced Mercy Ministries to the congregation, there was much excitement. There was finally somewhere that "girls in trouble" could go to keep their babies, or sort out other consequences of their sins while being pampered like a princess into a brand new life.

Pastor Bobbie Houston set up a Mercy register at David Jones, much like a bridal register, where members of the congregation could buy household goods for the girls at Mercy House: perhaps a washing machine or a dustpan and brush. It was like one big Hillsong wedding for the Mary Magdalenes they were forgiving. See how good God is to those sorts of girls?

But girls who have undergone the Mercy Ministries program say the experience did more harm than good, as the Herald reported yesterday. Rather than receiving psychiatric care and support, they were isolated from the outside world and given treatments which consisted of prayer reading and exorcisms.

To understand how this could come about, it is necessary to understand the relationship between Mercy Ministries and the Hillsong Church and the philosophy that unites them.

Hillsong has always been proud of the origins and progress of the Australian incarnation of Mercy Ministries. According to Hillsong folklore, a female congregant, unable to find help in Australia for an eating disorder, travelled to the United States for treatment at Mercy Ministries. Mercy Ministries was created by an American, Nancy Alcorn, who says she was frustrated in her role as a juvenile justice officer because of the injustices of the system. She determined to open a place for young women that would be independent of government funding and intervention, and free, so women would feel sincerely cared for.

While the Australian congregant was at Mercy Ministries, she was visited by a Hillsong pastor. The pastor was so impressed with the work being done she decided to bring the program to Australia.

Mercy Ministries was a godsend for Hillsong. Desperate young women who are violated by the world draw a sympathetic audience. It seemed a simple concept for Hillsong to mimic locally and it was presented as a utopia of female health. Hillsong is an organisation based on recruitment and fund-raising. Mercy Ministries was an opportunity to do both on a new and larger scale.

The founders of Mercy Ministries are fundamentalist Christians who are primarily obsessed with women's bodies and what they choose to do with them. The Bible is used to justify the supposed inferiority and intrinsic sinfulness of women and homosexuals. Hillsong teaches that a woman's purpose, as an afterthought of God, is as a helper and a companion at best, and with Eve as their ultimate matriarch, the cause of the fall of all mankind.

The teaching when I was at Hillsong included the lesson that women are attached to their offspring eternally. All the miscarriages, terminations and stillbirths a woman has during her life time grow up in heaven, waiting for their mother to join them.

But you will never see any of this on Hillsong pamphlets. All you find are photos of shiny, happy people holding hands. And inside the front cover is a promise that a truckload of love is waiting for you whenever you want it. It's only in the third dimension that you discover how much love costs. The love dries up when the money runs out or, worse yet, when you don't agree with the program.

Mercy, justice, liberty and compassion are concepts that evangelicals view as their own. They believe their God is the author of these values, and that with a monopoly on truth they have an imperative to administer them globally.

It is no surprise that the girls and young women who attended Mercy Ministries did not receive the psychiatric help they were seeking. Fundamentalist Christians are suspicious of psychiatry and psychology, unless prefixed with the word Christian. Psychotic symptoms such as voices are evidence of demons that medication cannot expel. I recall one Hillsong pastor proudly describing his own daughter's employment at Mercy Ministries. He said she could counsel by birthright, aided by her bible college wisdom.

Having worked in a women's refuge for five years, I know there are few social services out there. And such little love. It's hard for young women who are tired, frightened and hungry to distinguish love from opportunism. Something has to be done to advocate for the needy when fundamentalists can smell their blood.

Tanya Levin is a former member of the Hillsong Church and the author of People In Glass Houses.

Source

Deeply felt ties bind Mercy Ministries, Gloria Jean's and the Hillsong Church, connected through a complicated chain of directors and former directors - as well as donations.

As they deal with allegations, revealed in the Herald yesterday, of inappropriate treatment of residents in Mercy Ministries' Sydney and Sunshine Coast houses, they insist the organisations are completely unrelated, despite sharing common board members and directors.

"Hillsong do not own or run Mercy Ministries %u2026 Hillsong are a financial supporter, as are many churches in Sydney and around the country," said Peter Irvine, who until recently was both the managing director of Gloria Jean's Coffees and a director of Mercy Ministries.

Mr Irvine is still on the board of Mercy Ministries and is responsible for its corporate sponsorship, and told the Herald he had taken a back seat at Gloria Jean's Coffees, although he is still a board member and shareholder.

He said there was no conflict of interest in holding the two roles, saying he had focused for the past year on publishing a book and consulting businesses on franchising rather than any day-to-day running of Gloria Jean's.

Mercy Ministries' accounts were audited each year, Mr Irvine said. However, it produced no annual reports and would not publicly release any financial information.

A copy of its financial statements and reports submitted to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission last October indicate it had income of $1.365 million in 2006, yet it is unclear how much of this includes transfers of Centrelink payments by the young women who seek out Mercy's help.

As to the women's allegations, Mr Irvine said: "In any program you will always get a few that are disenchanted because they do not get their way and then criticise everything.

"The girls are not forced to come into the program %u2026 our people go out of their way to explain and prepare them."

Two former directors of Mercy Ministries, Mark and Darlene Zschech, who brought the program to Australia from the US in 2001, have also been associate directors of the Hillsong Church's annual conference.

Darlene, described as "one of the key worship leaders at Hillsong Church", and her husband no longer appear to have any connection to Mercy Ministries.

Mercy Ministries' accountant, Stephen Crouch, is married to another organiser of the Hillsong conference, Pastor Donna Crouch.

The Hillsong Foundation, the church's charitable arm, supports Mercy Ministries to deliver the programs.

Gloria Jean's Coffees supports Mercy Ministries through corporate donations and fund-raising activities that include cash donation boxes in stores and an annual fund-raising weekend, "Cappuccino for a Cause", where 50 cents from each cappuccino sold goes to Mercy Ministries, a spokeswoman said.

However, information on how much financial support Gloria Jean's contributes to the ministry, support that has continued since 2003, was unavailable, she said.

And despite the swag of allegations over the Mercy Ministries program - including claims that young women with mental illnesses had been forbidden from gaining access to medical or psychiatric care unsupervised, or from doctors independent of the program, and claims of the use of exorcisms to treat health problems - the spokeswoman said Gloria Jean's would not be reviewing its sponsorship arrangements.

The Catholic Sisters of Mercy, who have long been involved in health care, education and social welfare programs throughout the country, have stressed that they have no connection with Mercy Ministries.

"All Sisters of Mercy in Australia wish to make clear to their co-workers, family mem