Family Life

Interview with Brian, Bobbie & Family

Recently, Pastors Brian and Bobbie opened up their hearts and home as they shared about their family life, speaking candidly about their 31 years of marriage, kids, ministry and the journey that has brought them to this point. Along with their two sons, Joel and Ben, daughter Laura, and their son and daughter in law, Peter and Lucille, it was an all out family affair as they gave us a glimpse of what it’s like growing up in the Houston household. Here are a few highlights:
 

BRIAN:
Psalms 68:6 says ‘God puts the solitary in family.’ I believe that is true of the Church. God takes people and puts them in a church family. I believe God created family. It is a ‘God-idea’. I believe God’s intention for family is powerful and strong. Out of family our potential can be found, our security can be established. Sadly, families can at times be a place of dysfunction and brokenness.

You’ve got to understand, we’re all just working at this…we are a work in progress. I believe for me to lead the house of God well, I need to be able to lead my own family well. Like any parents, Bobbie and I have made mistakes in our own way, but we’re so proud of our kids and who they’ve become.

BOBBIE:
When we first got married, I was completely besotted with the idea of having babies. And today, I esteem my children, and honour the call of God on their lives.

If I could just give you two thoughts: the first being, I don’t think it is possible to love your children too much. Love has parameters and boundaries, love disciplines, but if you want to mark your children for destiny and for greatness…lavish them with love. The second thing is: I think it is absolutely imperative, and as parents we haven’t achieved everything or finished our journey yet, but it’s essential to apologise to our kids. We get one go at this, and we make mistakes. I’ve learned that children are very quick to forgive. When we as parents fail to ask for forgiveness out of pride or arrogance, then we are failing to teach our children tolerance, therefore failing to teach them the rhythm of life and forgiveness. I believe that our failure becomes their injustice. Enough injustice can compound together and can become an issue. It can begin to take root in their lives. I just want to encourage everyone to be real, honest, open and loving within our families.

BRIAN TO KIDS:
Just to kick this off. Kids, in our family growing up, who was the greatest source of persecution to you?

BEN: It’s a close tie between my father, and older brother!
LAURA: Ben and Joel for sure, both of them! They tortured me!
BEN: It was done out of love for you, we just wanted to look out for you.
LAURA: Ha! I seem to remember it involved yogurt on my face, and dogs licking it off…
BRIAN: I thought we were here to encourage people!

BRIAN TO KIDS:
In terms of your own personal journey, I put so much pressure on myself as the ‘Pastors Son’. It would be great to hear about how you’ve found your own way as part of this family.

JOEL: Well, I grew up in the church, obviously… I grew up with a level of expectation, but no doubt for everybody and anybody, you live with a certain reflection and under a perception of who your parents are. As a kid, I lived pretty reactive to that. Over time, God started to break that down inside of me, and I realised I had a call on my own life.

Home was just home. Dad never pretended to be anything else to us, he wasn’t Pastor Brian to us…he was just dad. Mum was just Mum. To know that Mum and Dad were there, and they loved us, and to know that they cared about me was the greatest thing. I really found my calling when I stopped trying to find it and stopped listening to everyone else, and just got passionate about Jesus, and the things of God. I think if we just let go and get passionate about God and others, you’ll find your calling. And now, I’m loving it! I love serving God, being on team with Mum and Dad, and building the church together.

BRIAN: That’s awesome.

LAURA: For me, from the youngest child perspective, I would not only look up to Mum and Dad, but to Ben and Joel as well. I’d often just compare myself. I think that’s just what you do when you’re a younger child.

Both of my siblings have got really incredible gifts and talents that are fairly obvious, but, what I love about God is that in time he reveals two things: whose you are, and who you are. To understand whose you are to know that you belong to God. To understand who you are is to understand you have a purpose, a calling, and responsibility on this earth. He doesn’t want me to be Mum, Dad, Joel, or Ben…He needs me to be me.

BEN: I love that Mum and Dad never forced Christianity on us. Yes, we had to be at church and youth and stuff, but when it came to our personal walk with Jesus, I remember sitting in a Hillsong Jam session and having that ‘moment’ when I had a personal revelation of God. I will always remember realising that God is real, He’s my best friend, and His Word is true. I found it out for myself.

BRIAN TO KIDS:
From your experience, what are some of the practical ways of just believing to see your kids grow to follow Jesus?

LAURA: What I completely love and am grateful for is that you guys always made non-negotiables. Youth and Sunday services were non-negotiable and, to this day, now that we’re adults and can make our own choices, we’re all at church. And that is the greatest thing, and we need to give them credit for that.

JOEL: I just think about my life, we were always in church. I remember being a kid and our parents always praying with us before bet…that kind of stuff gets in you. To this day, I’ve always said something to God before I go to sleep.

The best thing you can really do is just love your child. Our household was a home full of love. One thing dad always did is he never brought the negative side of ministry home to our family. Its home where we have dinner together and get to be friends…it’s really a place where we can just be mates.

LUCILLE: I just wanted to say, that in terms of identity, knowing that your parents are there, that they love you and aren’t going to try and change you is so important. Knowing that your parents will give you time, and not try to fit you in a box, makes you want to live a life that counts.

JOEL: I love the picture of a church as a family. It’s the same that it is in a home. The church is made up of so many different people, but everybody has a place, you know? I love that…just like our family. You don’t have to look or act or fit a mould to be a part of our church, or to be a part of this community. A family is a place that you’re accepted and released to be who you are called to be.

BRIAN:
The bible says, ‘Without vision, people perish’. One of the positives of our family is that we’ve always lived with vision, if you’ve got a sense of direction, a sense of purpose it makes a big difference in terms of family. Our kids are all different and very creative…but I feel like we’ve had that same sense of vision that has kept us rallied, and kept us together. God’s got an incredible way of keeping His word, and when it says ‘Train a child in the way they should go, and when they are old they will not depart from it.’ (Proverbs 22:6)

No matter where your kids are at, keep believing it, keep holding onto it and confessing it. You know, love penetrates. Let me just say that, we really pray for our kids, we pray for their futures. I’m believing for your family too that the purpose of God for their life will be established, and their dreams will come true.
 

*Joel is the Hillsong Church’s Creative Director, Ben and his wife Lucille are pastors over Hillsong’s Northern Beaches extension service and Laura is Hillsong’s Marketing & Communications Manager.
© 2007 Brian Houston. Permission required to reproduce this article in any form.

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