Lawyer: Hillsong founder to deny concealing abuse in court

SYDNEY (AP) — A lawyer says Hillsong Church founder Brian Houston will plead not guilty in an Australian court to a charge that he illegally concealed his father’s alleged child abuse. Houston did not appear in the Sydney court where his charge was mentioned before a registrar for the first time on Tuesday. Police will allege that Frank Houston indecently assaulted a young male in 1970 and that Brian Houston failed to disclose information that could have been used to prosecute his father. Brian Houston said earlier he welcomed the chance “to set the record straight.” Houston has stepped down from the board of Hillsong, the global church he co-founded with his wife in Sydney in 1983.