If Hillsong founder Brian Houston had his time over, he would not write a book called You Need More Money.
That purposely provocative title - which encapsulates Mr Houston's "prosperity theology", but also irked Hillsong's many critics - has dogged him throughout the phenomenal growth of his Pentecostal church.
"If you said to me 'what are the three silliest things you've done', that probably would be No. 1. The heart of the book was never just about being greedy and selfish ... I put a bullseye on my head."
Mr Houston doesn't shrink from his view that people need money to be effective, but the book title ensured his enormously successful church would forever be associated with proselytising for financial gain.
Hillsong estimates it earned $60 million in 2008, half of which came from its congregation. It would not disclose how much Brian and his wife Bobbie Houston were paid, but said all profits were ploughed back into church activities.
Unlike the sacrifice and humility preached by other Christian faiths, Hillsong members are told material success is nothing to be ashamed of. But Mr Houston cautioned it must be "prosperity for a purpose". "It's great if you want to go make money for a purpose. If it's just all about you and selfish, then we wouldn't [preach that]," he said. "It's about being effective, not just being self-absorbed, but living for things that are bigger than you are."
But since the global financial crisis, increasing numbers of Hillsong members are reporting financial hardship rather than financial gain.
"Definitely people are asking deeper questions about life and spirituality," Mr Houston said. "The people in our church are hurting like everybody else is, which means that we've got more call on us to be giving assistance to people and reaching out to people ... That's definitely been magnified through the global crisis."
Hillsong now provides outreach services to 2000 people in Sydney every week. Yet the financial crisis isn't curtailing Mr Houston's plans to expand Hillsong. The church officially set up in Brisbane yesterday, after taking over Garden City Christian Church. It is likely to be Hillsong's only Australian branch outside Sydney.
While he says he receives letters "almost every day" from people around the world wanting a Hillsong in their city, Mr Houston is more interested in expanding further into Europe. Hillsong operates in London, Paris, Kiev, Stockholm and Moscow.
"Europe obviously has such a huge Christian tradition but has become so secular ... I would like to think over the next few years it would be great to impact a few of those European cities."
Mr Houston said Hillsong does not receive any money from its international branches.
He said the church's growth from 45 people in a school hall in Baulkham Hills 25 years ago to 15,000 in cities around the world was a "miracle story".
"We're preaching to people's Mondays, not just to their Sundays."
