Geoff Bullock: No Longer the Golden Boy

[Aseity]

Diane Benge

As the former worship leader at Hills Christian Centre, Australia, Geoff Bullock became a household name in Christian homes throughout Australasia.

New Zealand Christians love to sing Geoff's songs. He has three New Zealand gold discs to prove it. Songs like The Power of Your Love, The Heavens Shall Declare, Have Faith in God, You Rescued Me are all firm favourites in our churches. But while Geoff may have known the joys of stardom he has also come face to face with the depths of man's sinful nature and, concurrently, with the grace of God.

It is 6 o'clock at the Lower Hutt Town Hall. In one and a half hours Geoff Bullock will be on stage and already the crowds are gathering at the doors. Some have been waiting since 5 o'clock.

As I enter, the sound of a male voice accompanied by a Roland keyboard reverberates around the empty hall. In the distance a lone man, short of stature, with greying hair, stands on stage behind the Roland and a standing mike, making a tiny island in the middle of an otherwise deserted expanse of blackness. Who is he, I wonder - perhaps a sound technician? It is several minutes before it dawns on me that this small man is the legendary Geoff Bullock whom I have come to interview.


Geoff Bullock is no longer the super-hero of Australasian Christian worship. He is, by his own description, a man who has a profound sense of his own brokenness. "Let's face it," says Geoff, "when you think of the name Geoff Bullock you think of two things. One is a headline - and the other thing has to be grace. And grace, the grace of God, is why I am here."

For many New Zealand Christians 'the headline' is a mystery.

"What happened to Geoff Bullock?"

"He left Hills Christian Centre didn't he? I don't know why. Do you?"

"I would love the facts to be made known to the churches," says Geoff, "so people know how it was. My biggest fear is that people will think 'Oh, he's just stuffed it all under the carpet'."

However Geoff is also at pains to protect the others involved. Several times during the interview and our discussions after it he would request that details not be spelled out: "I need to protect the many others who have been drawn into this sad time and not to presume to talk on their behalf."

Leaving Hills
http://www.reality.org.nz/articles/27/27-benge.asp

[Solly]

That's excellent stuff. Forget the worship/CCM issue, I'm not interested in that, but the man, and his walk with God, and his mistakes, and God's grace. If you have read Roy Hession, it is very much like his experience, and what he taught. We need more of that - men/women of God, not more "ministry celebrities".

People say I fell from grace. I didn't fall from grace, I fell into it. If you try and prove yourself and make yourself noteworthy by works, eventually your works will led you to exactly where mine led me. Works will always fail you. The end of the law is death. But with grace you never stop finding deeper water. It just keeps getting more wondrous."

[elysian]

Solly, I agree with you. Anyone can fall and do so royally. Pastors and elders are at special risk as the more effective they are at spreading the Word, the more they are subject to spiritual attack. It is only by God's grace and power that we can stay out of temptation and live according to His will. As long as we are on this earth we will struggle with all the powers that try to bring us to defeat: Satan and his minions as well as our own pride, the desires of the flesh and the desire to glorify ourselves.

I believe that those who are forgiven much love much (Luke 7:47) and that our falls have the potential as in this story to bring us to the realization of just how much we are loved and are forgiven. It is not God's will that we would fall into sin, but sometimes the only way out of the blindness of pride is a fall, so that we come to that place where we finally see that it is Christ or nothing.