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Former Hillsong Executive, Grant Thomson, Resigns as CEO of Bible Society Australia

By Liz Lykins
Bible Society Australia President Grant Thomson appears in a promotional video, in June 2022. (Video screengrab)

Grant Thomson has resigned as CEO of Bible Society Australia after the organization posted a multi-million-dollar deficit, according to an email the organization sent to its supporters last month.

The email was first obtained by Christian journalist John Sandeman in his blog TheOtherCheek.

Thomson, who previously worked as the Global Chief Marketing Officer at embattled Hillsong Church, resigned from his latest role amidst a nearly $4.5 million organizational deficit, according to financial records.

“Before the year closes, we want to share with you Grant Thomson’s recent decision to step down from his position as CEO,” Bible Society Australia (BSA) said in the email. “Bible Society Australia has achieved a great deal during Grant’s five years of service, and we are grateful for his efforts and contribution.”

BSA said Simon Smart, the chief media officer at the nonprofit, will serve as the temporary acting CEO.

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grant thomson bible society
In Sept. 2022, Bible Society Australia President Grant Thomson speaks at the Bible Conference in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. (Photo: Facebook)

“Simon is a trusted member of the BSA leadership team and the Board is grateful for his willingness to step into this important role,” BSA added.

BSA is part of the United Bible Societies, which is a global network of organizations across 200 countries that works to translate, publish, and distribute Bibles. BSA is more than 200 years old, according to its website.

The Roys Report (TRR) reached out to BSA for further comment but did not hear back prior to publication.

Financial Trouble at BSA

BSA has reported multi-million-dollar deficits every year since 2022, according to records from the Austrian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.

A 2024 financial report stated that the organization had a deficit of USD $4.5 million (AUD $7.2 million) from its total of $35.3 million revenue. BSA blamed the issue primarily on “difficulties with the new IT system installed in September 2023 for our retail operations.”

The report added that “management with support from the board are working with retail management to resolve all remaining system issues and re-position the business towards an improved financial result for 2025.”

The report also said the recent closure of BSA’s news affiliate, Eternity News, had impacted finances. “The contribution that Eternity has made to BSA and the Christian media is significant,” the report stated.

bible society
Bible Society Australia has six offices across Australia, including its headquarters in Sydney. (Screengrab)

Eternity News’ print magazine, website, weekly newsletter, social media platforms, and Eternity’s Jobs website closed last April due “affordability” concerns, Thomson said in a previous announcement.

The media ministry was founded and formerly led by Sandeman. 

Additionally, in 2023, BSA reported a net deficit of approximately $872,000. Then in 2022, it had a $2.2 million deficit.

Thomson removed from BSA website

Thomson’s name and information, including a 2019 news release announcing his hiring, can no longer be found on the BSA website.

An archived version of the news release states Thomson was the “right person to take BSA into this new season.” And BSA chairman Anne Robinson said in the release that Thomson is “a proven Christian leader” and “outstanding business person.”

Thomson said in the release that he has “a quiet belief that in the next season of the Bible Society God is going to do something phenomenal in and through all of us.”

thomson
Bible Society Australia President Grant Thomson gives a presentation in his office in 2022. (Photo: Facebook)

Thomson Embroiled with Hillsong

Prior to BSA, Thomas was a part of Hillsong Global. There, he was embroiled in the church’s alleged financial misconduct that was revealed by Independent MP Andrew Wilkie to the Australian Parliament, TRR previously reported.

Wilkie told the Australian Parliament that the church had engaged in mass money laundering, tax evasion, and fraud, and used church money “to do the kind of shopping that would embarrass a Kardashian.”

Wilkie alleged that Hillsong makes $80 million more annually than it reports. He also said that founder Brian Houston and other church leaders live luxuriously living large on the church’s money.

The publication Backyard Church reportedly obtained records that showed Thomas has received two thank you “retreat vouchers” worth nearly USD $10,000 from the church.

Houston has argued the allegations are “either out of context, misleading, or false.”

brian bobbie houston bible society
On Mar. 3, 2017, Hillsong Church in Sydney hosted a 200-year celebration of Bible Society Australia, with Brian and Bobbie Houston (left) posing alongside Bible Society Australia Former CEO Greg Clarke, and former Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Glenn Davies and his wife, Dianne. (Photo: Facebook)

Other U.S. Christian celebrities have been implicated in Hillsong’s exorbitant spending allegations, TRR reported.

Wilkie claimed Hillsong paid honorariums to Christian celebrity Joyce Meyer of $160,000, $133,000, $100,000, and $32,000. Similarly, Pastor T.D. Jakes received $77,000 and $120,000 in honorariums, “with a staggering $77,000 worth of airfares to and from Australia thrown in.”

In 2023, Hillsong announced numerous changes to how it manages its finances, TRR reported. One of those changes was for 153 Hillsong staff to “voluntarily resign,” saving the church more than $9.47 million a year.

Liz Lykins is a correspondent covering religion news for The Roys Report, WORLD Magazine, and other publications.

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3 Responses

  1. $4.5 million deficit requires more than someone quitting. Need to get auditors in and determine where all of that money went.

  2. Be glad the Hillsong conglomerate has fallen, and continues to fall. I remember an experience as an employee of Marilyn Hickey Ministries in Colorado, when the husband of Darlene Zschech, the world famous writer and singer of praise and worship songs through Hillsong, came to visit in the late 1990s. He didn’t come there to speak publicly.

    I was asked to be a chaperone as he and Marilyn’s daughter Sarah went to a coffee shop to talk. I had to sit at the table next to them, but I heard their entire conversation, both there and in the car as I rode in the back seat.

    He did not discuss anything godly, but instead talked about Australian beauty, how he and Darlene owned a house on the best beach, and that Sarah and her husband, or Marilyn, were free to stay there any time they wished.

    Darlene gained her wealth through a local church that gained global reach because of her songs; and this was how her husband spoke behind the scenes: just sightseeing and luxury.

  3. I guess it’s more than just the American Bible Society that has serious financial management issues among the Bible Societies.

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