[Magdalen] One off Ministry: Robert Schuller RIP

[Scott Knitter]

I used to watch the Hour of Power regularly and was much helped by Robert
Schuller's preaching.
On Apr 4, 2015 9:32 AM, "Revd Martin Dale via Magdalen" <
magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:

> Jim
>
> I think the term used was Crystal Cathedral and not Christian  Cathedral
>
> Perhaps we should thank God for this man of God's ministry - he certainly
> helped many to faith and pray for his family in their loss.
>
> Yes, surely he should have thought of succession planning - but what if his
>  ministry was meant to be a "one off".
>
> Personally I don't like "names in lights" as I think there should be only
> one name in lights "Our Lord Jesus Christ"
>
> But although I don't like the razzmataz of US Evangelicalism I have to
> admire the fact that they preach - on the whole - a Christ-centred Gospel.
>
> I certainly believe Robert Schuller did.
>
> May he rest in peace and rsie in glory.
>
> Blessings
> Martin
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
>
> In a message dated 04/04/2015 15:08:57 GMT Daylight Time,
> jguthrie at pipeline.com writes:
>
> The  American-invented churches that are so popular (and have attracted
> many
> people from Mainline churches are often one-man bands. Schuller was a
> great
> example. Detached from any denomination he starts at a movie  drive-in and
> builds
> an empire. And upon his retirement, it falls apart and  is sold to the RC
> Diocese
> in bankruptcy.
>
> I think it's interesting  to look at this American phenomena; it would be
> interesting to see where  the spiritual life of the Christian cathedral
> people
> has since led them. I  read an article that noted that a small number --
> maybe
> about a hundred CC  members became Roman Catholics to stick with the
> Cathedral
> their money  helped build. But where did the rest go?  Saddleback?
> Spiritual but
> not religious?
>
> The article also notes the changes in religious  broadcasting -- certainly
> the
> switch to cable and non-commercial  over-the-air stations has reduced costs
> considerably, but that has opened  up more opportunities for more
> broadcasters.
> It also helps in cable that  all these networks are offered at no cost to
> providers so that they can  add a half dozen or more channels to their
> lineup
> with no out-of-pocket  costs.
>
> And churches like TEC and the other mainline denominations find  the whole
> business beneath their dignity. Why would anyone want to attract  new
> members
> through using modern media? It would ruin the private club,  after all.
>
> From the NY Times:
>
> The Rev. Robert H. Schuller, a  California clergyman who started his
> ministry by
> preaching in a drive-in  movie theater and transformed it into an empire,
> building the landmark  megachurch the Crystal Cathedral, writing best
> sellers
> and, through  television, exhorting millions to believe in themselves, died
> on
> Thursday  in Artesia, Calif. He was 88.
>
> His family confirmed his death. Dr.  Schuller learned in August 2013 that
> he had
> esophageal cancer.
>
> Like  other empires, Dr. Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral Ministries faltered
> after
> he stepped down as its leader in 2006. Crushing debt from lavish
> overspending, a
> changing religious broadcast industry, an aging audience  and a mishandled
> family
> succession all contributed to its filing for  bankruptcy in 2010. The
> Crystal
> Cathedral was sold to the Roman Catholic  Diocese of Orange County in 2012.
>
>
> Continue reading the main  story
>
> Related Coverage
>
>
>
>
> The Crystal Cathedral, a  church founded by the Rev. Robert H. Schuller,
> the
> religious broadcaster.  Last week, it filed for bankruptcy protection.
>
> Debt and Disputes Cloud  the Crystal CathedralOCT. 23, 2010
>
>
>
>
> Robert Schuller Family  Cuts Ties to Crystal CathedralMARCH 11, 2012
>
>
> But for more than 40  years, Dr. Schuller was an apostle of positive
> thinking and
> a symbol of  success. A charismatic shepherd, he was one of television’s
> first
> preachers to reach audiences around the world with a hopeful message of
> self-healing and self-empowerment. (One of his books is titled “Turning
> Hurts
> Into Halos.”)
>
> Photo
>
>
>
> The Crystal Cathedral in  Garden Grove, Calif. Credit Monica Almeida/The
> New York
> Times
>
> His  ministry represented a new wave in mainstream American Protestantism,
> one
> that held out hope not just for achieving personal salvation, its
> traditional
> concern, but also for solving personal problems. Dr. Schuller  proclaimed a
> “theology of self-esteem” and a belief in the power of  “possibility
> thinking.”
>
> Typically wearing lavender and purple vestments  and a broad smile, he
> became a
> Sunday-morning fixture in countless homes,  a kind-faced, white-haired
> pastor
> delivering sermons on “Hour of Power.”  Inaugurated in 1970, it became the
> nation’s
> most watched weekly religious  program in the 1980s.
>
> Probably nothing symbolized the ambition of his  enterprise more than the
> Crystal
> Cathedral, a glass-sheathed edifice he  built on 40 acres in Garden Grove,
> Calif., and opened in 1980. It cost $18  million the equivalent of $51
> million
> today.
>
>
>
> One of the  country’s first megachurches, the cathedral gave Dr. Schuller
> an
> imposing  pulpit from which to reach his global flock, not to mention a
> roomy
> stage  for his showmanship; the church’s Christmas pageant came complete
> with
> live camels and horses and angels overhead on cables.
>
> His own  religious upbringing was of the conventional sort. Robert Harold
> Schuller  was born on Sept. 16, 1926, on a farm in Alton, Iowa. He was
> raised in
> the  Dutch Reformed Church and educated at two of its institutions, Hope
> College
> and Western Theological Seminary, both in Holland, Mich. After graduating
> in
> 1950, he became a pastor in Chicago.
>
> Five years later, he had  joined the postwar exodus to booming Southern
> California, where he hoped  to establish a church that would attract people
> who
> were not churchgoers.  Scouting for a place to hold services, he and his
> wife,
> Arvella, settled  on a drive-in theater off the Santa Ana Freeway in Orange
> County. On  Sunday mornings, he could rent it for $10. There, he built an
> altar
> and a  15-foot cross and took out an ad in a local paper.
>
> Continue reading the  main story
>
> “Worship as you are,” it said, “in the family  car.”
>
> The first meeting of the Garden Grove Community Church was held  on March
> 27,
> 1955. About 75 motorists and their families showed up to  listen to Dr.
> Schuller
> preach from the roof of the drive-in’s refreshment  stand. The offering
> that day
> was $86.79.
>
> The congregation, formally  affiliated with the Reformed Church in America,
> a
> mainline Protestant  denomination, grew steadily on Dr. Schuller’s tireless
> mailing and  doorbell-ringing campaigns. But it was a visit from a guest
> speaker,
> the  Rev. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, the author of the best-selling book “
> The
> Power of Positive Thinking,” that propelled the church to wider
> recognition and
> drove Dr. Schuller in a new direction.
>
> Hearing Dr.  Peale talk to the congregation about the personal benefits of
> accepting  God was a revelation for Dr. Schuller.
>
> “That sermon by Dr. Peale  changed my style from ‘preaching’ to ‘
> witnessing,’ ”
> he said in a 1975  interview with The Los Angeles Times. “Until that
> moment, I
> looked upon  the job of a sermon to be fundamentally directed to generate a
> sense
> of  guilt in guilty hearts.”
>
> Dr. Schuller realized that a somber message,  especially in sunny
> California, was
> hardly the best way to draw people to  church. It also dawned on him, he
> said,
> that “Jesus never called a human  being a sinner.”
>
> In 1961, the Garden Grove Community Church moved to a  new sanctuary
> designed by
> the prominent modernist architect Richard  Neutra. Seven years later, it
> was
> joined by another Neutra-designed  structure, a 14-story glass Tower of
> Hope
> filled with offices and a chapel  and topped by a 90-foot neon cross that
> could
> be seen from Disneyland in  Anaheim, a mile and a half away.
>
> Photo
>
>
>
> Dr. Schuller in  1997, speaking from the pulpit. He and his family cut ties
> with
> Crystal  Cathedral in 2012, the year it was sold to the Roman Catholic
> Diocese of
> Orange County. Credit John T. Barr/Crystal Cathedral
>
> But the  centerpiece of the Schuller architectural empire was yet to come:
> the
> Crystal Cathedral, a glass structure shaped like a four-pointed star and
> longer
> than a football field, designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee.  Opened
> in
> 1980, it featured more than 10,000 panes of glass and seated  almost 3,000
> worshipers and 1,000 singers and musicians.
>
> It also  held one of the world’s largest pipe organs and a giant indoor
> television  screen. Outside, it had another stadium-size screen for
> drive-in
> worshipers.
>
> The cathedral was conceived in part as the studio for  the “Hour of Power”
> telecasts. Accompanied by the choir, Dr. Schuller  began each program in
> dramatic
> fashion, striding to the pulpit and  pressing a button that opened two
> 90-foot
> doors behind him, offering a  broad view of the outside world, and sent
> water
> jetting from a dozen  fountains.
>
> The theatrics and his upbeat sermons, peppered with  catchphrases like “
> Turn your
> scars into stars” and “It takes guts to leave  the ruts,” made “Hour of
> Power”
> one of the most-watched religious shows in  history and generated millions
> in
> donations. It drew more than 7.5 million  American viewers weekly in the
> mid-1980s and added twice that number after  it began appearing in dozens
> of
> other countries.
>
> Perhaps the  greatest sign of its popularity came in 1989, when the
> authorities
> in  Moscow invited Dr. Schuller to speak in the Soviet Union’s first
> religious
> telecast. He soon began taping a special monthly show for Soviet national
> television.
>
> Continue reading the main story Continue reading the  main story
>
> Continue reading the main story
>
> His success on the  air also paved the way for frequent best sellers,
> including
> “Tough Times  Don’t Last, but Tough People Do” and “If It’s Going to Be,
> It’s Up
> to Me.”  In all, he wrote more than 30 books.
>
> He even took his message to the  White House in 1995, when President Bill
> Clinton
> invited him for a private  prayer meeting during a tough moment in his
> presidency. The next year, he  was invited by the Palestinian leader Yasir
> Arafat
> to a private meeting to  discuss hopes for world peace.
>
> In Garden Grove, he added a $20 million  Center for Possibility Thinking,
> designed by Richard Meier. At the  groundbreaking ceremony in 2001, Dr.
> Schuller
> received a lifetime  achievement award from the American Institute of
> Architects.
>
> He retired  as the pastor of the Garden Grove Community Church on the first
> day
> of  2006, handing over leadership to his only son, Robert A. Schuller, and
> leaving the church deeply in debt, largely because of the lavish building
> project. His son was pushed out within two years, setting off a family
> feud when
> his sisters and their husbands took control of the church in  2008. One
> daughter,
> the Rev. Sheila Schuller Coleman, became head  pastor.
>
> After filing for bankruptcy protection, the church sold its  campus to
> investors
> in 2011, and after the Diocese of Orange County bought  the property in
> 2012, the
> church was renamed Christ Cathedral.
>
> Dr.  Schuller’s wife died in 2014. In addition to his son and Ms. Schuller
> Coleman, his survivors include three other daughters, Jeanne Dunn, Carol
> Milner
> and Gretchen Penner; 19 grandchildren; and many  great-grandchildren.
>
> Dr. Schuller ended his relationship with the  church in bitterness. In
> 2012, he
> and his wife resigned from the board of  Crystal Cathedral Ministries,
> citing an
> “adversarial and negative  atmosphere” amid a lawsuit over payments to Dr.
> Schuller for the use of  his likeness and sermons on “Hour of Power.”
>
> Days earlier, the board  had forced Dr. Schuller’s daughter Gretchen Penner
> and
> two of his  sons-in-law to resign their leadership positions. After the
> cathedral
> was  sold, the family cut its ties with “Hour of Power,” and Ms. Schuller
> Coleman
> led a breakaway group of parishioners in establishing a new church, the
> Hope
> Center of Christ, in Orange County. Dr. Schuller’s grandson Bobby  recently
> became the lead pastor of both “Hour of Power” and the successor  to Dr.
> Schuller’s
> original church, now called Shepherd’s Grove.
>
> The  financial setbacks, firings and general ill will between the family
> and the
> church’s board left many parishioners shocked and saddened by the sudden
> collapse of their cherished church and its beloved founder’s sour last
> chapter.
>
> But even in resigning, Dr. Schuller left behind a positive  message. “No
> matter
> what, God is still God,” he wrote on his Facebook  page. “No matter what,
> God is
> still a good God. God loves you, and so do  I.”
>
> Cheers,
> Jim
>
> "The enemy isn’t liberalism;
> the enemy  isn’t conservatism.
> The enemy, is baloney." - Lars Erik Nelson
>
>