Posted on 05/26/2011 10:54:04 PM PDT by jeannineinsd
GARDEN GROVE Crystal Cathedral Ministries will sell its gleaming glass sanctuary and tower that have been an Orange County landmark for decades as a way to emerge from bankruptcy, pay its creditors and erase its $36 million mortgage, officials said Thursday.
The church plans to sell the campus to a real estate investment group with a guaranteed 15-year leaseback and an exclusive four-year, fixed purchase buyback option on the core church campus, which includes the iconic glass sanctuary and Tower of Hope, according to a news release posted on the church's website.
Marc Winthrop, the attorney representing the cathedral in bankruptcy court, said the plan will ensure that the church can continue its ministry and other programs unhindered.
"The purpose of this plan is to generate funds to repay creditors without affecting the ability of the ministry to operate," he said.
No details have been released about the purchase price or the identity of the investor. But Winthrop confirmed that "there is a buyer and a seller." The church owes about $7.5 million to unsecured creditors including many longtime vendors who provided services for its annual Christmas and Easter pageants.
Church administrators say the cathedral will continue its local worship services, community outreach programs and its weekly "Hour of Power" broadcasts. Also, the plan will immediately eliminate both the church's mortgage and the majority of its vendor debt, they say. Any remaining vendor debt will be repaid over the next 42 months, officials say.
Senior Pastor Sheila Schuller Coleman, who took over leadership of the megachurch from her father and founder, Robert H. Schuller, said this plan was picked over other proposals because it repays the vendors quickly without interrupting the ministry's work.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
Robert A Schuller, $196,478, Hour of Power
Fred W. Southard, $156,710, Hour of Power
James W. Coleman,$156,710, Hour of Power
James B. Penner, $156,710, Hour of Power
Louise Dunn, $154,731, Church
Charles L. Smith, $135,519, Hour of Power
John A. Townsend, $125,027, Hour of Power
Carol Milner, $108,415, Hour of Power
Robert H. Schuller, $108,415, Hour of Power
Donna Schuller, $80,308, Hour of Power
Gretchen J. Penner, $69,792, Hour of Power
Sheila Coleman, $69,792, Church
Source: Fred Southard declaration, Oct. 19, 2010, bankruptcy Exhibit 1
http://articles.ocregister.com/2010-10-23/cities/24819474_1_power-sheila-coleman-crystal-cathedral
Hah, they don’t pay as much as educators make in the school system. Principals, etc. Why is it some people think that ministers have to live dirt poor and eat out of garbage cans?
Because they are broke and owe a lot of money. Cutting salaries and overhead is how private entities take care of things like the bankruptcy. Cutting those salaries in half would not send those folks to the poor house. Maybe if they did that years ago along with a lot more cut backs, they could have avoided the whole mess.
That looks like cop pay, or fireman pay, it is less than lifeguards in Newport Beach make.
That explains a lot about the fiscal condition of CA.
It explains a lot about the cost of living in CA.
I don’t think ministers need to live dirt poor and eat out of garbage cans.
I do think ministers should pay their bills, though. I don’t think ministers need to put their whole family, including sons-in-law, on the payroll when the church cannot pay their suppliers.
Cost of living couldn’t be related to giving Gov’t employees three figure salaries? It all starts somewhere. Takes a lot of taxes to run a Gov’t payed like that. Raises the price on everything to pay the taxes.
I have no problem with pastor Schuller’s salary. I make good money doing what I do; no reason why a pastor should earn any less.
However, I do have a problem with Schuller’s shallow, feel-good theology.
The problem here is that this operation is in California. They all have house mortgages which are beyond imagination. If you start to cut more than ten percent of their salary....they will likely start to have various problems (with the bank, the property taxes, the state income taxes, etc).
I would also note that the typical police Lt in LA or SF often makes at least $120k, and there are senior city/county clerks in the state of California who make $200k. So these guys are making what would be a typical average California salary...if you ask me.
Sadly, that’s chicken feed in CA. No kidding, that’s how bad it is out there.
The taxpayers will buy it. It will become the Obama’s retirement home after he leaves office. Then he can genuflect to himself whenever he feels like it.
“I have no problem with pastor Schuller’s salary. I make good money doing what I do; no reason why a pastor should earn any less. However, I do have a problem with Schuller’s shallow, feel-good theology.”
Agree. A person running an organization this large is like the CEO of a mid-size company. $200,000 is not a lot of money for that skill set.
It’s a little like being a county commissioner where I live. They only get $70,000 a year and they are running an organization that collects and spends $400 million every year.
Both folks are underpaid because of the type of organization they work for.
A pastor who spends a church into bankruptcy deserves to earn $200,000 a year plus benefits and retirement from the pockets of the congregation?
$50,000 would keep a guy out of the garbage cans and give him a decent place to live.
Not in Orange country.
It looks like Schuller wasn’t thinking positively enough.
Does the minister HAVE to live in Orange county? Is that a requirement to work for the church?
By any standard in any county in the USA, HALF of Shuller’s $200,000 salary is a middle class income.
A QUARTER of Shuller’s $200,000 salary would allow him to rent a decent apartment or house and pay all his bills - unless he feels that he should live a life of luxury and convenience.
I wonder whether these folks drive Chevys or BMWs? Do they have chauffers?
Whether they eat a lunch from home or go out most of the time?
And when they do go out, whether it’s to Applebees or Spago (and does the church pay)?
Whther they buy suits at LandsEnd or else at Brooks Brothers or Armani?
Do they pay their own health insurance and retirement, or is that on top of the salary?
And is the health insurance goldplated and the retirement a golden parachute?
How many church-funded conferences at resort hotels (aka vacations) do these folks attend each year?
Sounds a LOT like a Pelosi lifestyle: living large on little people’s money while running the little people’s organization into bankruptcy.
If it’s of God, you can’t stop it. If it’s not of God, it will amount to nothing.
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