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Some members of a bankrupt Orange County, Calif. megachurch are expressing outrage after fielding an email request for congregants to deliver food to waiting limos so that it can ferried to the founder's sick wife. The appeal comes weeks after a lawsuit charged that the founder of the Crystal Cathedral house of worship, Rev. Robert Schuller, and his family had been paying themselves lavish salaries and other benefits while the church was in financial straits. "They've completely depleted the church's funds," one member, Bob Canfield, told the Orange County Register. "But they have shown that they have absolutely no remorse...

Chapman University has increased its offer to purchase the 40-acre Crystal Cathedral property by $1.5 million, taking the total offer to $51.5 million. The university also has the blessing of the church's creditors committee, which in court documents filed Monday named Chapman as the preferred buyer. In addition, the university was selected over the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange by the cathedral's board, despite the diocese's higher offer of $53.6 million. The Chapman offer includes a 15-year leaseback and buyback option that would allow the cathedral to continue its ministry and iconic "Hour of Power" broadcasts, which have a worldwide...

Crystal Cathedral Ministries has chosen Chapman University to purchase its 40-acre Garden Grove, Calif., property as the megachurch tries to pull out of an estimated $50 million debt. Chapman was among several interested buyers, which included Hobby Lobby and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange. The university, which offered $50 million for the campus, will reportedly allow Crystal Cathedral to "continue serving its mission," by letting it lease, and eventually buy back its core buildings, The Los Angeles Times reported. “Chapman University is pleased and honored by the Crystal Cathedral Ministry Board’s decision to select the University as the buyer...

Leaders of Crystal Cathedral have announced that selling the California church, laden with nearly $50 million in debt, is no longer an option and say they believe that God is going to turn the church’s situation around for good. Surprising even church founder Robert H. Schuller, Crystal Cathedral Ministries Board Member Walt Kallestad revealed Sunday that church leaders had done a one-eighty, deciding that the Orange County church “is not for sale” after all, no matter what the Creditors Committee tasked with settling the church's debt have in mind. The Creditors Committee is responsible for ensuring that Crystal Cathedral's debt...

Leaders of Crystal Cathedral have announced that selling the California church, laden with nearly $50 million in debt, is no longer an option and say they believe that God is going to turn the church’s situation around for good. Surprising even church founder Robert H. Schuller, Crystal Cathedral Ministries Board Member Walt Kallestad revealed Sunday that church leaders had done a one-eighty, deciding that the Orange County church “is not for sale” after all, no matter what the Creditors Committee tasked with settling the church's debt have in mind. The Creditors Committee is responsible for ensuring that Crystal Cathedral's debt...

Apparently it could happen, according to Spero News:The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange (Calif.) has made an offer to purchase the iconic Crystal Cathedral, built by evangelical personality Rev. Robert H. Schuller.  The $50 million offer could pull the megachurch out of bankruptcy by the end of 2011.  ...Calling it a "pragmatic alternative to construction of a new cathedral, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange has submitted a formal bid for the Crystal Cathedral, adjacent campus property, buildings and memorial grounds,” said Catholic Bishop Tod D. Brown of Orange in a July 22 statement. After the Crystal Cathedral Ministries Board of Directors reviews...

Concern over keeping Southern California’s Crystal Cathedral as part of the “liturgical landscape” has the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County considering the purchase of the church property. The announcement from the diocese came around the same time that Chapman University, an Orange County, Calif. college, offered $46 million for the landmark church that hosted the Rev. Robert H. Shuller’s “Hour of Power.” Crystal Cathedral Ministries, which has its roots in the Protestant denomination, has been looking for an exit strategy from its debt of tens of millions of dollars ever since filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last October....

The Crystal Cathedral, Orange County’s landmark megachurch, now faces an online petition launched by senior members alleging nepotism and a doctrinal shift by founder Robert H. Schuller’s daughters. “It is time to rise up and take our church back!” says the petition, soliciting signatures of Crystal Cathedral members, former members, friends and viewers of Schuller’s Hour of Power weekly show. The petition, which had received over 330 signatures as of Sunday, seeks “a truly independent board,” meaning “no family member, no paid staff, and no paid contractors.” The board of trustees of the Crystal Cathedral currently includes salaried employees apart...

The two lines begin forming outside the Crystal Cathedral before 9 on Sunday mornings. It is a mostly immigrant crowd - Mexicans, Salvadorans, Guatemalans, among others - and they stand patiently, unfurling umbrellas against the sun. When the doors open for the 9:30 English-language service, the lines don't budge. It isn't for a lack of seats inside - so few people are there that cameramen have trouble finding crowd shots for the "Hour of Power" television program, which has been broadcast from the Garden Grove megachurch since 1970.

The Rev. Robert H. Schuller has been ousted from Crystal Cathedral Ministries, the Ocean County Register reports. Schuller, 84, who began his ministry in an Orange, Calif., drive-in theater more than 50 years ago, was voted off the board of the Crystal Ministries, which has been plagued by financial problems and familial discord, according to the paper. Schuller’s son, who was forced from the board three years ago, says his father wanted to enlarge the board, a move that did not sit well with others. "It's a very sad day and unfortunately, I know how that feels," the younger Schuller...

GARDEN GROVE – The Rev. Robert H. Schuller, who started his ministry in an Orange drive-in theater more than five decades ago, has been voted off the board of Crystal Cathedral Ministries, which has been torn apart by debt and familial disharmony for the last several years. The church has not released information about the board meeting where Schuller, 84, was ousted, but his son Robert A. Schuller, who was himself forced out of the cathedral by his sisters and brothers-in-law three years ago, confirmed it Sunday. He said his father wanted to enlarge the board, which was not received...

GARDEN GROVE – The Rev. Robert H. Schuller, who started his ministry in an Orange drive-in theater more than five decades ago, has been voted off the board of Crystal Cathedral Ministries, which has been torn apart by debt and familial disharmony for the last several years. The church has not released information about the board meeting where Schuller, 84, was ousted, but his son Robert A. Schuller, who was himself forced out of the cathedral by his sisters and brothers-in-law three years ago, confirmed it Sunday. `He said his father wanted to enlarge the board, which was not received...

The Crystal Cathedral, seeking a way to resolve its debt woes, will sell its church and 40-acre campus for $46 million to an Orange County developer, according to the federal bankruptcy plan filed Friday. Greenlaw Partners of Newport Beach will buy the property in Garden Grove, Calif., and plans to build apartments on the land, the Chapter 11 exit plan filed at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana disclosed. The real estate developer will lease the property back to Crystal Cathedral for $212,000 a month and guarantee exclusive lease rights for 15 years, according to the reorganization plan. The church...

The Crystal Cathedral is being put on the market as the church seeks a way out of its crippling debt. The Orange County church is hoping the sale of its imposing glass building will generate enough revenue to save it from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and make good with some 550 creditors. It has been looking for an exit strategy from its financial woes ever since filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last October. The reorganization plan includes the sale of the 40-acre campus to a real estate group with a guaranteed option of leasing it back for 15 years. After...

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...

On 18 October 2010, Southern California's landmark Crystal Cathedral, the prototype of all late 20th Century American Megachurches, filed for bankruptcy. I drove up the following Sunday to get a look at the place while it was still in operation. The Crystal Cathedral proper, a spectacular glass structure designed by Philip Johnson and completed in 1980, dominates a landscaped campus that includes the congregation's original church building, designed by Richard Neutra, Richard Meier's "Welcoming Center", and a variety of other buildings, reflecting pools and religiously themed statuary. A German tourist prevailed on me to take a picture of him and...

The news that the Crystal Cathedral had filed for bankruptcy protection made for an instant sensation. The church established by Robert Schuller, the very prophet of “Possibility Thinking,” was now forced to seek protection from its creditors, listing $55 million in debt, including a $36 million mortgage. The Los Angeles Times ran “Cracked Crystal” as a headline. The New York Times reported that the “landmark megachurch” would continue, even as it sought protection from its impatient creditors. From coast to coast, the news traveled fast. A statement posted on the church’s website dated October 18 was titled, “A New Chapter...

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. – Crystal Cathedral, the megachurch birthplace of the televangelist show "Hour of Power," filed for bankruptcy Monday in Southern California after struggling to emerge from debt that exceeds $43 million. In addition to a $36 million mortgage, the Orange County-based church owes $7.5 million to several hundred vendors for services ranging from advertising to the use of live animals in Easter and Christmas services. The church had been negotiating a repayment plan with vendors, but several filed lawsuits seeking quicker payment, which prompted a coalition formed by creditors to fall apart. "Tough times never last, every storm...

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. – The Rev. Robert H. Schuller, founder of Southern California's Crystal Cathedral megachurch and host of the "Hour of Power" televangelism broadcast, announced Sunday he will retire after 55 years in the pulpit and his daughter will take over. The 83-year-old Schuller told his congregation that Sheila Schuller Coleman will become sole lead pastor, after sharing that role with her father for the past year. Coleman previously served as principal of a private Christian school run by the cathedral and head of the Orange County church's family ministries division. She was ordained just a month before she...

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. – The Rev. Robert H. Schuller, founder of Southern California's Crystal Cathedral megachurch and host of the "Hour of Power" televangelism broadcast, announced Sunday he will retire after 55 years in the pulpit and his daughter will take over. The 83-year-old Schuller told his congregation that Sheila Schuller Coleman will become sole lead pastor, after sharing that role with her father for the past year. Coleman previously served as principal of a private Christian school run by the cathedral and head of the Orange County church's family ministries division.