400 would not look like much in this building.
Posted on 11/21/2011 6:27:15 AM PST by marshmallow
The bankrupt megachurch is to be sold to the Diocese of Orange.
GARDEN GROVE – Crystal Cathedral's head pastor spoke optimistically about the future of her iconic megachurch at Sunday morning services, telling a congregation of about 400 that it was not too late to ask God to intervene and stop the church's impending sale to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange.
Senior Pastor Sheila Schuller Coleman, the daughter of the church's founder, offered a prayer thanking God for "intentionally delaying" a miracle, and indicated that the bankrupt church would continue to pray and wait for God to reveal His final plans.
"Is a miracle delayed, denied?" Coleman asked repeatedly during the service, as congregants shouted "No!" from the pews.
"We have many reasons to believe that God's miracle will still come to pass," Coleman said, "and His glory will still shine all that much brighter."
On Thursday, a U.S. bankruptcy judge ruled that the Diocese of Orange would be able to purchase the 40-acre Crystal Cathedral campus for $57.5 million. In his decision, Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kwan in Santa Ana rejected a higher offer of $59 million from Chapman University in Orange, which was the other top contender for the Garden Grove property.
Under the diocese's plan, the ministry will be able to lease the core buildings – including the glass-walled sanctuary and its shimmering tower – for three years, at $100,000 a month during the first year and $150,000 for years two and three. They also will be able to lease back the Crystal Cathedral school building for $10,000 a month through summer 2013.
Church officials announced a day before Thursday's ruling that they were backing the diocese's offer, after previously saying on two different occasions that they would back Chapman's offer.
The bankruptcy process has strained already tense...........
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
telling a congregation of about 400
I wonder what their membership and attendance stats are.
My only question is why does the Catholic church want to buy it anyway? Seems like a lot of money and if there is a strong Catholic community there now do they not already have church’s? Are they trying to consolidate? Sound like it is not a real good decision but I am not totally aware of all the factors.
So much for Schuller’s “Be Happy Attitudes” I guess?
400 would not look like much in this building.
Looks like it would make a great conservatory.
They go on generation after generation with loyal families who support their church and pastors who are there because they love God, not the dollars and the celebrity.
If I ever were to become a Christian, it surely would be at one of those country churches rather than one of the showmanship edifices of the Schuller-Osteen variety.
It would make a great church if they just preached God’s Word.
Feel-good, man-centered Christianity has a short shelf life. 1 Thessalonians 5:12 ..be in the Lord.
One earthquake away from a big pile of shiny rubble.
2 Corinthians 6:1 As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. 2 For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.
The prosperous Orange County Archdiocese has been wanting to build a cathedral in the area for a long time and the iconic Crystal Cathedral apparently is a very good fit for them. It is a very beautiful church.
The real tragedy is the rift in the Schiller family that led up to this.
Couple of factoids that might help answer that question:
Ministry Watch reports that the "Crystal Cathedral" can seat 2890, with 1000 additional seats/space for choir, ministry staff, etc. I think it's safe to say that the "congregation of about 400" mentioned in the article is an indication that membership has seriously declined.
A Businessweek article last week mentions that the "Hour Of Power" broadcast brings in 70% of the church's revenue, and conjectures that changing the locale of the broadcast (to the 1,200-seat St. Callistus Catholic church) would jeopardize the size of its television audience and further shrink the church.
If the Catholics get the building, they will likely turn it into a real cathedral.
Well aren't they going to hold mass in that space on Sundays? It's not clear to me why they are buying this.
The sad truth is...despite how beautiful the church may appear, you might as well have written ‘Ichabod’( Hebrew for “the glory of the Lord has departed”) above the door...if God’s glory was ever there at all.
The doctrine ‘preached’ there was not in line with God’s truth.
This is a great example of how “prayer” has been perverted. God is not going to hand you a stack of cash to get you out of your financial troubles. He’s not going to stop the bank from foreclosing on your home. He’s not going to stop your elderly mother or father from dying. It sickens me when I hear people talk like that. It ain’t happening. If it did, Christians would all be millionaires and live forever on this earth.
God is not going to stop the sale of this monstrosity anymore than God was going to stop the foreclosure and sale of Jim Baker’s Christian amusement park (remember that?).
These people should be praying for God to help them get THROUGH hard times, not prevent hard times.
The present Holy Family Cathedral in the city of Orange is a large parish church (Orange County has been separate from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for only about 25 years). There are over 1 million people who claim to be Catholic in Orange County, and the diocese needed a larger cathedral.
I think there is a certain irony involved with this purchase, in that the Roman Catholic church is taking over an edifice constructed by a Calvinist (Robert Schuller is an ordained minister in the Reformed Church in America, one of the Dutch Calvinist sects). I’ve visited St. Pierre in Geneva, which was standing in the 16th Century when John Calvin turned into a protestant temple. Now we have the grandest temple of the Calvinist movement being transformed into a Roman Catholic cathedral. St. Francis de Sales would be proud.
Sadly, their “god”: Norman Vincent Peal can not hear or help them because he is dead.
Sadly, their “god”: Norman Vincent Peal can not hear or help them because he is dead.
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