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When the Rev. Robert H. Schuller decided in the mid-1970s that his congregation was outgrowing the drive-in, low-slung Garden Grove church that Richard Neutra had designed for him 15 years earlier within earshot of Interstate 5, and that he needed a purpose-built cathedral to accommodate his increasingly popular “Hour of Power” televised sermons, he flew to New York to visit the architecture firm run by Philip Johnson and John Burgee. On the face of it, Schuller and Johnson were a very strange match, the self-made Orange County televangelist and the smoothly moneyed New York architect who was also an atheist...

Services for Crystal Cathedral founder, the Rev. Robert H. Schuller, will be held in the very iconic sanctuary that his ministry created. While it's now under the ownership of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange and named Christ Cathedral, the large southern California church building will be used for the famous televangelist's funeral. Carol Schuller-Milner, daughter of the former "Hour of Power" host and head of Crystal Cathedral Ministries, announced the details last weekend. "A funeral service for Crystal Cathedral founder Robert H. Schuller has been scheduled for 10 a.m. April 20 at the Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove," noted...

Just hours after his former church congregation issued a call for prayer for his health, family members of the influential Rev. Robert H. Schuller has announced his death at the age of 88.The Associated Press reported via Twitter just at 10:23 a.m. ET that Carol Schuller Milner, Schuller's daughter, had reported his death.Schuller's grandson, who has been leading the church founded by former members of the Crystal Cathedral congregation since 2013, confirmed his passing via Twitter, writing: "My Grandfather Robert H. Schuller passed this morning into eternal life with Christ."Schuller, who lost his wife, Arvella Schuller, in Feb. 2014, passed away...

2 Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. I am sad at the news of fellow Iowan Dr. Robert Schuller and pray for the comfort of the Lord on his family. However, I am very concerned for his soul. Dr. Robert Schuller was a prolific false teacher whose errant teachings destroyed thousands, if not millions (especially old ladies who could not drive to church who clung to...

ARTESIA, Calif. (AP) — The Rev. Robert H. Schuller, the Southern California televangelist and author who beamed his upbeat messages on faith and redemption to millions from his landmark Crystal Cathedral only to see his empire crumble in his waning years, has died. He was 88. Schuller died early Thursday at a care facility in Artesia, daughter Carol Schuller Milner said. He was diagnosed with terminal esophageal cancer in 2013. Schuller, who preached in a flowing purple robe and outsized aviator glasses, led an evangelical Protestant ministry that was a product of modern technology. He and his late wife, Arvella,...

ORANGE COUNTY, CA (ANS - April 1, 2015) -- Dr. Robert H. Schuller, famed televangelist and founder of the Crystal Cathedral Ministries, is in critical condition in a Los Angeles-area nursing home and is not expected to make it through the week, family members said Tuesday (March 31, 2015). This has been revealed in a story by Deepa Bharath, staff writer for the Orange County Register Bharath said that according to his daughter-in-law, Donna Schuller, the reverend's condition has been deteriorating since he had an exploratory procedure in January examining his digestive tract. Donna Schuller, a regular contributor to the...

The former senior pastor of the Crystal Cathedral, Robert A. Schuller, has announced that he will default on his home in Laguna Beach, Calif., after unsuccessful attempts to sell the home before its Nov. 2 foreclosure date. "I'm short-selling my house. I have more loans than I can sell the house for," Schuller said in a recent interview with the Orange County Register. "The house will not go into foreclosure. It will be a short sale," Schuller said, adding: "I can't afford the house as I once could." Schuller, who is the son of the Crystal Cathedral's founder, the Rev....

GARDEN GROVE (CBS) — The Rev. Robert H. Schuller and his wife, Arvella, have resigned from the board of the Crystal Cathedral, the mega-church he founded more than 55 years ago. Their resignations, announced Saturday “with great sadness,” come less than a week after three of their relatives – including a daughter – were ousted amid ongoing financial squabbles, declining donations and suspension of production on the church’s signature television program, “Hour of Power.” “We cannot continue to serve on the board in what has become an adversarial and negative atmosphere, especially since it now seems that it will not...

The Rev. Robert H. Schuller and his wife, Arvella, announced "with great sadness" their resignations Saturday from the Crystal Cathedral board of directors. "We cannot continue to serve on the Board in what has become an adversarial and negative atmosphere, especially since it now seems that it will not be ending anytime soon," Arvella Schuller was quoted as saying in a news release. Robert Schuller grew the ministry from a congregation that met in a drive-in theater in Orange in 1955 to a thriving megachurch that attracted thousands to its striking building in Garden Grove. Schuller's "Hour of Power" television...

An email sent out to the Crystal Cathedral's congregation requested meals for founder Robert Schuller's wife, Arvella, who is sick with pneumonia. Crystal Cathderal Ministries, a glass-walled Orange County church known for its "Hour of Power" broadcasts, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Oct. 18. The Schullers, church administrators, have come under fire after court documents revealed they may have taken nearly $10 million from the church's endowment funds. The email sent by Pastor Jim Kok asked parishioners not to send cards, because church staff and the Schullers want to keep her illness "under the radar." "However, they would appreciate...

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County, California is buying Robert Schuller's celebrated Protestant Crystal Cathedral megachurch for $57.5 million, the LA Times reports. The spacious, light-filled house of worship is a "a monument of 20th century modernist architecture," the Times writes.

An Orange County bankruptcy judge ruled Thursday that the Crystal Cathedral, a monument to modernism in faith and architecture, will be sold for $57.5 million to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, which plans to consecrate it as a Catholic cathedral. The ruling was a blow to Chapman University, which had fought bitterly down to the final moments of the bankruptcy case for the right to buy the property as a satellite campus. It also marked the end of a remarkable chapter in the history of American Christianity, one that was written in glass and steel by the Crystal Cathedral's...

SANTA ANA, Calif., Nov. 10 (UPI) -- The Roman Catholic diocese of Orange County has promised to honor Robert Schuller's legacy if it acquires his Crystal Cathedral in Southern California. A bankruptcy judge is scheduled to decide on the future of the complex at a hearing Monday, The Orange County Register reported. At a hearing Wednesday, a lawyer for the diocese said it was adding $1.8 million to its offer for the cathedral, bringing the total to $55.4 million. The cathedral board has said it would prefer an offer by Chapman University, an institution affiliated with the Disciples of Christ....

A new and intriguing prospect for the Crystal Cathedral emerged Wednesday when the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange said it was considering buying the bankrupt church in Garden Grove and converting it to a Catholic cathedral. The announcement by Orange Bishop Tod Brown came one day after Chapman University made a $46-million bid for the 40-acre site. The Crystal Cathedral had earlier reached a tentative agreement for a sale and lease-back deal with a real estate developer, subject to approval by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Kwan. A sale to the Catholic Church would solve a longstanding problem for the...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Several members of the Crystal Cathedral's congregation will independently hold a tribute Sunday night for the megachurch's long-time choral director, Don Neuen, the most recent member to resign after a dispute with founder Robert H. Schuller's children, now in charge of the ministry.

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...