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| Come down and fight like a man. |
GARDEN GROVE, California (AP) — The Crystal Cathedral is getting a new name and the congregation of the financially struggling Orange County megachurch will relocate, its senior pastor announced Sunday.
The ministry will be renamed Hope Center of Christ, Sheila Schuller Coleman said in a short video posted on the Crystal Cathedral website.
An announcement regarding the new location will be made in the next few weeks, she said.
The church sold its iconic glass-paned cathedral to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange last month to emerge from federal bankruptcy protection.
"We're going to need a new home sooner than we thought. And we're moving full speed ahead," the pastor said.
She gave no indication whether or not the congregation would remain in Orange County, the ministry's home since its founding by the pastor's father, Dr. Robert Schuller, at a drive-in movie theater 42 years ago.
Robert Schuller retired in 2006 after seeing the ministry evolve into a global televangelist empire.
On Saturday he and his wife, Arvella, announced they were stepping down from the Crystal Cathedral board of directors. The couple cited a breakdown in negotiations over financial claims against the church as part of the bankruptcy proceedings.
[Related: Schuller leaves church board]
Robert Schuller's attorney, Carl Grumer, said Saturday the pastor's future role with the ministry was "up in the air."
Calls to a Crystal Cathedral spokesman over the weekend were not immediately returned.
The church raked in millions in donations through its "Hour of Power" broadcasts, but a series of financial setbacks led to the megachurch's filing for bankruptcy in October 2010 and the forced sale of its 40-acre (16-hectare) campus.
[Related Crystal Cathedral Choir]
Turmoil in the ministry included the firings of Schuller's daughter Gretchen Penner and two sons-in-law last week.
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bruce-church (http://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Schullers Quit Board of the Crystal Cathedral. Wil...":
Evidently Schuller had already given up title to his old "drive-in" style church since it is called the Garden Grove Community Church. However, it was on the same campus as his Crystal Cathedral. Now being divested of everything like that must be painful for him.
Also, the board seems to have cleared house of all the Schullers since they fired his daughter and two sons-in-law who were producing the TV show Hour of Power. Of course, they are all millionaires by now so they won't be hurting too much. They are revamping the Hour of Power so it won't go off the air:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/traderchris/4140647724/
Garden Grove Community Church
Garden Grove, California, 4-29-07. This was a "drive-in church," designed by Richard Neutra for Rev. Robert Schuller.
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/usa/crystal-cathedral
Aerial view of the Crystal Cathedral complex, showing the star-shaped plan and the old drive-in church to the south.
http://www.kcbi.org/news/kcbi-news/crystal-cathedral-firings
California's Orange County Register reports that the church's board voted to oust the Rev. Robert H. Schuller's daughter and two sons-in-law along with five other people.
Gretchen Schuller Penner
http://www.facebook.com/gretchen.penner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H._Schuller
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rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Schullers Quit Board of the Crystal Cathedral. Wil...":
The Crystal Cathedral is certainly not the only church property in trouble:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/09/us-usa-housing-churches-idUSBRE82803120120309
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bruce-church (http://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Schullers Quit Board of the Crystal Cathedral. Wil...":
Evidently Schuller had already given up title to his old "drive-in" style church since it is called the Garden Grove Community Church. However, it was on the same campus as his Crystal Cathedral. Now being divested of everything like that must be painful for him.
Also, the board seems to have cleared house of all the Schullers since they fired his daughter and two sons-in-law who were producing the TV show Hour of Power. Of course, they are all millionaires by now so they won't be hurting too much. They are revamping the Hour of Power so it won't go off the air:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/traderchris/4140647724/
Garden Grove Community Church
Garden Grove, California, 4-29-07. This was a "drive-in church," designed by Richard Neutra for Rev. Robert Schuller.
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/usa/crystal-cathedral
Aerial view of the Crystal Cathedral complex, showing the star-shaped plan and the old drive-in church to the south.
http://www.kcbi.org/news/kcbi-news/crystal-cathedral-firings
California's Orange County Register reports that the church's board voted to oust the Rev. Robert H. Schuller's daughter and two sons-in-law along with five other people.
Gretchen Schuller Penner
http://www.facebook.com/gretchen.penner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H._Schuller
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rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Schullers Quit Board of the Crystal Cathedral. Wil...":
The Crystal Cathedral is certainly not the only church property in trouble:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/09/us-usa-housing-churches-idUSBRE82803120120309
