Garden Grove -- The popular Hispanic church of the Crystal Cathedral will have a new name and a new home next month—leaving the troubled cathedral behind.
The Hispanic ministry will move to the Anaheim Convention Center and be renamed Favorday Church, Pastor Dante Gebel announced this week on his website and Facebook page.
A "massive crusade" will kick off the church's new beginning at 5 pm April 7, followed by an Easter service the following morning.
"We are very happy and are eternally grateful to all the Schuller family," Gebel said in the news release. "If it were not for them, the Hispanic church would never have existed."
More than two decades ago, Crystal Cathedral Founder Robert H. Schuller called upon Pastor Juan Carlos Ortiz "to start a Hispanic ministry with absolute freedom to preach and to project future growth," Gebel wrote.
Three years ago, Gebel came aboard and the congregation grew from some 300 to more than 5,000 people every Sunday, he said.
"We knew that sooner or later we would have to relocate to a larger location, but we asked the Lord that this change be for the better and he exceeded our expectations," Gebel said. "Not only were doors opened for us at the arena at the Anaheim convention center, but we have the capacity to comfortably seat ten thousand people, which allows us to project and continue to expand, considering the astonishing growth the Hispanic church has had in such a short time."
Gebel's sermons are viewed by more than a million and a half users via his website, www.dantegebel.com, and are also broadcasted via Telemundo television network, DirectTV and Dish Network, according to the news release.
Meanwhile, the Crystal Cathedral Ministries is struggling as it deals with a bankruptcy case, the forced sale of its building, a deep drop in donations and shake-ups in its leadership.
Earlier this week, three members of the Schuller family were fired from their top positions in the ministry. And the once popular Hour of Power television program will go into re-runs for the next several weeks while leaders "determine a new direction for the show."
Gebel said he is leaving "with the blessing of the entire board of directors and Senior Pastor Sheila Schuller Coleman."
In a statement on Gebel's news release, Schuller Coleman said: "His ministry has brought tremendous joy to all of us at Crystal Cathedral. One of my main concerns with the loss of our campus was this vibrant, growing ministry. So, I am extremely happy that this ministry has found a new home so close."
"Dante and I share the same vision for central Orange County and I look forward to partnering with him in the years to come," Schuller Coleman wrote. "Nothing would make me happier than for this ministry to grow until it is the largest in the world."
