Garden Grove - Bobby Schuller, the grandson of the Rev. Robert H. Schuller, is the new pastor for the Crystal Cathedral's "Hour of Power" television program.
His Sunday morning sermons will be heard across the U.S. and 11 other countries, John Charles, president and chief executive officer, announced at a congregational meeting Thursday night.
"He's been a true godsend," Charles said of the 31-year-old Schuller, who began filling in as a guest pastor last spring amid financial and leadership turmoil. Schuller also has filled in as pastor for the Netherlands' "Hour of Power' television program in 2010-11.
The cathedral's board of directors voted to give the job to Schuller and make him a non-voting member of the board, Charles said. Schuller will remain an unpaid pastor until the ministry moves to a new campus this summer and settles some of its financial issues, Charles said.
"God is doing something special here," Schuller said Thursday night.
The storied ministry is undergoing rapid changes as it puts behind a bankruptcy and court-ordered sale of its campus and plans to move to a site about a mile away. The congregation will lease the St. Callistus Catholic Church beginning in June.
Schuller, who holds a master of divinity degree from Fuller Theological Seminary, has two other ministries. He is a teaching pastor at the Tree of Life Community church in Orange and heads his own nonprofit called the St. Patrick Project, which helps support him through honorariums and donations.
Schuller said he wants to grow the cathedral ministry, partner older congregants with younger ones through a mentoring program and bring back a sense of family to the congregation.
"Something happened there," Schuller said Thursday. "I don't know what it is, and I'm not casting judgment. Maybe something was lost."
"When we go to St. Callistus, we'll remember what it truly means to be a church ... a community of people who are there for each other day in and day out," he told the congregants.
The ministry also plans to name a second lead pastor after it leaves its famous, glass-paneled church and campus this summer. But first, the congregation must decide whether it will return under the umbrella of the Reformed Church in America. At one point, the Crystal Cathedral was the RCA's flagship church.
The move from the campus of more than 34 acres will be massive, and much will have to be placed in storage, Charles said in an interview.
There will be yard sales.
"Right now, I'm ready for a costume sale if you're ready to buy," Charles told some 150 congregants, referring to the costumes worn in the extravagant annual "Glory of Christmas" pageant that featured flying angels and live animals.
He also quipped: "I have a silver limo if anyone is interested."
The Rev. Schuller and his wife, Arvella, were criticized by some congregants for their use of a limousine while they were at the helm of the ministry.
The elder Schullers parted from the ministry last spring after a split with the board and the financial downfall of an organization that some consider the first megachurch in the country.
Schuller's son, daughters, and sons-in-law were in various positions of leadership at different times, but they have left the church following family squabbling and rifts with the board.
One of the questions cathedral leaders were left to grapple with is what kind of church they want and how to govern it. Until recently, there were two organizations involved – one oversaw the "Hour of Power" show, and the other oversaw the local congregation.
"Is this a television ministry with a local congregation, or is this a local congregation with a television ministry?" said Scott Treadway, a Temecula pastor and RCA leader who is helping the ministry look at the possible restructuring of the church.
The cathedral's board decided: It's "a local church with a global mission," Treadway said.
In other related announcements:
- The Crystal Cathedral Ministries has paid off all its creditors following a judge's recent ruling in the ministry's favor, but it still faces a court appeal from its founder, the Rev. Schuller, who is seeking $5 million from the ministry;
- The Crystal Cathedral Ministries is looking for a new name and invites its congregants to submit suggestions. The Garden Grove campus will be called Christ Cathedral once the Catholic Church moves in and begins remodeling in June. "Come up with a really good exciting name for us because it's going to be an exciting place," Charles said of St. Callistus;
- A popular Hispanic ministry led by Dante Gebel is returning to the campus for about four months for a second Sunday morning service. Fees paid by that ministry will cover a $50,000 a month rent increase that kicks in Feb. 1. The Crystal Cathedral Ministries, which has been leasing the campus from the Catholic Church since the Diocese of Orange bought it last year, will be paying $166,000 monthly to lease its current campus beginning next week, Charles said Friday.
- The move-in dates for the Crystal Cathedral Ministries to switch to St. Callistus – and for the St. Callistus congregation to move to the Crystal Cathedral – are June 24-28. The short move-in time is "almost inconceivable," said Crystal Cathedral pastor Bill Bennett.
- The Crystal Cathedral congregation, under its new name, will pay no money at St. Callistus for the remainder of the year, then $25,000 per month through 2015, $50,000 monthly in 2016-17 and $75,000 monthly from 2018 to 2022 if it chooses to stay.
