Megachurch founder Robert H. Schuller dies at 88
The Rev. Robert H. Schuller, who built the Crystal Cathedral in Southern California as the embodiment of an upbeat, modern vision of Christianity, only to see his ministry shattered by family discord and financial ruin, has died. He was 88.
The Rev. Schuller, who was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2013, died Thursday morning at a skilled-nursing facility in Artesia, Calif., daughter Carol Milner said.
After a working life of great success and influence, the Rev. Schuller was forced to watch from retirement as much of what he built was laid to waste. In October 2010, his church, then led by daughter Sheila Schuller Coleman, declared bankruptcy. That led to the sale of the cathedral and surrounding property to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange in February 2012.
The Rev. Schuller, who visited Fort Worth many times through the years for book tours and speaking engagements, said on numerous occasions that the city’s Water Gardens helped inspire the Crystal Cathedral.
Changing tastes, financial overreach and squabbling over a successor were factors in the collapse. The Rev. Schuller had turned over his pulpit first to his son, Robert A. Schuller, and then to Coleman. In March 2010, he and his wife, Arvella, formally cut ties to the ministry they had founded, bemoaning the “negative and adversarial atmosphere” enveloping the church’s leadership.
It was an ignominious end to one of the greatest success stories of postwar American Christianity.
The silver-haired evangelist rose from humble beginnings — he held his first Sunday service at a drive-in movie theater in Orange, Calif., preaching atop a snack bar — to become one of the late 20th century’s most recognized religious figures.
He created the weekly Hour of Power television show, which at its peak popularity attracted an international audience of millions; wrote dozens of books with titles such as Turning Hurts Into Halos and If It’s Going to Be, It’s Up to Me; and built a 40-acre church campus with buildings so striking that the American Institute of Architects gave him its first lifetime achievement award in 2001.
The Rev. Schuller’s popularity rested in his avuncular public manner, his tireless energy and a unique approach to Christianity that blended pop psychology, unbridled optimism and the Gospel. Offering an alternative to the fire-and-brimstone preacher, he taught that believing in Jesus Christ — along with the power of “possibility thinking” — provided the keys to leading a successful and fulfilling life.
The Rev. Schuller’s ability to think big — and his knack for satisfying congregants’ spiritual hunger in practical ways — led to the creation of one of the world’s first seeker-sensitive megachurches, drawing 10,000 people to its membership rolls and attracting worldwide television audiences of an estimated 30 million for its Sunday services.
The church’s mission: “Find a need and fill it, find a hurt and heal it.”
A generation of megachurch pastors was influenced by the Rev. Schuller’s approach, including bestselling authors Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., and Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago.
Cowtown connection
One of the Rev. Schuller’s legacies is the Crystal Cathedral — since renamed Christ Cathedral — a Philip Johnson-designed structure made of steel and 10,000 panes of glass. Using the pastor’s desire for an open-air worship space as inspiration, Johnson created a building where congregants could feel connected to God by gazing out the 12-story-high glass walls and ceiling to view the sky, clouds, trees and birds. Completed in 1980, it cost $20 million to build.
“The Crystal Cathedral is not an attempt to be an architectural ego statement,” the Rev. Schuller said in a 1997 interview with the American Academy of Achievement. “It’s probably the ultimate spiritual and psychological statement that could be made in architectural terms.”
During the Rev. Schuller’s visits to Fort Worth, when he spoke to groups and promoted his bestsellers, he liked to tell how the downtown Water Gardens helped inspire his cathedral.
When he was searching for an architect for a church that would be “open to the heavens,” the Rev. Schuller read about and later visited the Water Gardens. He was impressed and persuaded Water Gardens architect Johnson to design the cathedral. Johnson also designed the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth.
Notably, the current presiding occupant of the cathedral is Bishop Kevin Vann, the former head of the Fort Worth Catholic Diocese who now leads the diocese in Orange.
Until money problems surfaced at the Crystal Cathedral, the Rev. Schuller had steered clear of the scandals that led to the downfalls of other televangelists.
But he did receive a steady stream of criticism from some Christians — including those within his denomination — for downplaying sin, tying popular psychology too closely to the Gospel and constructing a series of world-class buildings with millions of dollars that could have been spent on the poor.
The church’s bankruptcy filing ultimately revealed a pattern of lavish spending, including generous salaries and benefits for Schuller family members on the church staff. With the congregation aging and donations dwindling, the ministry could not be sustained.
Television pioneer
In 1970, the Rev. Schuller became the first pastor to televise his weekly services.
The Hour of Power program remains on the air today, featuring the Rev. Schuller’s grandson Bobby. The show is broadcast on cable TV and streamed on the Internet.
The show also raised the pastor’s national profile and set the stage for building the 3,000-seat Crystal Cathedral.
The Crystal Cathedral, dedicated in 1980, soon became a draw for various activities and entertainers. The list became secular enough that state officials deemed the venue too much of a commercial venture and temporarily stripped the property of its tax exemption. In the end, the Rev. Schuller paid only part of the back taxes sought by the state, and it was again declared a tax-exempt church.
Staff writer John Gravois contributed to this report, which includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.
This story was originally published April 2, 2015 at 5:14 PM with the headline "Megachurch founder Robert H. Schuller dies at 88."