Crystal Cathedral teeters on the edge!

[Bravo Zulu]

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. (AP) -- Capitalizing on the emerging car culture of Southern California in the 1950s, the Rev. Robert H. Schuller started a drive-in church and built it into an international televangelist empire, symbolized by the soaring glass Crystal Cathedral and its weekly "Hour of Power" show.

Now Schuller's life's work is crumbling.


FILE - In this undated photo released by the Crystal Cathedral church, The Rev. Robert Schuller is seen on the large monitor, right, inside the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif. The Crystal Cathedral declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week, donations are in free-fall and dozens of creditors are clamoring for payment from a church that's $43 million in debt. (AP Photo/Crystal Cathedral, File)

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CRYSTAL_CATHEDRAL_BANKRUPTCY?SITE=PAPIT&SECTION=NATIONAL&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[donco6]

1. snif. n/t

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[lonestarnot]

3. wow 43 million.

[wtmusic]

4. Good news.

An empty bank account after years of empty promises.

Maybe there is hope for the human race.

[Arugula Latte]

5. It must be because of rampant Christophobia.

:rofl:

[Canuckistanian]

6. Maybe we could give them a little momentum.

It would be the Christian thing to do.

[QC]

7. There's a phenomenal pipe organ in that church. Virgil Fox was once the organist.

They certainly had someone in the place with good taste. Far nicer music than the inane happy clappy crap modern megachurches tend to go for.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E7f00J0hDw

[wtmusic]

10. Too bad the acoustics suck.

Though Paul Jacobs's performance is amazing, 10,000 panes of glass make it hard to listen to.

[QC]

12. They say it actually sounds great when you're there.

The Youtube video, unfortunately, is a long way from HiFi.

[ProfessorGAC]

18. Famous Virgil Fox Line

He had a live album back in the 70's. At one point, he explained how the different manuals, the stops and the pedals worked.

He introduced a Bach piece has was about to do and how all these things were going to be needed. Then he said "Now, i hope you enjoy this selection. In the meantime, i'm going to be busy as hell."

Always got a kick out of a classical musician saying that.
GAC

[QC]

23. He really was a hoot, wasn't he? And he loved to brag just like a pro wrestler!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2WJC2N3Fxo

[sadbear]

9. I would love to see an old school wrecking ball take that place down

Nice, slow, and deliberately.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

20. Slow and deliberate? In that case, I think a couple bricks would suffice.

[unkachuck]

11. Crystal Cathedral?

....would Jesus have ever ministered from a Crystal Cathedral?

"...Crystal Cathedral, a 2,900-seat see-through church made of 10,664 panes of glass. A $20 million architectural marvel..."

....maybe?....wouldn't that would be a little too opulent for the carpenter of Nazareth?

[The_Casual_Observer]

14. The premise of that church was wealth via obedience to God.

Apparently they are stiffing all the creditors.

[Warpy]

22. Look closely, there is NOTHING about that building that says "church"

It could end up being one kickass concert venue, especially if a symphony finds a home there. Think of what decent classical musicians could do with that amazing pipe organ.

In any case, I'll be delighted to see the megachurches go, because with them will go a lot of the glitz attached to Dispensationalism. Without the glitz, the TV cameras and all the amateur theatrics, the whole silly business is going to look a lot less attractive.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

15. Oh well, The Block has needed a larger parking lot since H&M opened

[Iggo]

16. .

:)

[Mz Pip]

17. Can't say that I'm sad about this.

I have a couple of friends, nice people, disabled both of them, kind of fundy Christians but not in your face about it. They don't have much money, just disability and a small retirement income. They rent a tiny one bedroom condo.

Last year she was telling me she was sending money to Schuller. She'd send money and get some cheap
bobble in return. I told her that they needed the money more than he did and to reconsider sending him any more. She actually agreed.

These are the kind of people Schuller preyed on - poor folks, who bought into his side show.

[Zoeisright]

19. What an appallling monument to greed and pride.

That thing is an abomination.

[Stevenmarc]

21. Those in glass houses shouldn't throw lavish holiday pageants

[Bravo Zulu]

24. Dispute Over Succession Clouds Megachurch!

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. -- The 10,664 windows did not get washed this year at the Crystal Cathedral, the iconic glass church founded by the Rev. Robert H. Schuller, one of the original religious broadcasters. Volunteers are tending the church's 40 landscaped acres, now that the gardeners have been laid off. And its renowned Christmas pageant -- with live camels and horses, and angels flying overhead on cables -- has been canceled for now.

The empire that Mr. Schuller built may be in jeopardy, tarnished by an unseemly family feud and a $43 million debt that even by megachurch standards is serious.

When the Crystal Cathedral, which many church historians call the nation's first modern megachurch, filed for bankruptcy protection last week, Sheila Schuller Coleman, the senior pastor and Mr. Schuller's eldest daughter, blamed the bad economy.

But the church was in trouble long before the economic downturn, according to church insiders and family members interviewed last week. It was already suffering from the botched succession of Mr. Schuller, one too many vanity building projects and changes in the religious broadcasting industry

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10297/1097775-84.stm#ixzz13I0tFrKi