Robert Harold Schuller (born September 16, 1926), is an American televangelist, pastor, and author known around the world through his weekly Hour of Power television broadcast. He is the founder of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, where the Hour of Power program originates.

[edit] Early years

The new Garden Grove Community Drive-In Church, completed in 1961

The "inside" portion of the Garden Grove Community Drive-In Church, during a Schuller sermon, July 1962

Church interior shows the choir and organ at the second-story pulpit level, left, front side, July 1962

Schuller greeting parishioners after a Sunday service in the Garden Grove Community Drive-In Church, July 1962

Schuller was born a few miles outside of Alton, Iowa to a family of Dutch ancestry. He studied at Hope College and Western Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in 1950 with a Master of Divinity degree. Upon graduating from Western Theological Seminary, he was ordained as a minister in the Reformed Church in America. He worked at the Ivanhoe Reformed Church in Riverdale, Illinois (south suburban Chicago), before moving to Garden Grove, California where, after humble beginnings, the Garden Grove Community Church was opened in 1955 in the Orange Drive-In Theater, which Schuller rented for $500. He has also since received numerous honorary doctoral degrees.

He also purchased two acres, located about four miles from the drive-in theater and built a new 300 seat chapel. Each Sunday, Schuller conducted a service in the chapel at 9.30 in the morning and then drove his organ to the drive-in to conduct a second service there.^[1]

As the size of both congregations grew, Schuller was able to raise enough money to purchase 10 acres in Garden Grove, just two miles from the new Disneyland. His vision was to combine both congregations into one church location, which could function as both a "walk-in, drive-in" church. Ground was broken for the new church on September 10, 1958, at 12141 Lewis Street.

The new church was designed by the famed international architect Richard Neutra and was completed in 1961 at a cost of $3,000,000.^[2] The first dedication service was held in that new building on November 5, 1961.^[3]

With a punch of one button, two 25-feet high glass doors slid open as Schuller mounted the pulpit to the sound of his choir singing Holy, Holy, Holy. That part of the design of the new church building enabled Schuller to preach his sermons to 1,500 worshipers in 500 cars at the same time that the indoor portion of the building was packed with additional members of his congregation. The newspaper advertisements described the church as a "walk-in, drive-in" church.^[4]

Three new associate ministers joined the Garden Grove Community Church during that period: Harold Leestma, minister of Evangelism, coming from Indiana, Kenneth Van Wyk, minister of youth and education, coming from Michigan and Dr. Henry Poppen, minister of visitation, coming from Singapore.^[5]

A new "Tower of Hope" building was added on the north side of the drive-in church building. It was completed in 1968 and rose 90 feet in the air with a cross on top. It became the highest structure in the county at that time.

During that same year, Schuller was able to purchase the 10-acre walnut grove which bordered the north side of the Garden Grove Community drive-in church. That land expansion enabled him to begin construction of the much larger "Crystal Cathedral", which was eventually completed in 1980.^[6]

[edit] Ministry

Strongly influenced by his mentor, Norman Vincent Peale, Schuller has chosen to focus on what he believes are the positive aspects of the Christian faith.^{[citation needed]} He deliberately avoids condemning people for sin, and he encourages Christians (and non-Christians) to achieve great things through God, uplifting theology and positive thinking.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Family

On June 15, 1950, Schuller married Arvella De Haan, a church organist who later became instrumental in developing the music department at the Crystal Cathedral and was producer of the Hour of Power television show for over 40 years. They have one son and four daughters.^[7]

On January 22, 2006, his son, Robert A. Schuller, took over as senior pastor of Crystal Cathedral, but was removed from that position on October 25, 2008, by his father, who cited "a lack of shared vision".^[8] In a prepared statement, founder Robert H. Schuller stated that "different ideas as to the direction and the vision for this ministry" with his son "made it necessary ... to part ways in the Hour of Power television ministry".^[9]

Both dollar contributions and church members had been declining for several years. That trend accelerated when "...the cathedral's heir apparent, the Rev. Robert A. Schuller Jr., suddenly left in a bitter family feud."^[10] On June 11, 2009, Schuller announced that church leadership would pass to his daughter, the Rev Dr Sheila Schuller Coleman.^[11]

Dr. Coleman, age 58 as of 2009, is the oldest of the five Schuller children and the former head of Family Ministries at the Crystal Cathedral. Since her brother's departure, she is Director of Ministry and Mission.^[12] Her stated goal is "to rescue her father's legacy as the founder of one of the nation's largest megachurches by being upfront about the family's recent mistakes and refocusing on the original mission of outreach to the unchurched."^[10] She said that it was a mistake to ask her brother to take over his father's role without adequate support or preparation. She is now working to restructure the church telecast, so that it no longer will have the kind of ministry that placed the attention and pressure "on one superstar pastor like her father".^[10] The Hour of Power will be populated with "a stable of up to six ministers, including herself and her father."^[10] The decisions will be made by all of them, with each bearing equal responsibility for the results.^[10]

Another daughter, Jeanne Dunn, along with her husband, Paul Dunn, oversees the Glory of Christmas and the Glory of Easter and has assisted in various editorial contributions to various printed works, published by the Crystal Cathedral and for Schuller's books.^{[citation needed]} A third daughter, Carol Milner (husband Tim Milner), was the writer, director, and producer of Creation, Once Upon All Time that debuted in 2005.^{[citation needed]} She was the creative overseer of Schuller's autobiography, My Journey.^{[citation needed]} The fourth daughter, Gretchen Penner (husband James Penner), is the programming director for the Hour of Power.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Writings

Schuller is the author of numerous self-help books including:

• Way To The Good Life (1963)
• Move Ahead With Possibility Thinking (1967)
• Self-Love (1975)
• You Can Be The Person You Want To Be (1976)
• Self-Esteem: The New Reformation (1982)
• Tough Times Never Last but Tough People Do (1983), Thomas Nelson ISBN 978-0840-75287-1
• Toughminded Faith for Tenderhearted People (1979), Thomas Nelson, ISBN 0-8407-5329-2
• Prayer: My Soul's Adventure with God (1995), Doubleday ISBN 978-0385-48505-0
• Living Positively One Day At A Time (1986)
• My Journey: From An Iowa Farm To A Cathedral Of Dreams (2001)
• Hours of Power (2004)
• Don't Throw Away Tomorrow (2005)

[edit] External links

• Letting in the Light by Steve Thomas
• Information and Critics
• Robert Schuller vs. John Wycliffe Contrasting views on the authority of Scripture.

[edit] Notes