Robert Schuller was one of the most innovative preachers in America. His denomination gave him $500 to start a church. He visited 3,000 homes in the area and asked people what they wanted in a church. Since it was Southern California, they wanted something relevant and convenient. So he made a deal with a drive-in theater, and people sat in their cars while he preached from the roof of the concession stand.
The next year he set out a plan to grow to several thousand members and a staff of 10 to 12. In 1980 he built a church designed by renowned architect Philip Johnson. It had 10,000 panes of glass and a Jumbotron. He called it the Crystal Cathedral. In today’s dollars, it cost $60 million. Their Christmas and Easter pageants had professional musicians, live donkeys and costumed angels who flew.
He televised his church services to millions. Most of his attendance was viewers who came to visit – but just one Sunday. Even as his viewership grew older and attendance and giving started to decline, he added a $250 million Family Life Center, a $5.5 million prayer spire and a $40 million welcome center.
Many of his family members were on the church staff. In 2004 he picked his son to succeed him, but he never really gave him power. Within six years Schuller fired his son, declared bankruptcy on all that debt, and sued his own church. A short time later his church was all but gone and Schuller himself was dead. Today the Crystal Cathedral is a Catholic church.
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Adapted from the book “Next: Pastoral Succession that Works,” by William Vanderblowemen and Warren Bird (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2014), pp. 98-104.