Crystal Cathedral Relocates, Rev. Schuller Resigns
The financially struggling Crystal Cathedral will be getting a new name and a new location, the church’s pastor announced over the weekend.
The ministry will now be called Hope Center of Christ, Senior Pastor Sheila Schuller Coleman said in a brief video posted on the church’s website Saturday. The megachurch’s new location will be revealed in the weeks ahead.
The news comes amid more upheaval among the church’s leadership.
On Saturday, founder Dr. Robert H. Schuller and his wife, Arvella, announced they were stepping down from the church board.
The couple’s daughter, Carol Schuller Milner, explained that her parents have been embroiled in a legal conflict with the board over copyright infringement and back payment for services.
The Schullers had made numerous offers to settle the claims, but the board informed the couple Tuesday that they “had no interest in continuing their dialogue.”
“We cannot continue to serve on the board in what has become an adversarial and negative atmosphere, especially since it now seems that it will not be ending anytime soon,” Arvella Schuller said Saturday in response to the board’s decision.
“We were optimistic that a solution was close at hand which would be mutually beneficial to the Schullers and the ministry,” Arvella said.
Also, last week the cathedral fired Schuller’s daughter, Gretcher Penner, producer of the Hour of Power, and her husband Jim Penner, the show’s executive producer. Jim Coleman, husband of Sheila Schuller Coleman, Schuller’s other son-in-law, also lost his job as director of creative services.
Church officials explained the move was part of an effort to revamp the television program, which reached millions of American viewers on a weekly basis.
The shake ups come as little surprise to those familiar with the ministry’s drawn-out financial and legal struggles.
Two years after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the main campus in Garden Grove, Calif., is now owned by Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County.
“No matter what, God is still God,” Robert H. Schuller said. “No matter what, God is still a good God. God loves you and so do I.”
