Crystal Cathedral cuts

The church that Robert Schuller built is cutting more of it’s operations.

LA Times:

The Crystal Cathedral, the Garden Grove megachurch, is laying off 50 workers, selling surplus property and may pull its “Hour of Power” television show in up to eight markets because of a precipitous drop in contributions.

The 7,000-member church also has canceled its “Glory of Easter” pageant, a popular reenactment of the life and death of Jesus Christ, which sold tens of thousands of tickets each year. “This cuts to the heart of our ministry,” said spokesman John Charles. “It is sad news.”

Charles said the church’s revenue sank 27% from roughly $30 million in 2008 to $22 million in 2009. Anticipating a drop in 2010 revenue, he added, “If it maintains, that would be fine, but we don’t have a crystal ball, so we are cutting.

The current debt is about 55 million dollars, an office tower and the 150 acre ranch aren’t selling.

photo credit: richmanwisco Flickr

The Orange County Register has a couple of articles on the emotional impact of the crumbling of a family empire.
The 83 year old Robert Schuller told his 70 deacons being the leader has been tough.

He has led the congregation for more than half a century and it has never been easy, Schuller said. He said that in many ways leadership was something that was thrust upon him.

“It’s tough being the leader,” he said. “Leadership has its price. Nobody else wants to do it. Nobody else dares to do it.”

The Crystal Cathedral has endured several hardships and challenges over the years, Schuller said. He said he is not surprised that all churches are struggling now because of changes in culture and demographics.

“I’m surprised this church is still here at a time when the secular pressures are so strong,” he said. “There are no cultural movements right now to give us momentum like they did about 40 years ago.”

There is an interesting comment under one of the articles. No way to verify it of course, so I post without comment.
The commenter is ranchemployee.

The facts in this story are: Rancho Capistrano has seen it’s best year ever financially in 2009, and it’s positive cash flow was used by the Crystal Cathedral to subsidize their operations. They are not telling the true story. They are not serving Christ in making this decision. We had 98 weddings booked already in 2010 and many conferences, retreats and celebrations. Rancho Capistrano is not just a retreat center. It has a Wedding Department, Churches, Soccer Leagues, a Preschool and Camps. All of the people being displaced (over 65,000 come through the gate each year)and they have been given 60 days notice. All these people now have to find new places. The 2 churches have to find a new home in 60 days. The soccer leagues need to find new fields. The preschool and Kindergarten parents now have to find new schools mid year. The Crystal Cathedral could have kept the Ranch open until the end of 2010, and everyone would have had ample time to find alternative venues and jobs plus they would have had some extra cash to relieve their burden. The employeed are getting no unemployment or severance, and there are more than 50. At our staff Christmas party, we sent out 110 invitations to everyone on payroll. The day before Christmas, the food servers and groundsmen were given a 30% cut in their slightly over minimum wage pay on their paycheck with no notice at all that their checks would be less. No one quit, everyone stayed working. The rest of the staff has had a 5-10% cut and most of their benefits taken away and we all stayed working there, for the love of the guests, and the Lord, certainly not for the money we were making. We are grieving more for the guests and brides than for ourselves.

The Hour of Power will continue on TBN and Lifetime cable networks and remain in some major markets in  a few states,  station managers haven’t been notified yet. In it’s heyday the show was broadcast in 156 countries and drew about 1.6 million viewers a week.