‘Have-It-All’ Minister Bids Emotional Goodby to Flock

The Rev. Terry Cole-Whittaker, the bubbly minister with a “you-can-have-it-all” philosophy, bid farewell Sunday to nearly 5,000 followers at a spirited Easter service, telling the faithful that “I no longer want to be a television evangelist. I no longer want to be a religious leader. I want to be myself.”

Clad in a bright yellow suit and matching pumps and crying frequently during the two-hour service of swaying, singing, clapping and hugging, Cole-Whittaker explained her decision last month to leave her La Jolla-based church and cancel her weekly television shows.

She said she felt trapped by burdensome managerial responsibilities and had decided to escape to Hawaii and “transition to a new, high-energy space.” As her personal fame has grown, her message--that prosperity is a divine right and followers can build a heaven on Earth--has been lost, she said.

“I’ve found that the more I’ve been interviewed . . . the more people didn’t want to hear the message,” Cole-Whittaker said. “Instead, they wanted to know what I thought about Jerry Falwell. Or abortion. Or school prayer.

“It became clear that if I wanted to play the game of religion, I had to prove that my way was better than everyone else’s, and that’s not for me,” she said.

Bringing her rambling, emotional farewell sermon to a close Sunday, Cole-Whittaker assured the congregation that the message of the ministry will continue to go out --and in an expanded way. The ministers she has ordained plan to carry on with weekly “celebrations” in San Diego and establish faith centers in Orange County, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Jose and San Francisco.

Despite the celebratory atmosphere that dominated the service, the mounting financial troubles of the ministry at times appeared to cast a hint of gloom over the festivities. Although it reportedly brought in more than $6 million last year, the ministry is in debt and has been sued for about $3,000 in back rent.

At one point, ministry Executive Director Roger Lane appealed to the congregation to chip in by taking advantage of a special Easter offer--$99 for a six-part Rev. Terry home-study course and a tape of the Sunday sermon. Other wares were hawked vigorously in the lobby.

Later in the service, Bill Galt, a member of the Terry Cole-Whittaker Ministries board of directors, listed Cole-Whittaker’s assets as nothing more than “a dog and a parrot.”

Galt told worshipers that the ministry is $350,000 in debt and called on the crowd to “wipe that out, clean up the past so this new ministry, the light of the world, can go forth.”

Moments later, ushers roamed the aisles, passing baskets. The checks--many for $100 and more--poured forth from the faithful, who beamed and waved all the while at Cole-Whittaker.

Cole-Whittaker was ordained by the Los Angeles Church of Religious Science in 1975. She took over the tiny Church of Religious Science in La Jolla in 1977 but broke out on her own in 1982 and has built a congregation of more than 2,000 since.

The minister’s teachings have been criticized by some members of the mainstream Christian community, who call her a “cultic figure.” Others see excessive materialism in her sermons and general philosophy.