Schuller Ministry Adds Details on Cutbacks

The Rev. Robert H. Schuller provided more details about cutbacks in his popular TV ministry Wednesday and elaborated on decisions that give him complete personal control of his 10,000-member Crystal Cathedral congregation of Garden Grove.

And about one-fourth of an $8-million drop in projected income for 1988 was attributed to reduced donations from members of Schuller’s “Eagles’ Club,” those who give at least $500 annually, ministry officials said Wednesday.

The cuts include about 25% of the $1-million production budget and 40 employees of the broadcast ministry’s staff of about 150, Michael Nason, a ministry spokesman, said Wednesday.

The “Hour of Power” broadcast ministry’s projected income for 1988 is $26 million, $8 million less than that raised in 1987, officials said, adding that about $2 million of this shortfall was attributed to “Eagles’ Club” members, those who contribute $500 or more per year.

Schuller Assumes Duties

The Rev. Herman Ridder, for whom Schuller created the position of president of the congregation in 1983, will be assuming the title of minister-at-large. Schuller will retain his present title of senior minister, leaving him in direct charge of the congregation.

This follows Schuller’s announcement Tuesday that Victor C. Andrews, his 1987 choice for the new post of chief executive officer of both the congregation and Robert Schuller Ministries, would be leaving that post for other duties and that Schuller himself would replace him.

Schuller said Wednesday that the status changes were at the requests of Andrews and Ridder. Neither responded to telephone messages Wednesday.

In an interview Tuesday, Schuller said handling these responsibilities would be “no problem at all.” He said he would enjoy cutting back on his heavy travel schedule, which included running retreats at the ministry’s property in Hawaii, speaking engagements and promoting his books.

“I’m turning 61,” Schuller said in a statement released Wednesday, “and the next 10 years are critical to this congregation. I must cultivate and nurture their needs. I want to be everything I can be and should be to this congregation.”

In his April 3 Easter sermon, Schuller criticized “celebrityism” in U.S. churches and the way this phenomenon made leaders remote from their co-workers.

“When you don’t know who’s running the show,” he told the congregation and the weekly TV audience estimated at 2.4 million, “how in the world can you control the operation?”

Since September, Schuller has also made it a practice to regularly speak with every congregant who wanted to meet with him following the 11 a.m. Sunday service. Previously, he greetings were unscheduled.

There had been some grumbling among members of the Crystal Cathedral congregation and staff about Schuller’s frequent absences.

A highly placed ministry source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that “there were many factors in Dr. Schuller’s decision to meet regularly with anyone who wanted to talk to him, and the complaints were probably part of it.

“Within the staff and the congregation there was a feeling, a desire for him to be available and have the feeling that he was their pastor. Many of them were feeling that maybe he wasn’t, that there were other priorities that were taking precedence. . . . He’s resetting his priorities--there’s no question about that.”