Crystal Cathedral Prepares for Life After Schuller Reign

As a thousand worshipers gather inside the Crystal Cathedral, the tall, handsome man known as Young Robert arrives by limousine at the back of the church to preach at the 11 a.m. service, the one taped for the “Hour of Power” telecast.

An assistant applies Robert’s makeup while his younger sister, Gretchen, briefs him on the morning’s guest, a self-described “religious psychotic” who nearly died when she tried to fly out an open window. “Ask her about the joy of God to wrap up with,” Gretchen suggests. Young Robert, 37, checks his perfect hair, dons his regal robe and ascends the steel stairway to the pulpit his father has occupied with flair and success. With the words and gestures of his father, he greets the guest with a “God loves you, and so do we” and a hearty smile in the direction of the cameras.

Temporarily without Robert H. Schuller, the machinery of his Crystal Cathedral and its popular “Hour of Power” show continue to turn out his unique brand of Christian hope. Unsurprisingly, the man tapped to fill the airwaves was his only son and namesake, Robert A. Schuller.

Young Robert’s ascension and his father’s recent head injury have brought to the fore the issue of who would, or could, succeed the man who created the Crystal Cathedral. But even before the recent developments, Schuller and church officials have been making provisions that would ensure that the ministry’s twin programs--the Crystal Cathedral and the “Hour of Power”--will continue beyond their founder.

Those efforts include: weaning both the congregation and the television ministry from dependence on viewer donations, creating an ecumenical coalition of preachers to share the “Hour of Power” and putting together a “bullpen” of additional television preachers trained in Schuller-style communications skills.

The elder Schuller has prayed that his son will follow in his footsteps, and Young Robert is widely assumed to be his successor in the pulpit and the boardroom. Yet as observers note, no successor will possess the unique entrepreneurial and inspirational talents of Robert H. Schuller, not even his son.

“We don’t want to base a ministry on one man’s life or work,” the younger Schuller said in a recent interview. “Then it is limited to that individual. As soon as he’s gone, that ministry folds.”

Started as a drive-in church in 1955, Schuller’s ministry has grown into a complex organization which operates: an architectural landmark; a local congregation of 10,000; Sunday services complete with orchestra, national political personalities and Sony Jumbotron screen; hundreds of self-help programs and thousands of volunteers; an international TV ministry with 1.3 million American viewers; and lavish Christmas and Easter productions known as “the Glories.” Family members turn out inspirational volumes sold in mainstream and church bookstores.

Associates say Schuller, a member of the Reformed Church in America, has always expected to play an active role in both television and church ministries for the rest of his life. He plans to return to the pulpit in November, when he hopes to be fully recovered from two emergency brain surgeries performed last month after he bumped his head.

Two separate but overlapping divisions compose the Crystal Cathedral Ministries--the congregation and the “Hour of Power.”

“One is to put the broadcasts on, the other is the life of this church,” said co-Pastor Bruce Larson. Each has had its own board of directors: a “consistory” of church elders and deacons oversees the financial and doctrinal affairs of the congregation while a board of prominent national executives oversees the television operation. Two years ago, the boards--which include three family members--merged into a single, 26-member panel chaired by Schuller.

Like most observers, Larson believes the local church is less vulnerable in the long run than the ministry’s more lucrative and expensive arm, the TV ministry, which this year is expected to contribute $36 million (raised mostly through donations) to the 1991 budget of $41 million. According to church officials, the TV ministry no longer subsidizes the church, which is self-sustaining with a $5-million income.

While one or more successors may eventually fill the pulpit of the Crystal Cathedral, Schuller “may not be succeeded in the ‘Hour of Power.’ . . . Who will follow any person who leads by charisma?” Larson asked.

What is at stake is a matter of varied opinion. Some regard Schuller’s successful venture as nothing more than a feel-good blip on the screen of religious history, his glittering glass church a monument primarily to himself. Others say it represents the most successful entrepreneurial religious venture in the country and the sole symbol of liberal Protestantism in the 20th Century.

“He is clearly one of the--if not the-- most inspirational preachers in America,” said Jeffrey K. Hadden, a University of Virginia sociologist who studies televangelists.

When the time comes for someone else to take over for him, church leaders and family members say the fate of the Crystal Cathedral will be in the hands of the Lord.

Nevertheless, the elders and deacons will vote on a successor for the local congregation, while the group of executives will vote on the “Hour of Power,” according to board member Eric Bezkorowayny.

“There’s the potential for two different solutions,” he said. “But it wouldn’t matter if it is. We’ve got Bruce Larson right now. The congregation has fallen in love with him. And we have Robert A. So it’s the least of our worries.”

When his son was small, Schuller prayed that God would help him become a minister, and Schuller has told board members he hopes his son will succeed him. Many church and board members assume that will be the case.

After last month’s accident, Larson automatically stepped in as a temporary replacement for the congregation. An ad-hoc coalition of family members and consultants, led by Schuller’s wife, Arvella, the producer of the “Hour of Power,” decided that Robert A. should preach on the air temporarily.

“Nothing goes on here without Arvella knowing about it,” said former board member Don Eyer, an Orange County businessman. “She’s the driving force behind this man we call Dr. Schuller.”

Arvella Schuller would surely be part of succession plans, said board member William Bailey, a Massachusetts attorney, as would other key players: Larson; Chet Tolson, director of development; Jim Coleman, Schuller’s son-in-law and congregation president, and Robert A. Schuller.

The younger Schuller, the second of five children, said he never considered any occupation other than the ministry. Until recently, however, others wondered if Young Robert wanted to take over or was ready to.

“He recognizes that it’s a major responsibility and it takes a lot of talent and expertise to run such a large, global ministry,” Bailey said. “He’s still learning about running the business of the church, as well as being an effective preacher.”

“When he started out, he was a little terrorized by his father’s strength, dominance and personality. I would have been,” said Jess Moody, pastor of the Chatsworth Shepherd of the Hills Southern Baptist Church.

“Six or eight years ago, I was concerned that if something happened to Robert, if Young Robert is going to follow him, I thought he might not make it,” Moody added. “He was possibility thinker No. 2.”

However, Moody said after hearing him preach recently to a group of pastors, he found him “eloquent, yet it wasn’t high-blown. It was informal, laid back, friendly, transparent and wonderfully winsome. I was stunned.” In addition to his style, he said, “he is a gorgeous, good-looking guy, 6-foot-4, about 195 pounds. I resented the heck out of him.”

The younger Schuller left the Crystal Cathedral in 1981 to start his own church. He first tried to start a drive-in church in San Juan Capistrano, but that effort failed. He obtained his own church at Rancho Capistrano when Crystal Cathedral donor and Schuller adviser John Crean gave the land to the cathedral ministries.

The growth of his church was disappointing until last year, Schuller said. Now he claims an average Sunday attendance of about 300.

A scattered congregation of about 100 turned out to hear Schuller preach at a recent 9 a.m. service, before he had to leave to deliver the 11 a.m. sermon at the Crystal Cathedral. Pews of the San Juan church were filled with his father’s Possibility Thinker’s Bible. His service followed his father’s interview format and gestures.

Older churchgoers at the Crystal Cathedral have complained that the son is too much like the father. His first appearance during his father’s illnesses brought left-handed compliments that he “imitated his father really well,” said Michael Nason, marketing consultant for the Crystal Cathedral.

“A lot of people come to me and say, ‘You’ve got to be yourself Robert,’ ” Schuller said.

It bothers him, and he sounds tired of it. “I want to shake them and say I am being myself. I try to be gracious, but what else can I say?

“If I have any actions or verbs or things that mimic my father in any way, it either comes from my childhood rearing, listening to him over 20 years, or it is genetic. I couldn’t tell you which is which. I don’t think scientists could either.”

By the time his father retires, Schuller notes he may be 60 himself. By then, other candidates may include his sisters’ children, his own four children, or even Bruce Larson’s son, who is a Presbyterian minister in Garden Grove.

Larson predicts Schuller’s successor in the ministry will be a manager first.

“To manage is a whole different thing from being an entrepreneur,” Larson said. “This is what they teach at Harvard Business School. There are two different types of leaders, entrepreneurs and managers. People are seldom both.”

One possibility for the succession, Larson suggests, may be that authority will pass not to a single person, but rather but to a coalition.

He is referring to a newly formed ecumenical network of more than 100 pastors of some of the country’s largest Protestant churches. The group, called Churches United for Global Mission, aims to spread the gospel throughout the world, Moody said.

The “Hour of Power” is about to be the group’s “official voice,” Larson said.

The pastors may appear as guest speakers on the program, or their names may be flashed on the screen by the local station. In return, Larson said, “we hope the partners can help us with the budget.”

The older Schuller has also planned to develop “Hour of Power” material through an International School of Christian Communications, which is scheduled to open on the Garden Grove grounds in January, said board member Bezkorowayny.

“I love the way (Schuller) put it. It’s like going to the bullpen. You’ve got your starting pitcher, Robert H. The ball is rolling now. You know the way he thinks. How can we keep it rolling 100 years from now?”

According to the school’s brochure, “Special focus is placed on radiating a winsome vocal and visual impression on television.” The courses also cover “correct use of voice, dramatic do’s and don’ts, the place of humor and illustrative material, gesturing effectively, one’s physical appearance and dress.”

Nason will teach “marketing the church,” Arvella will teach “Creating Exciting and Effective Worship Services,” Schuller’s son-in-law Paul David Dunn, the director of “the Glories,” will teach dance and drama.

While those preparations are being made, church leaders also are seeing to the financial security of the cathedral grounds and the television ministry.

Two separate endowments are being funded to ensure that both will continue “in perpetuity.” One is funded mostly through trusts and wills and the sale of $2,500 metal plaques inscribed with Scripture and placed in the “Walk of Faith” next to the cathedral. Its income will help the local congregation maintain the grounds, which includes a $23-million Family Life Building and the $20-million Crystal Cathedral.

According to C. Peter Wagner, professor of church development at Fuller Theological Seminary, the endowment would relieve pressure on Schuller’s successor to meet the overhead if he is unable to maintain the size of the congregation and donations.

A new fund, called Global 21, aims to raise $100 million, half for operating the “Hour of Power” in perpetuity, $40 million for “follow-up ministry in Europe” and $10 million for local educational programs, said Tolson, the director of development.

“We’ve been searching for another stream of income that is more permanent” than donations, he said. “If things happen in our economy and we can’t buy the air time, the people from whom we are renting the air time don’t say, ‘That’s all right, you can stay on the air.’ We’re completely dependent on the economy--and attitudes.”

But the plans being put in place now, church leaders say, should give the heirs to Schuller’s sprawling religious organization some buffer against those pressures in the future. And if all Schuller’s provisions work out, his admirers fully expect people to be wandering the church grounds and listening to the “Hour of Power” hundreds of years from now.