PEOPLE

The Rev. Davida Foy Crabtree, since 1991 the top administrative official for 135 United Church of Christ congregations in Southern California, was elected this week to a comparable post in Connecticut, which has nearly twice as many UCC churches.

For Crabtree, 51, of Pasadena, the new post also means a return to her native state where she was ordained to the ministry. She said she would take with her the United Church of Christ’s “commitment to be a multicultural and inclusive church” as practiced in Southern California.

In her tenure here as the United Church of Christ’s “conference minister,” she also served as president of the Council of Religious Leaders of Los Angeles and as vice president of the Hope in Youth anti-gang campaign. Her farewell will be June 7 at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont during the Southern California UCC churches’ yearly meeting.

* The Rev. Robert H. Schuller of Garden Grove’s Crystal Cathedral has formally announced a decision made two years ago and previously shared with his own congregation and others. He said his son, the Rev. Robert Anthony Schuller, will succeed him. However, the changing of the guard--approved two years ago by denominational leaders of the Reformed Church in America--may not occur for at least 10 years. The elder Schuller, 69, best known for his worldwide television broadcast, “Hour of Power,” is committed to another decade in the pulpit. His son, 41, preaches about once a month at the Crystal Cathedral and also has his own ministry in San Juan Capistrano.