Robert A. Schuller said during a conference last week that if his father, evangelist and radio personality Robert H. Schuller, had just dropped the reins of Crystal Cathedral Ministries seven years ago, the church would still have control of the building and its assets.
The Christian Post quoted the younger Schuller, 58: “There’s no question in my mind whatsoever had I been given the proper authority and all of the responsibility I had, and had my father simply turned to those that came to them and said, ‘I don’t have anything to do with that anymore’ that it would have been a very, very successful transition because we did lots of things very right.”
The ministry filed bankruptcy in 2010, mired in financial troubles and outstanding debt. They sold the iconic building to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange last year. The building, campus and facilities can still be used by the ministry for up to three years following the sale.
Schuller continued, “I think it’s very difficult, maybe impossible for some pastors, especially a founding pastor. I look at my dad and other people like him who are lions and tigers … it’s counter-intuitive to their personality … to everything they learned throughout their entire life to let go.”
“I think it was difficult for my father, but it was compounded by the fact that his mental capacities were slipping. They became pretty noticeable to me in the year 2000. That is why I became co-pastor with my father. By 2006, he was not able to follow the program and know when it was time for him to stand up. By 2008, he really didn’t have the ability … he was really out of control as far as making decisions. People were making decisions for him. What he needed to have done is to completely walk away, but unfortunately he didn’t do that.”
