Power of Positive Thinking Doesn’t Work

Crystal Cathedral Megachurch Files For Bankruptcy

by The Associated Press
October 18, 2010

Crystal Cathedral filed for bankruptcy on Monday in Southern California after months of trying to overcome mounting debt.

The megachurch, birthplace of the Hour of Power televangelist broadcast, announced its filing as it deals with a $55 million debt.

Church spokesman John Charles said the church owes about $7.5 million to a host of vendors for services such as advertising and providing the use of live animals for Easter and Christmas services.

The church was negotiating a payment plan with vendors but several chose to file lawsuits, the church said in a statement.

“We’ve always believed in a big God … a God Who is greater than any problem or challenge we could ever face,” Sheila Schuller Coleman, the Cathedral’s senior pastor, said in a statement. “Our announcement today to file for the protection of Chapter 11 is just one more chapter in the book that He is continuing to write.”

The Orange County-based church, founded in the mid-1950s by the Robert H. Schuller Sr., earlier this year ordered major layoffs. It also cut the number of stations airing the Hour of Power and sold property to stay afloat.

In addition, the 10,000-member church canceled this year’s Glory of Easter pageant, which attracts thousands of visitors and is a regional holiday staple.

The church was founded in the 1950s at a drive-in theater and attracted congregants with its sermons on the power of positive thinking. Its worship hall features a soaring glass spire that opened in 1970 and remains an architectural wonder and tourist destination.

Church leaders blamed the decline on the struggling U.S. economy. Other megachurches have also suffered from the downturn and reduced charitable giving.

The Hour of Power telecast, filmed in the cathedral’s main sanctuary, at one point attracted 1.3 million viewers in 156 countries.


FAIR USE NOTICE: This article contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use”, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
(Visited 5 times, 1 visits today)
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x