Faded Glory

UPDATE 10/18/10: Crystal Cathedral files for bankruptcy.

The financial situation at the Crystal Cathedral has gotten so bad that vendors are now going public with their complaints of non-payment:

At least two longtime vendors for the Crystal Cathedral's Glory of Christmas and Glory of Easter pageant say the megachurch has failed to pay them tens of thousands of dollars they are owed for the 2009 Christmas pageant and has not indicated when they will be paid.

Kristina Oliver, who owns Oliver Livestock Co. in Hemet, says the cathedral owes her more than $56,000. For 29 years, her family has been supplying the pageants with live animals – camels, goats, sheep, horses and donkeys – a much-touted feature of the Glory pageants.

Kristina Oliver supplied a camel, horses, goats and sheep for Crystal Cathedral's Glory of Christmas 2009. She is with Pistol the camel and Blue, one of the horses she provided.

Oliver sent a letter to Sheila Schuller Coleman, founder Robert H. Schuller's daughter, who is now the head of Crystal Cathedral Ministries. In the letter, she talked about her daughters ages 3 and 1, her husband who has been battling cancer and the danger of her losing their home if she doesn't receive the payment.

"I've been completely ignored without so much as a courtesy of a response or explanation," Oliver said. "I understand the church has been hurting for cash…but the way I've been treated, with no courtesy or professionalism, is unacceptable."

Cathedral administrators responded to the vendors’ complaints Thursday with a written statement saying they have seen a 30 percent to 40 percent drop in revenue. The church has "significant debt," but they also have the assets to cover that debt, the statement said.

"As a result, there are vendors that we have not been able to pay in a timely manner. It grieves us that we are in such a position,’’ the statement said.

Last month, Crystal Cathedral administrators announced that continuing financial woes have prompted them to start shutting down all operations at their 20-acre campus in Rancho Capistrano, closing a church, preschool, retreat area, soccer fields, camping grounds and a conference and wedding center. The megachurch has put various properties up for sale, has laid off employees and suspended its "Glory of Easter" pageant this year. The cathedral has also scaled down its "Hour of Power" broadcasts viewed by millions worldwide.

Spokesman John Charles said the Cathedral is doing everything it can to strengthen itself financially and is not looking at bankruptcy as an option.

That photo above is The Crimson River Quartet singing at the Crystal Cathedral in April of 2002 (that's me on the right). I chose the wide shot so you could see some of the oppulence they built in that place. I had been in there before but hadn't really looked up close at how much expense they went to in that building. Unfortunately, they build a very expensive showplace that's good for church services and concerts, but not for a lot else. Other megachurches I'm familiar with chose to go with a much less expensive but more versatile building and spent the extra money on their ministry objectives.
Back in the days when the economy was booming and there were lots of donations coming in the Crystal Cathedral could afford the luxury they built for themselves. Today, not so much.
A lot of their in-church crowd is made up of older, retired people whose lifestyles have taken a big hit thanks to the decline in the stock market, and their TV audience just doesn't have the money to throw at TV preachers anymore.
Add to all of that the internal dissension that's gone on between Founding Pastor Robert Schuller and his son who was supposed to take over the work and it's going to be a long, difficult recovery.