Crystal Cathedral Founder Rev. Robert Schuller Pleads Poverty in Video Statement

The soap opera continues:

The Rev. Robert H. Schuller, who cut off all ties in recent days to the megachurch he founded, says his "financial future may be at risk" due to the bankruptcy of the Crystal Cathedral Ministries.

In a four-minute video posted on his Facebook page, Schuller's voice is publicly heard for the first time in a long while, indirectly addressing his battle with the cathedral's board of directors over who owns the rights to materials he generated as the founder and leader of the now-bankrupt ministry.

"Many have told me that I redefined the Christian message. I had to. And it resonated," he said.

"God flourished my ministry and my career of creative thinking, communicating and writing back 50 years. Many advised me to use these materials to amass wealth. I believed the better course was to allow my works to generate revenue for the ministry," Schuller, 85, says in the video posted Saturday, the same day he announced he and his wife, Arvella, were resigning from the cathedral's board of directors.

"My family and I would never receive royalties on the revenue that my materials brought into the church; materials that were created on our own personal time. Then, when I stepped out of active management of the ministry in 2005, in exchange for continuing to use my materials, the ministry granted my wife and me retirement pay that was intended to provide for us for the rest of our lives," he said.

While Schuller lays out his case in the video – titled "Financial Security Uncertain for Aging Founders" – Crystal Cathedral officials released an announcement Tuesday disputing the Schuller family's statements in recent days that their offer would satisfy all the parties, including the many vendors who have not been paid. At least one of the vendors lost her home after the cathedral failed to pay her.

Read the rest of it for all the details. I've been a critic of the financial excesses at that church for years, and it seems now the money spent on the big glass church and the fancy grounds and prayer tower are biting the Schullers where it hurts the most. It's really a sad situation for all involved - especially the once thriving ministry.