Crystal Cathedral Returns Schuller's Voting Rights

The founding pastor of Crystal Cathedral, the Rev. Robert H. Schuller, has been reinstated on the board of directors and given back voting rights as two members who called for his ouster last month are dropped from the committee.

The church, currently trying to wade its way out of a debt crisis, decided in a meeting last Friday to “expand and enlarge the board,” according to a statement posted Wednesday on the Crystal Cathedral website.

Schuller, 84, is identified as Chairman Emeritus in the list of current board members.

“This new Board of Directors, created today, is a formula that will guarantee success for both our local Crystal Cathedral ministry and its ministry mission to the people of the world through the televised ‘Hour of Power,’ now in its 43rd year,” Schuller said in the statement.

Two board members, Rick Mysse and Gwyn Myers, were voted off the board, church spokesman John Charles told the Orange County Register.  He told the news agency that both Mysse and Myers had voted in favor of stripping Schuller of his vote during last June’s meeting.

According to Schuller’s daughter, Carol Schuller Milner, neither of her parents attended the meeting in which Schuller was voted off the board, the paper reported.  Milner said the pair were “extremely upset” when they learned that Schuller had been voted off.

The evangelical church, located in Garden Grove, Calif., filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in October of last year and its leaders have since been fielding offers from various groups interested in purchasing the megachurch, including the Roman Catholic Church. The church currently owes over $50 million to unsecured creditors.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange has offered $50 million to buy Crystal Cathedral's campus and convert the historical church into a Catholic cathedral.

Chapman University, a private university near the church, has offered to buy the Crystal Cathedral campus for $46 million.

“He would be open to all proposals including the Catholic Church,” Milner told the Orange County Register about the elder Schuller's reaction to the $50 million-offer.  “But the ideal situation would be to have Crystal Cathedral Ministries continue and be there for generations to come.”

[By Nicola Menzie | Christian Post Contributor]