I have been watching over the past two years with a growing sense of sadness the financial crisis overwhelming the Crystal Cathedral, the famous TV Church in Garden Grove California. This was the home of the televangelist show “Hour of Power.” It has filed for bankruptcy in Southern California after struggling to emerge from debt that exceeds $43 million.

Dr Robert Schuller will be remembered as one of the great ministers of the twentieth century. I first went to Garden Grove Community Church, as it was then called in 1972. The church was founded at a drive-in theatre and attracted crowds with its sermons on possibility thinking, an updated version of Normal Vincent Peale’s power of positive thinking. I attended in its worship hall recently opened in 1970. In 1974 I quoted Dr Schuller in my book on Church growth. It had the results of research I had conducted into the largest 100 churches in the world, including Garden Grove.

We became friends. He and his family attended Wesley Mission during a family holiday in Sydney. I twice was invited to speak in the Crystal Cathedral and on the international telecasts of “The Hour of Power”. I spoke on the platform with him at some Church Growth and Evangelism workshops in Australia and elsewhere.

In 1980 I was a guest evangelist at the Billy Graham San Jose crusade. I was invited to speak at the Crystal Cathedral. Dr Schuller very generously invited me to share his platform. His interview guests that day were Bonnie and Jack Wraither. They were millionaire film producers from Hollywood. Gathered with us was Roger Williams the pianist. Bonnie Wraither was the producer of all of the Lassie films and Jack Wraither had produced had produced the series ‘The Lone Ranger’ and many other television specials. He was the man who had purchased the famous ‘Spruce Goose’ the largest wooden plane ever to be flown by the eccentric multimillionaire Howard Hughes. Jack had also purchased the Queen Mary, then the largest floating vessel in the world and tied her up to a wharf near the ‘Spruce Goose’. Together they owned the Disneyland Hotel and had a million acre ranch in Western Australia about which they wanted to talk to me.

In between services over coffee, I asked Dr Schuller what was his greatest concern. He explained the problem. Veterans Day was coming up and he wanted to buy a 32-foot American flag. He was saying that financial pressures were so great that he wasn’t able to afford the $6000 price tag. I instantly recognized what Bob Schuller had in mind and opening my wallet took out a $20 US note and put it down on his desk and said to Jack and Bonnie “Why don’t we buy Schuller the flag together. I’ll put a deposit on it and you can handle the instalments.” Jack Wraither laughed and promised Schuller he would pay him the remaining $5980 on the flag upon which I had placed the deposit. So together Schuller stated his need, two men used their resources and the problem was solved. Schuller has his flag and you saw it every telecast each Veterans and Memorial Day from the Crystal Cathedral.

Over the years I have visited services in the magnificent Crystal Cathedral. But my concerns about its ministry kept growing. I admired its magnificent office block, its apartments for the elderly and its conference centre. At the same time I was deeply involved in Wesley Mission’s growth but our approaches to Church growth were completely different. I predicted cracks would appear that would endanger the Crystal’s viability because I was trying to avoid them in our ministry. What were these cracks?

Crack one: Expanding ministries need experts in every secular field. I felt too much emphasis was being place at the Crystal Cathedral in attracting outstanding preachers whereas in Sydney we were appointing Christians in every other field. For example: Management experts, Engineers, Insurance experts, Risk managers, Lawyers, Computer programmers, Architects, Clerk of Building works, Chefs, Psychiatrists, Doctors, Accountants, Personnel managers, Directors with expertise in aged care, child care, homelessness, suicide prevention, counselling, training, educators. – every one of these professionals I added to my staff as our congregations grew bigger.

My argument was that a church would grow to the limits of the abilities of the senior minister and I was not smart enough in any of these other fields. No minister and preacher can have all this expertise – the church will only grow as you surround yourself with full time staff who are all better than you in their field of expertise. Not to do that is to fail by believing in your own omnicompetence.

Crack two: The Crystal Cathedral had a few basic principles that changed from time to time. Continuous growth demand clear and consistent plans. In 1978 I had written a 500 page strategic plan for the next 25 years of Wesley, Sydney. They contained my research into how churches grow and what we would do over the next 25 years. It was a constant strategic plan. These principles worked. The work of Wesley grew into even a bigger ministry than that of the Crystal Cathedral. When I retired we had 3500 full time paid staff, 4600 trained volunteers, 500 buildings in which we served the needy, the poor, the homeless and sick and no debt. Our income was eight times that of the Crystal Cathedral and our net asset worth ten times. Dr Schuller often commented on that.

Crack three: The Crystal Cathedral was going to become the world’s most famous ministry though the power of television, “The Hour of Power”, one of the world’s most watched religious programs. That meant buying transmission time in countries all over the world.

But I doubted that people in poorer countries would be moved to fund the opulence of the most splendid church in the wealthiest county in USA. I argued that Dr Schuller should never pay for television transmission time. Otherwise, every program is spent in asking for more and more money to fund the purchase of more and more time to ask for more and more money.

I predicted that Australians, most generous of viewers, would become tired of such an approach. My approach was different. I decided that I would never ask for money our own television program or for the congregational ministry of Wesley Mission. I would interview missionaries and ask for money to support their work. I would talk about the work of the Flying doctor and the St John Ambulance Brigade, Surf Lifesaving, drug rehab centres and so on, and ask for viewers to support these iconic works, but not for our own ministry. I would ask for great projects in third world countries but not for an opulent house of worship in Sydney. Instead we built a theatre and conference centre which would generate income when not used for worship.

I reasoned that Australians support the Salvation Army because it saw what it did in time of war, bushfire and flood not because it had churches and preaching services. If Australians saw us helping the community they would also support us.

How did we fund “Turn Round Australia”? My approach was not to pay for time but to make a program so good that people would watch it and the television network would pay Wesley to produce it because of its ratings. This was the first time this approach worked in Australia or USA. The TEN network hired us for 13 weeks, then the Nine Network made us a deal worth some $500,000 pa. They paid that in time, staff and facilities every year for the next 30 years and it continues to this day.

Crack four: It is fundamental in any business or ministry not to promote your family as your successors. Americans love the dynasties in churches. But Oral Roberts failed, Rex Humbard failed, Billy Graham and Robert Schuller and a dozen others all failed on this point. The attempt to install Schuller’s son Robert Jr as the Pastor of Crystal Cathedral proved to be a disastrous decision which led to a decline in members and donations. But now Sheila Schuller Coleman, is the Cathedral’s senior pastor and daughter of the founder. No matter how good she is, the crystal is cracked and neither she nor her brother is their father.

I also have a talented son and daughter in God’s service, but they had to make their own way and they had to do it in places other than at Wesley and without any support from their father but simply on the basis of their own abilities. Billy Graham has tried to build his ministry on his sons and grandsons, but that has not worked either. God alone rises up the successor.

Crack five: You should never continuing doing what you cannot afford, and you must cut your losses very quickly. Robert H. Schuller Sr., ordered major layoffs, cut the number of stations airing the “Hour of Power” and sold property to stay afloat. But that took too long while they procrastinated. They have a $36 million debt plus $7 million owing to vendors for their spectaculars at Christmas and Easter. At last the church cancelled this year’s “Glory of Easter” pageant.

Crystal Cathedral saw revenue drop roughly 30 percent in 2009 and simply couldn’t slash expenses quickly enough to avoid accruing the debt. Now, the church is avoiding credit entirely and spends only the $2 million it receives each month in donations paying cash as they go. The church has laid off 250 of its 450 employees, sold its beloved retreat centre, cut salaries and cancelled contracts with more than 100 TV stations nationwide, but it was too late.

Like many American households, their monthly debt far exceeded their income which bled resources. Your mother told you what would happen if you continued to spend more than you made but people of faith often just hang on hoping things will get better. For a decade Wesley Mission attracted 50,000 people to Darling Harbour for our nationally televised spectacular “An Australian Christmas”. Its television ratings nationwide were outstanding, the highest for any Christian program in history. But it became too expensive to produce, so with deep regret I ended its run at its height of success as soon as I examined the balance sheet. Debt can kill any ministry.

Crack six: You must preach the whole truth of God. The optimistic sermons that built the Crystal Cathedral could not heal high maintenance Christians. They need specialized help. That is why Wesley Sydney employed counsellors, psychologists, chaplains, psychiatrists and built drug and alcohol and mental health facilities and hospitals.

Pastor Schuller preached a very orthodox version of the gospel, with his special emphasis: “if you dream it you can achieve it”. But that is not the whole Gospel. There is sin, not just a “negative self image”. There are scars that cannot be turned into stars. Just being tough is not enough in tough times. A preacher must preach the whole truth of God, otherwise the work will not last.

Crack seven: Growing churches respond to changing demographics. People needs do not change, but how they are reached does. The most popular preacher in USA today is Pastor Rick Warren whose Saddleback Church is nearby the Crystal Cathedral. Rick Warren has mass appeal to Generation X. As the demographic of Orange County changed the type of members sitting in the pews at the Crystal Cathedral did not. In fact I saw the same type of elderly, wealthy, white Americans each time over thirty years.

Dr Schuller’s base began to dwindle due to declining income, so many reaching retirement age, and no adequate replacement strategy. Rick Warren has mastered the art of marketing to a younger age bracket which has presented his ministry as the really hip and cool place to attend church. In Sydney I encouraged the development of a young adult congregation with bands, informality and youth leadership but without me. I would attend as invited but the ministry was given to others who were what I could never be. Thousands came. Today, they are the biggest part of Wesley Mission. We changed deliberately including leadership.

But Dr Schuller stayed with the greatest pipe organ in America when everyone had gone to the rock ‘n’ roll band. He stayed with the magnificent robes when everyone else was reinventing themselves as clergy in jeans with flapping shirt tails. He stayed with hymns and classical music when everyone else was singing choruses and contemporary music. In a time when most mega-churches are going multisite and to smaller venues, he kept building bigger buildings on a single site. That crack in the crystal is due to changing times. I personally do not like these changes, so when I was approaching 65 I announced I would retire from ministry and do something else to help people.

Churches grow and thrive but then die. Europe is littered with the skeletons of ruined churches. The Crystal Cathedral would not be a first for America. There are the remains of other megachurches. The Cathedral of Tomorrow in Akron Ohio was built by Rex Humbard with 5,500 seats and full TV production facilities. Its services had the largest TV audience in the world when I visited there in 1972. His son Rex succeeded him until it was sold in 1994.

Another great television evangelist, Oral Roberts built a great church and University in 1963 and he was succeeded by his son Richard until he was forced out by the Trustees in 2007 amid scandal and a debt of $50 million. The University was saved with a donation of $70 million and fundraising of $25 million and continues to this day.

Melodyland near Disneyland had over 10,000 members and a bigger property than the Crystal Cathedral when I preached there in the 1990’s. It was built with 3,500 seats in 1969 and demolished in 2003.

Metropolitan Methodist Church was the largest Methodist Church in the world but by the 1990’a when they asked me to preach and lead a discussion on their future, all talk was about a re-location out of town. A small faithful congregation continues in a massive brick building where once 7500 members worshipped.

In USA today large churches continue to develop. Lakewood Church in Houston has 47,000 regular attendees. 35 of the top 100 largest churches have more than 10,000 attendees. Half of the ten largest attended churches in the world are in South Korea while others are in Africa.

In Australia we also see the rise of multi-site, multi-congregation churches. The one thing they all have in common is that they will all die. It is my hope and prayer that we each may learn not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Just on forty years ago I researched the methods required to grow an Australian church which were revealed in my book of that name. Since that time I have taken keen interest in research that has not ended in another book, but it could have. This time it would have to be published under the regrettable title of “How Growing Churches die.” Or perhaps, why the Crystal cracked.

Rev Hon Dr Gordon Moyes AC MLC

Wednesday, 27th October, 2010, 3:50 pm | Editorials