This story is too painful to read almost.  I lived the same situation when the congregation my father had led for decades elected me to the Sr. pastorate when he ‘retired.’ As soon as he was rested, he decided to take control again… 3 years, lots of conflict, and 40% of the church later.... the church was healthier, our relationship restored, and life moved on.

Sorry that the elder Schuller doesn’t get that his time in the sun is soon over.

I caught the comment about nepotism, and an interesting thought popped in my head.  Is there a certain expectation for the son to take the reins of his father’s ministry when both are ordained pastors?  Is it a beneficial transition, or is it something more out of custom and respect for the family (or, in worse cases, like a North Korean passing of the torch)?  I’m thinking, naturally, about the Grahams and other well-known pastors.

(Todd:  And I didn’t even go into Heretic Land.  Impressed?  Oh, wait.... d’oh!  =) )

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CS

Leonard:

I was taking, “nepotism,” at its dictionary definition and not with any stigma or harshness meant by it.:

“patronage bestowed or favoritism shown on the basis of family relationship, as in business and politics”

I wanted to focus more on the patrileneal passing of a ministry from father to son, and the expectations put around it.  This is a great case example.

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CS

I have no knowledge of how Hour of Power/Crystal Cathedral operates, but I’ve seen nepotism in other ministries where the dad is the CEO/Senior Pastor and mom is the CFO and son #1 is the COO and so on. What may work for family run business where the only accountability is to the bottom line doesn’t fly in the modern world of “church”.

If there is no accountability either financially or spiritually how can there be any trust? The US Federal Govt. requires non-profits have some pretty strict financial accountability standards as well. It’s pretty difficult to have no appearance of a conflict of interest where all the top members of a ministry board are from the same family.

Robert S. said:::For some time now, I have been eager to introduce these preachers on our weekly-televised worship service, as well as others who are powerful voices for Jesus Christ:

• Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church in a Chicago suburb (weekly attendance of over 20,000).

• Kirbyjon Caldwell of Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas (14,000 members).

• Walt Kallestad of Community Church of Joy in Glendale, Arizona (12,000 members).

• Juan Carlos Ortiz, one of the world’s premier evangelists who is credited for influencing the revivals sweeping Latin America including Columbia, Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Guatemala, where tens of thousands are accepting Christ each year.

------I wonder if he will continue to have guests like Larry King, a self-described agnostic, lead the congregation in prayer in Dec. of 98?

-----I wonder if he will continue to have Atheists like Mikhail Gorbachev speak to his congregation as he did in Oct. of 2000?

-----I wonder who the next surprise guest preacher will be? He has a lot of Sundays to fill.
fishon

Interesting… what will the son’s role be?  The news article said he will preach from time to time, but what else will he do?  Since I’m not that familar with the Crystal Cathedral other than their television ministry, what will the son be doing?  Will he mostly be an administrator?  One way of looking at it, this will free him up to travel around and preach at other churches and expand just as his father wants to bring others to their pulpit.  Nonetheless, the way the announcement is worded does seem to indicate some level of division.

I’m not surprised by this, but it is unfortunate.  Most mega churches are lead by dynamic, strong leaders who are good at revealing a vision fof their churches.  Plus, they usually raise sons who are similar in personality-strong-willed, confident, and leaders in their own rights.  So, when a son follows his father into the pulpit, it eventually leads to a conflict of vision and personalities.  Fathers still expect sons to follow their leadership, while adult sons have developed their own callings and visions for ministry.  It is a common dynamic that mentors and their mentorees (is that a word?), will usually find a place of uncomfortable departure, due to the mentoree not needing as much from the mentor.  This hold true when it’s the father and son relationship, as well.

I can’t think of any good parent/child transition that didn’t run into trouble, eventually.  Andy Stanley and his father had their differences for a time, as has most successful father/son clergy.  It is a terrible time, but it is also a natural transition of growth, even when it plays out in church leadership.  Yet, the result is that it usually turns out for the better, since the son develops his own strengths on his own, rather than inheritiing the mantle of the father.

Personally I think Robert is making a huge mistake, because I like his son’s preaching, even though I haven’t heard him very often.  He seems to be more evangelical in his theology, and his message than is his father.

Yet, I have this strange feeling that I should be making some very exagerated gestures while I’m writing this from the drive-in theatre.

As far as Sculler being a false teacher: I went to an ultra conservative Christian university and had always been told that the Crystal Cathedral was a terrible, Godless and liberal place. I had a friend out there a few years ago on the music staff and I even got to play keyboards at the church. I was quite surprised that it wasn’t nearly as bad as I heard - they seemed to preach the Gospel and had good people working there. Sure, there is a bit of Hollywood wackiness there but hey, Schuller was a big influence on Bill Hybels so he can’t be all that bad. In fact, a year or two ago I was in Anaheim for a conference and saw that Bill Hybels was a guest preacher that Sunday.

I always had told for the past 20 plus years that the Schullers preached a false gospel. Well, I know must admit to myself that a family member did come to Christ through this ministry. Yes, I still battle my inward prejudices, and bad attitudes. But....

I feel really stupid asking this, but what do they preach that is wrong there? All i know us that sin isn;t really ever mentioned. Obviously, I have allowed others to think for me in church. I am just being transparent here, and its embarassing.

I have been encouraged by many of the enlightened comments here that followed my Monday comment regarding how these kinds of megachurches should be thought of as primarily business enterprises.  There seems to be broad agreement about that.  But I am not disillusioned to know that business survival and expansion is the major imperative of these operations.  “Todd Rhodes” thought that my opinion was a bit broad when I said there is little to be found of truth in light in these institutions.  But if the major imperative is business survival, then it sure isn’t Christian truth.  I remember what William Sloan Coffin once said: “If you want to find truth, then you have to look furthest from the center of power”.

I’ve never realy cared much for the “Hour of Power.” Not because of any perception about their philosophy, theology, or methodology, but rather because of the style of preaching. Their delivery doesn’t appeal to me. So saying that I will try to be very general in my comments as I am not “in the know” about any of the above mentioned items.

One thing that scared me when Jr. took over was the transition from father to son in a church/mission setting. I think that everyone reading here knows the difficulties of being the “new guy” and that was compounded with being the former guy’s son. DANGEROUS. I wouldn’t want that mess for all the notoriety, money, or prestige in the world.

The next thing that strikes me is that they are sighting a divergence in vision. Just who sets the vision there? Isn’t the pastor to lead in setting the vision? But it sounds like Sr. was still trying to pull the strings. Jr said (in another article) that he was wanting to be progressive (my translation) and I reach out to new areas. This church being a more mature congregation might have some problems with that.  But did Sr. really not want to go that way?

I feel sorry for both of these men. One can’t let go of his ministry and the other is having to deal with the former pastor still wanting control. Now, no matter what either one says, there is a division in a family and it is over a church. How sad this is.

Todd

Thank you for your website and your work.