Robert A. Schuller speaking
at his father's funeral
Dan Chun
(purple center) was the main speaker at the funeral. He is a Presbyterian
pastor from Hawaii who Robert Schuller apparently chose to officiate at his
funeral . Interestingly, none of the regular pastors who worked with Robert
Schuller were given any involvement in the funeral. This was rather sad to me
because there were many regular pastors on staff at the Crystal Cathedral who
worked many years for Robert Schuller, devoted to his ministry and the causes
of the Reformed Church. But then maybe they were just as glad not to be part of
the ceremony. Also on stage was Bishop Charles Blake from the west LA church.
And also Bishop Vann who leads the Orange County diocese which is now
headquartered at the Christ Cathedral. Also Tony Campolo.
earlier in the day at the 6:30am
mass in the arboretum
I see one of the staff pastors...he stands out in a crowd being
rather tall...that's Jim Kok with the gray hair and sunglasses towards the
rear right of the photo (tallest head)...he was the director of pastoral
care from 1984 until the crystal cathedral went bankrupt at which point he
retired but still volunteers for the shepherd grove congregation. He also did
the Care & Kindness conference every year.
here you see Carol Schuller Milner
...she also sort of officiated
a glimpse of the closed casket
TONY CAMPOLO
(standing, speaking)
Bishop Charles Blake spoke about how he stumbled upon Schuller's
pastor conference many years ago, and this inspired him to greater goals
Sheila Schuller also said a few words. Sheila was one of the
lead pastors for a while after the big breakup...then she went on to start her
own church, taking the new musicians with her...at which point Bobby stepped in
and led the church along with the restored Crystal Cathedral choir until they
moved down the street
Robert A. Schuller, of course, was the late Robert's only son,
and also took a turn at the helm of the Crystal Cathedral, but then family dissension
led to him leaving and Sheila stepping in ...and later Sheila left, and, as
mentioned, Bobby stepped in and remains the leader at the new location
the figure of Jesus Walking on Water is still here at the
Cathedral campus, but at the moment there is no water to walk on.
before
the ceremony, 630am,
one of the Bible stones
paid for by contributors to the construction of the Crystal Cathedral...I heard
that the Catholic diocese planned to remove them because they were fading out
so much, but so far they still remain. I hope they remain as long as possible.
Bishop
Vann Speaking…HIS FATHER RECENTLY PASSED AWAY AS WELL
I can't think of his name at the moment but this guy walking by
was involved in the Hour of Power production for many if not all of the years
while it was at the Cathedral. Maybe he is still working at the new
location...I haven't been there yet.
many persons with tears on their cheeks including
this nice woman next to me
nice
music by this young man at the end of the ceremony...as they carried the casket
to the final burial place
there's Jim KOk again (blue jacket )
& his lovely wife Linda...I wish we could have heard from Jim as well...he
was with the Cathedral & working with and for Schuller for thirty years
years
after
the ceremony, the Schuller family had a private gathering as the body was laid
to rest
there's Bishop Blake in the red
above: is that Lawrence Wilkes? He led the evening service for SO MANY YEARS...; seeing him made me feel a bit sad again that none of the staff pastors were given an opportunity to say anything..it would have been nice to hear from some of the regular pastors who actually worked at the Crystal Cathedral for so many years.
I met the nicest guy as I was leaving...not sure who he is but gave me a warm Christian hello
So we say Thanks for the memories & inspiration Robert
Schuller…and thanks to ALL those who
made Schuller’s dreams possible…a dream without muscle & money is
impossible…just as muscle & money without a dream leads to nothing…;Schuller
inspired many people, and yet also many people dreamed that the Crystal
Cathedral would belong to all of us who helped make it possible in perpetuity…that
dream is no longer a reality even though the cathedral is still a church and
still part of the body of Christ…; we are thankful for the inspiration and the
memories but still, at times, some of us feel it could have ended better, or
shouldn’t have ended at all…
