This article was put on The Christian BBS by permission from Christian
Research Institute-Canada, and was taken from:

                       "Christian Research Journal"
                       Volume 8  Number 1  Spring 1985   You may obtain
                       Christian Research Institute
                       P.O. Box 500, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92693-0500
                       U.S.A.   (714)855-9926

or in Canada write to:
                       Christian Research Institute-Canada
                       P.O. Box 3216, Station B
                       Calgary, Alberta  T2P 3C5
                       Canada   (403)277-7702

    Note: If you want to reproduce this article you must get in contact
with this organization and get permission as I have done.  I do not hold
to the copywriting of Christian literature but it is the law and the 
Christian attitude should be one of complying to the laws of the land as 
much as is within our power to do so without comprising the Word of God. 

    If you do write to them be sure to mention where you got their info 
from as I am sure that they would like to know that they are reaching 
people through this board.  Permission to reprint was obtained through 
the Calgary branch. 
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                                A PROFILE 

                             ROBERT SCHULLER 

                           By Joseph P. Gudel 

             Taken from the magazine: FORWARD - Spring 1985 


    Born in 1926 to an Iowan family of Dutch descent,  Robert Schuller  
was reared in the Reformed Church in America.  He decided to become a 
minister at the age of five,  and after graduating from high school he 
received the necessary training at Hope College and Western Theological 
Seminary.  

    The newly ordained Rev.  Schuller entered the pastorate in 1951 at 
Hope Chuch  in  Chicago,  which  over  the  next four years grew from 38 
to 400 members.  

    In 1955 his denomination sent  him  to  Orange  County,  California  
to establish  a  new  church  there.  After  trying  unsuccessfully  to  
rent numerous facilities,  the 28-year-old Schuller finally rented  the  
Orange County  Drive-In  Theater  for  Sunday  mornings.  A  
congregation in cars slowly grew,  until by the second year they could 
afford to build a  small chapel.  Rev.  Schuller  (he  did not receive 
his honorary doctorate until many years later) also  continued  to  
preach  at  the  drive-in  theater, because many people preferred to 
worship in their cars.  

    During  these  first  two years,  Rev.  Schuller went from door to 
door inviting people to come to his church, and asking them what type of 
church they would like to attend.  

    According to his friend Michael Nason; 
    To his surprise he  found  that most  people  didn't  even know the 
difference between the Old and New Testaments and couldn't  care  
less...That's  when  he  realized  that fiving  Bible studies on Sunday 
morning during a worship service would turn off most of the unchurched 
people entirely....Then he  asked  the people  what  sort of a church 
they would want to attend.  They wanted light, beauty, tranquility, 
beautiful music, friendly people, programs that suited their needs,  
sermons that weren't boring  -  better  yet, sermons  that  weren't  
even  sermons!  They wanted a place where they could feel 
comfortable....He decided at that point that he would never again use 
his pulpit as a teaching platform.  

    It was at this time that he began to see his church  as  a  mission,  
a place  where  non-Christians  would feel comfortable enough to come in 
and then later  accept  Jesus.  How  would  he  do  this?  By  preaching  
only positive  things!  Dr.  Schuller  credits close friend and fellow 
Reformed Church in America minister Dr.  Norman Vincent Peale "with fine 
tuning his own  positive  faith  and  laying  the  foundation for his 
own Possibility Thinking that was to come." 

    In September  of  1959  groundbreaking  ceremonies  were  held  at  
the location of the present church properdty in Garden Grove, 
California.  The next  fall the congregation,  with a membership of 700 
people,  moved into its new buiding.  Rev. Schuller's two churches were 
now combined into one.  

    In July of 1966 construction began on a 14-story "tower  of  hope,"  
which was  completed  the following year.  A 90-foot high cross that 
would light up at night was placed at the top of the 162-foot tower.  

    In 1970 Dr.  Schuller began what has become  the  most  widely  
watched televised  church  service  in  the  nation,   Hour  of  Power.   
In  1975 construction began on a new sanctuary, and on September 14, 
1980 the world-famous Crystal Cathedral was officially opened for 
worship. 

     All in all,  Dr.  Schuller's many accomplishments are remarkable.  
From preaching to 50 cars from the roof of a drive-in snack bar,  he has  
built up  a congregation of over ten thousand members in a church that 
cost over 20 million dollars.  Hour of Power is seen in  over  175  
cities  with  an audience  of  two  to four million people.  He receives 
between thirty and forty thousand letters a week and has a mailing list 
of over  one  million people.  He has authored 19 books,  several of 
them national best sellers.  

    Since 1970 more than twenty thousanc  church  leaders  have  
attended  Dr.  Schuller's  "Institute  for  Successful  Church  
Leadership." Indeed,  few people in the church  have  had  an  impact  
comparable  to  that  of  Dr.  Schuller.  


