{"id":2348,"date":"2010-08-06T16:40:42","date_gmt":"2010-08-06T16:40:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/2010\/08\/after-public-family-feud-anoth.php"},"modified":"2010-08-06T16:40:42","modified_gmt":"2010-08-06T16:40:42","slug":"after-public-family-feud-anoth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2010\/08\/after-public-family-feud-anoth","title":{"rendered":"After Public Family Feud, Another Schuller Steps In"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lilly Fowler
\nc. 2010 Religion News Service
\nGARDEN GROVE, Calif. (RNS) Christian author Carole Lewis stands at
\nthe front of the church sharing her tale of woe: bankruptcy, a
\ndaughter’s death, a husband’s prostate cancer, a home destroyed by a
\nhurricane. Pastor Sheila Schuller Coleman stands nearby, listening
\nattentively.
\nNeither Coleman nor the congregation seems particularly phased by
\nLewis’ litany of tragedies. Instead, they wait for what everyone seems
\nto know is coming: a positive message.
\nAnd then, as if on cue, Lewis delivers.
\n“God has been so faithful to our family,” Lewis says, as Coleman and
\nothers nod in agreement.
\nIt’s an ordinary Sunday at the Crystal Cathedral, the gleaming
\nOrange County megachurch built on a message of transforming misfortune
\ninto blessings. The hundreds of parishioners seem to crave the optimism,
\nwith some murmuring “make it a great week” as they stream out.
\nIt’s also a philosophy the Crystal Cathedral has needed now more
\nthan ever.
\nColeman, 59, who was formally installed as senior pastor on July 11
\nafter nearly a year as interim pastor, is the latest member of the
\nSchuller clan to take the helm of the landmark church after a bitter and
\npublic family feud.
\nHer father, the Rev. Robert H. Schuller, 83, founded the church in
\nthe 1950s in his three-bedroom house where the choir rehearsed in the
\nliving room.
\n“I was the first receptionist for the church at the age of 4,” Coleman recalled, laughing.
\nColeman said growing up in and around the congregation made her feel
\nloved and inspired to help people. But church leadership wasn’t always
\nin the cards; her parents explained that women could not be ordained.
\nHer younger brother, the Rev. Robert A. Schuller, was always the heir
\napparent.
\nThe younger Schuller took over as senior pastor in 2006, just as
\nexpected. But the new arrangement didn’t last long, as reports surfaced
\nof a father-and-son rivalry that simmered behind the church’s
\nsilver-colored glass.
\nThe family at the heart of one of America’s best-known evangelical
\nmegachurches, who had reached millions of viewers worldwide through the
\nweekly “Hour of Power” program, wasn’t perfect after all.
\n“I’m just glad I didn’t grow up feeling that pressure,” she said, referring to the father-and-son tensions at the heart of the Schuller soap opera. “People don’t expect me to be just like Dad.”
\nColeman, like her father and brother, attended Michigan’s Hope College, earning a bachelor’s in organic chemistry. When she wasn’t accepted into medical school, she settled into a life as a writer and educator.
\nShe married and became the mother of four, helped edit her father’s
\nbooks and wrote some of her own, including the recent “Mommy Grace:
\nErasing Your Mommy Guilt.” She taught in public schools and served as
\nprincipal at the Crystal Cathedral’s primary and secondary schools for
\n15 years, and recently finished her doctorate in administrative
\nleadership at the University of California, Irvine.
\n“My passion is for children,” she said. “I feel my calling is to reach, teach.”
\nDespite her focus on education, Coleman says she couldn’t help but
\nsay yes to her father. After what she described as a middle-of-the-night
\nvision, he came to her and said: “Sheila, if I ask you to do this, would
\nyou say yes?”
\nShe did, but the move did little to dampen the tensions between father and son.
\n“All I can say about Sheila Coleman is that I thought she made a
\ndecent teacher and school principal,” said Donna Schuller, Robert A.
\nSchuller’s wife, about her sister-in-law.
\nFor her part, Coleman said she and her brother were never terribly close, given their four-year age difference. But she added that there has never been any animosity between them; she said she has always loved him.
\n“We are as in touch as we ever have been,” she said.
\nIn a 2009 interview with Christianity Today, Coleman’s brother said
\nhe was squeezed out of the “Hour of Power” broadcast when church leaders
\n“decided to no longer air my messages.”
\n“I was disappointed, sad, hurt, and angry,” he continued. “It was a
\nvery difficult time, and quite frankly remains a difficult time.”
\nOthers, however, blame a difference in preaching styles for the
\nrift. Longtime member Augustine Remlinger, 83, says the younger Schuller
\nrelied on the Bible for his sermons, compared to his father’s gospel of
\npositive thinking.
\nUnder Coleman, she said, people are slowly drifting back to the
\nchurch. “She knows what she’s doing now,” Remlinger said.
\nRemlinger’s daughter, Susie Stewart, 50, a homemaker, agreed.
\n“I think it was very hard for the church and for all of us as
\nparishioners,” Stewart said. “I think they’ve done the best they can.”
\nColeman’s father attributes her success at the church to a shared
\nvision: “Sheila will be doing what I would be doing if I were in her
\nshoes,” Schuller said in a recent phone interview. “Focus on the
\npositives.”
\nThat’s not been an easy task lately as the church faces a crippling
\neconomic forecast. In May, the Crystal Cathedral sold its Rancho
\nCapistrano property to Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church, which plans to
\nuse it as a retreat center. The sale reduced Crystal Cathedral’s
\nmortgage to $35.5 million, Coleman said, but recent reports still
\nindicate a $55 million budget deficit and a 27 percent drop in revenue.
\nColeman says the church has done what they can, given the current
\neconomic climate and a diminished congregation, though she says the
\ncathedral’s Hispanic ministry has seen a huge boost in numbers.
\n“Things are turning around slowly,” she said. “I’ve had a huge, huge
\nmess to clean up.”
\nOthers are more skeptical about the church’s finances, particularly
\nvendors and former employees who are still waiting to get paid.
\n“The Schullers aren’t hurting,” said Larry Grossman, a trumpeter in
\nthe church’s “Glory of Christmas” mega-pageant for nearly 30 years. “I’m
\nsure they haven’t missed a check.”
\nColeman says she and her father receive modest salaries, and that
\nshe could have earned more if she had stayed in the public school
\nsystem. She does admit, however, that she craves to be liked by others.
\nAnd it is, perhaps, her father’s approval she wants most. A visit to
\nCrystal Cathedral suggests he is still the heart of the ministry for
\nmany visitors.
\nMaxine Fahr, 45, a hospice nurse from San Diego, recently fulfilled
\n“a life-long dream” by visiting Crystal Cathedral. When she was 6,
\ndoctors diagnosed her father with Hodgkin’s disease. Instead of going to
\nchurch, she would sit in front of the television, watching Schuller
\npreach.
\nShe credits Schuller with influencing her way of thinking.
\n“I think no matter what happens in life that you get to have a
\nchoice in how you react,” Fahr said. “I wish I could have shaken
\n(Schuller’s) hand.”
\nColeman seems unfazed by the expectation that she’s supposed to save
\nthe church without wandering too far from her father’s shadow.
\n“That’s the bottom line with people,” Coleman said, when asked about
\nthe congregation’s acceptance of her as pastor. “They want someone who
\nwill honor and love Dad, and honor and love them.”
\nCopyright 2010 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of
\nthis transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written
\npermission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lilly Fowler c. 2010 Religion News Service GARDEN GROVE, Calif. (RNS) Christian author Carole Lewis stands at the front of the church sharing her tale of woe: bankruptcy, a daughter’s death, a husband’s prostate cancer, a home destroyed by a hurricane. Pastor Sheila Schuller Coleman stands nearby, listening attentively. Neither Coleman nor the congregation…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAfter Public Family Feud, Another Schuller Steps In<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2010\/08\/after-public-family-feud-anoth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"After Public Family Feud, Another Schuller Steps In\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Lilly Fowler c. 2010 Religion News Service GARDEN GROVE, Calif. (RNS) Christian author Carole Lewis stands at the front of the church sharing her tale of woe: bankruptcy, a daughter’s death, a husband’s prostate cancer, a home destroyed by a hurricane. Pastor Sheila Schuller Coleman stands nearby, listening attentively. 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(RNS) Christian author Carole Lewis stands at the front of the church sharing her tale of woe: bankruptcy, a daughter’s death, a husband’s prostate cancer, a home destroyed by a hurricane. Pastor Sheila Schuller Coleman stands nearby, listening attentively. 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