Crystal Cathedral Not For Sale

Sheila Schuller Coleman in front of the Crystal
Cathedral campus. (AP Images/Chris Carlson)

The International Board of Directors
for the Crystal Cathedral Ministries announced Sunday that it has
voted to forgo choosing a buyer of its Crystal Cathedral property as
part of its bankruptcy reorganization plan.

“The Crystal Cathedral is not for sale,” said Walt Kallestad,
founder and senior pastor for the Church of Joy in Glendale, Ariz., and
Crystal Cathedral Ministries board member, from the pulpit of the
Crystal Cathedral at its Sunday morning services.

In this vote, the board chose to step forward in faith believing
that God, in his perfect timing, will provide all the funds necessary
to pay every creditor in full and keep the ministry campus in the
hands of the Crystal Cathedral Ministries.

“The board feels its great responsibility toward all of our
vendors and other creditors, to pay them 100 percent of what is owed
as soon as possible,” says Sheila Schuller Coleman, senior pastor,
“but also a responsibility to the local members and viewers of our
nationally and internationally televised Hour of Power to
retain the ministry’s Orange County headquarters intact.

“Through our filing of Chapter 11 last October,” Coleman said
in the pulpit Sunday. “I believe God has used it to turn the eyes
of the world toward the Crystal Cathedral because He wants to make a
big, bold statement, and as a faith-based ministry it’s important to
put our faith in God in this matter. We cannot teach about faith
without living out faith in our actions, especially as it concerns a
decision such as this.

“Taking this kind of stand assures members and viewers that we
are committed to them and to their spiritual well-being, now and into
the future. The ministry has a commitment to our local congregations,
our international viewers, Crystal Cathedral School’s students and
parents, and the families of loved ones laid to rest in the Crystal
Cathedral Memorial Gardens.”

The English-speaking, Spanish-speaking and Arabic-speaking
congregations at the Crystal Cathedral are all combining in prayer to
seek God’s blessing of a $50 million miracle. “We’re asking our
people to ‘Walk by faith, not by sight,’” said Coleman, “and to
believe God’s promise and plan as found in Jeremiah 29:11-14 , ‘For I
know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of
peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will
call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you
will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from
your captivity.’”

Coleman also said: “We have been deeply touched by the
outpouring of admiration for our beautiful 40-acre garden grounds and
its world class architecture. Many of the potential buyers are
community and faith leaders that have gone to great lengths to honor
the ministry that my father devoted his entire life to serving, and
to him personally, as their friend and colleague.

“We are truly humbled by their concern for us. More than ever,
the Crystal Cathedral Ministry appreciates that our campus is a
sacred treasure, and our reconstituted board has determined to
‘practice what we have always preached’ and to put into action the
possibility thinking upon which this great ministry was founded 56
years ago.

“We fully understand as a board that by taking this stand of
faith, the Creditors Committee will move on its own in the courts to
initiate a sale process,” board member Jim Penner said, “but the
final word on this campus and this ministry will be up to God
Almighty.”

Kallestad concluded: “The Crystal Cathedral is a mission center
God has built and God will sustain it. “I’m thrilled that our board
has now chosen to set this example stepping forward in faith! I’m
humbled and honored to stand with fellow believers who are willing to
proclaim Jesus Christ as the head of this church. Get ready to
witness a miracle. The best days for this ministry are ahead!”