Last Friday, the Rev. Robert H. Schuller passed away at age 88, leaving behind a legacy as awe-inspiring as it was tragic. The Iowa native essentially founded the modern-day mega-church movement in the 1950's when he preached to disaffected Orange County suburbanites from the top of a snack stand at the old Orange Drive-In. That eventually transformed into the Crystal Cathedral, from where Schuller filmed his feel-good gospel on his Hour of Power television show. But Schuller's empire couldn't last, as his congregation disappeared due to changing tastes in Christianity and in-fighting between his heirs, who ended up declaring bankruptcy and selling their father's landmark buildings to the Catholic Diocese of Orange. Will Schuller be remembered as a Billy Graham, or an Aimee Semple McPherson?
KCRW
