Pastor: Crystal Cathedral not for sale

The Catholic Diocese of Orange submitted a bid last week — in cash, for  $50 million — but it seems the place is no longer on the market.

From the Orange County Register:

The Crystal Cathedral, Orange County’s iconic megachurch built by Robert H. Schuller, is not for sale, Sheila Schuller Coleman, senior pastor of the cathedral and Schuller’s oldest daughter, announced during church services Sunday morning.

There are at least four known offers for the financially ailing megachurch – one from Newport Beach developer, Greenlaw Partners LLC. and another from Chapman University, both for $46 million – and $50 million offers from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange and Norco-based My Father’s House Church International.

A court hearing to discuss the status of the offers is scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday in bankruptcy court. The church is expected to ask the court for permission to submit a plan that will involve raising $50 million in the next 120 days.

Coleman, who is a non-voting member of the board, said during Sunday’s services that the board feels an overwhelming need to preserve the 40-acre campus and its core buildings.

“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,” Coleman said, “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.”

Sunday’s announcement, which was referred to by Coleman as a “faith-based decision,” was jointly made by Coleman and Walt Kallestad, senior pastor of the Church of Joy in Glendale, Ariz., who joined the board recently.

Read more.