Bobby Schuller — grandson of the Rev. Robert H. Schuller — was named lead pastor and CEO of Shepherd’s Grove church and host of the renamed and reformatted television show “Hour of Power with Bobby Schuller.”
The new hourlong program, produced by Baas Creative of Grand Rapids, Michigan, will include religious music and sermons and incorporate new segments, including interviews and popular musical performers.
The ministry founded by Schuller’s grandfather began as Garden Grove Community Church at the Orange Drive-in Theatre in 1955, soon adding a 300-seat chapel 4 miles away. As the ministry grew, in 1970 the “Hour of Power” television program launched and aired in all 50 states by 1975. The program eventually became the most-watched religious program in the world, reaching 17 million viewers.
The Crystal Cathedral, completed in 1980, was sold to the Roman Catholic Church after the ministry went bankrupt in 2010.
“When I came to the remaining Crystal Cathedral congregation in March of 2012, my goal was just to help the ministry as things were winding down to a close,” Schuller said. “Then more people started attending, and the church grew. It soon became clear that God had other things in mind for the ministry, and that he wanted me to pastor the church.”
Schuller graduated from Oral Roberts University in 2003 and received his Master’s of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary in 2008. He founded the Tree of Life Community in Garden Grove, Calif., in 2008 and is a commissioned pastor of the Reformed Church in America.
“I want the ‘Hour of Power’ to capture the minds of non-religious people,” Schuller said. “It will be shot in a new style, have gripping content, and have an eye toward growth of individuals in their understanding of, and relationship with, Christ.”
Schuller, who lives in Orange with his wife Hannah and their two children, is also president of the St. Patrick Project, a social services outreach in Orange, as well as an author.
Shepherd’s Grove uses a Presbyterian-style of governance, which was put in place to maintain transparency and public trust during its bankruptcy. Tree of Life Community also is governed by a board elected by the congregation. “Hour of Power with Bobby Schuller” will air on TBN, The Church Channel, Oxygen and local ION Television in Los Angeles.