The Reverend Robert H. Schuller |
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Born |
Robert Harold Schuller September 16, 1926 Alton, Iowa, U.S. |
Died | April 2, 2015 Artesia, California, U.S. |
(aged 88)
Cause of death | Esophageal cancer |
Nationality | American |
Education | Hope College, Western Theological Seminary |
Alma mater | Hope College, 1948 |
Occupation | Christian minister |
Years active | 1955–2011 |
Known for | Christian minister, author of "positive thinking" books |
Notable work | Tough Times Never Last, but Tough People Do |
Television | The Hour of Power (1970–2010) |
Title | Doctor (honorary) |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse(s) | Arvella De Haan (m. 1950–2014; her death) |
Children | Robert Jr., Sheila, Jeanne, Carol and Gretchen |
Website | hourofpower |
Signature | |
Robert Harold Schuller (September 16, 1926 – April 2, 2015) was an American Christian televangelist, pastor, motivational speaker, and author.
In his five decades of television, Schuller was principally known for the weekly Hour of Power television program, which he began hosting in 1970 until his retirement in 2010. Schuller began broadcasting the program from the Neutra Sanctuary, with the encouragement of longtime friend Billy Graham after Schuller visited him in 1969. He was also the founder of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, where the Hour of Power program was later broadcast.
Robert Harold Schuller was born on September 16, 1926, near Alton, Iowa, the second son of Jennie (née Beltman; 1891–1970) and Anthony Schuller (1882–1964). He was the youngest of five children. All of his grandparents were Dutch immigrants, and he was raised on his parents' farm nearby in a small-knit community of Dutch-Americans, without running water. As a 6 month old infant, Schuller wore the gown on the day of his baptism at a Reformed Church, in Newkirk, Iowa, where he was raised. In 1931, just weeks before his 5th birthday, a visiting uncle, who was a minister, told him to be an evangelist. Schuller called it the "single most defining moment of my early life." After graduating from Newkirk High School in Newkirk, Iowa, in 1944, Schuller studied at Hope College, located in Holland, Michigan, and received a Master of Divinity degree from Western Theological Seminary, which follows the theological tradition and Christian practice of John Calvin, in 1950. He was ordained as a minister in the Reformed Church in America. He worked at Ivanhoe Reformed Church in Riverdale, Illinois, before moving to Garden Grove, California. There, he opened the Garden Grove Community Church, in 1955, in a drive-in movie theater. He also rented a 300-seat former Baptist church, about four miles (6 km) from the drive-in theater. Schuller presided at a service in the chapel at 9:30 on Sunday mornings and then drove his organ to the drive-in to preside at another service.