He even brought his message to the White House in 1995, when President Bill Clinton invited him for a private prayer meeting during a tough moment in his presidency.The next year he was invited by the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat to a private meeting to discuss hopes for world peace.
In Garden Grove he added a $20 million Center for Possibility Thinking, designed by Richard Meier. At the groundbreaking ceremony in 2001, Dr. Schuller received a lifetime achievement award from the American Institute of Architects.
He retired as pastor of the Garden Grove Community Church on the first day of 2006, handing over leadership to his only son, Robert A. Schuller, and leaving the church deeply in debt, largely because of the lavish building project. His son was pushed out within two years, setting off a family feud when his sisters and their husbands took control of the church in 2008. One daughter, the Rev. Sheila Schuller Coleman, became head pastor.
After filing for bankruptcy protection, the church sold its campus to investors in 2011. It was later bought by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County and renamed Christ Cathedral in 2012.
Dr. Schuller's wife, Arvella, died in 2014. He is survived by his son, Robert A. Schuller; his, daughters Sheila Coleman, Jeanne Dunn, Carol Milner and Gretchen Penner; and 19 grandchildren.
Dr. Schuller ended his relationship with the church he had built in bitterness. Within days in 2012, he and his wife resigned from the board of Crystal Cathedral Ministries, citing an "adversarial and negative atmosphere" amid a lawsuit over payments to Dr. Schuller for the use of his likeness and sermons on "Hour of Power."
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Days earlier the board had forced Dr. Schuller's daughter Gretchen Penner and two of his sons-in-law to resign their leadership positions. After the cathedral was sold, the family cut its ties with "Hour of Power," and Ms. Schuller Coleman led a breakaway group of parishioners in establishing a new church, the Hope Center of Christ, in Orange County.
The financial setbacks, firings and general ill will between the family and the church's board left many parishioners shocked and saddened by the sudden collapse of their cherished church and its beloved founder's sour last chapter.
But even in resigning, Dr. Schuller left behind a positive message. "No matter what, God is still God," he wrote on his Facebook page. "No matter what, God is still a good God. God loves you, and so do I."