The Hour of Power from the Crystal Cathedral

Many years ago, the "possibility thinking" of Dr Robert Schuller, a pastor who moved to the USA from the Netherlands, transformed his preaching from its beginnings at a former drive-in cinema to a world-wide televised weekly ministry of what are called "Hour of Power" services from the fabulous Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Orange County, California. These services are shown here in the UK on Sky One at 7 am (except when Europe's summer time-shift is an hour out of step with ours) every Sunday.

The Crystal Cathedral was built to the highest possible standards from donations amounting to several million dollars. Our Majors from the Salvation Army Chatham Corps have visited this amazing place and were immensely impressed. Even Roseanne has mentioned this magnificent edifice in her TV series, dubbing it "the eighth wonder of the world".

I stumbled onto one of the televised services several years ago, and was so impressed with Dr Schuller's preaching style that I began to folow the programs avidly. The real-life stories that his weekly guests have to tell are nothing short of astounding, sometimes telling how those guests came to faith and others that show how their faith guided and helped them through the most difficult and testing of times. Many of these are famous people: from José Feliciano to General Schwarzkopf, to name but two. Others are connected with topics well known to those living in the USA and sometimes internationally.

The Crystal Cathedral Ministries include one of the world's first Samaritan-like services, nowadays operating from the Tower of Hope. It has many other claims to fame, including a number of international relief missions. Indeed, there have even been Russian Generals at the Cathedral, testifying to this aid.