Retail religion
http://www.economist.com/news/business/21647976-robert-schuller-entrepreneur-televangelism-and-megachurches-died-april-2nd-retailRobert Schuller, an entrepreneur of televangelism and megachurches, died on April 2nd
Schumpeter
Apr 11th 2015
IN THE 1980s and 1990s no visit to Southern California was complete without a trip to Robert Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, a short drive from Disneyland. It was the most striking of a new crop of megachurches that were springing up across America. Twelve storeys high and made from 10,000 panes of glass, it made worshippers feel they were praying in the Orange county sun. Mr Schuller was the most successful of a new breed of televangelists who realised that technology was their friend. He may have lacked Jimmy Swaggart’s swagger and Jerry Falwell’s political clout. But he possessed what passed in that world for gravitas. Dressed in flowing, purple robes Dr Schuller, as he always called himself, preached the Word not just to the 3,000-strong congregation (with another 3,000 waiting for the second shift) but also to millions watching on television.
Mr Schuller, who died on April 2nd, was the leading example of a very American breed of businessperson: the pastorpreneur. He succeeded by applying the principles of business to religion. However, in his later years, a religious empire that had grown huge by embracing economies of scale and customer focus fell victim to two familiar causes of business failure: poor succession planning, and a failure to react to dynamic new competitors.
He had started preaching at the age of five, to his father’s cows; he opened his first ministry in 1955, in a drive-in cinema in Los Angeles. His wife played an organ that was hitched to the back of their car. Mr Schuller preached from the roof of a hot-dog stand. The audience sat in their cars and listened via tiny speakers. The church’s motto was perfectly tailored to the emerging American Autopia: “Come as you are, pray in the family car.”
As his audience grew and the tithes rolled in, Mr Schuller abandoned his hot-dog stand. In 1961 he built a bricks-and-mortar “walk-in, drive-in” church. In 1970 he began broadcasting his “Hour of Power”. In 1980, his flock still swelling, he built his $20m Crystal Cathedral. He hosted the “Hour of Power” until 2010, its audience peaking at 20m viewers in about 180 countries.
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It's unmistakable.
Good morning by the way.
It is overcast here, which is a good thing as it has started to heat up already.
You should be coming up on wildflower season, yes?
Lupine and poppies go through cycles. Some years they are everywhere, some years it's hit and miss. (aside) They have a symbiotic relationship, where you see one you see the other. Something about soil nitrogen, iirc.
The churches of the day in Europe were more a day-to-day part of local life. Catholics routinely went to mass every morning. The church played numerous roles in daily life, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. One was as a place of refuge - at one time an honored tradition. One was as a last resort resource for the displaced or destitute. One was more simply a part of local and family culture.
Structurally, much of the architecture was geared to a largely illiterate population. The frescoes, the statues, the pictoral stations of the cross, etc. told the church's story, portrayed its message to congregations that could not read.
There is much to damn the churches for their actions during that time. Very much. Yet hosting a two hour celebration of personal prosperity once a week isn't one.
Degree of difference.
Sorry for the delay in replying to your post. I had some off-line family and food things to do, then there was baseball... 
