{"id":3881,"date":"2006-09-13T22:14:16","date_gmt":"2006-09-14T02:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/?p=3881"},"modified":"2026-07-19T12:14:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T19:14:27","slug":"robert-harold-schuller-forum-for-possibility-thinking-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/robert-harold-schuller-forum-for-possibility-thinking-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Harold Schuller Forum for Possibility Thinking Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year, Crystal Cathedral announced that the Institute for Successful Church Leadership <\/em>was over. The Institute had been in existence for 35 years and was influential in many Christian leaders’ ministries. In speaking of Rick Warren, Schuller stated:<\/p>\n

And there’s Rick Warren<\/a>, a pastor who today is phenomenal. He came to our institute time after time. And in “Christianity Today,” his wife was quoted as saying, “When we came to that institute, we were blown away.” How God has blessed him. And today Rick Warren is blessing millions of people.”\u00e2\u20ac\u201d Robert Schuller, 2004<\/a> Schuller says that Warren and other church leaders have been mentored by him through the Institute. Previous speakers for the Institute included Rick Warren, Jack Hayford, John Maxwell, Bruce Wilkinson and countless others (many of whom are considered to be part of the evangelical camp).<\/p>\n

With the closure of the leadership Institute, an announcement for future plans has been made. According to a letter written by Robert Schuller to his “Colleagues in Ministry,” there is going to be a new event taking place at Crystal Cathedral, the Robert Harold Schuller Forum for Possibility Thinking Leadership: Faith Forward<\/em>. The first annual conference will take place in January 2007 and the line up of speakers<\/a> is something worth noting. Calling them “cutting edge church leaders,” Schuller has invited leaders such as: emerging church leader Chris Seay, New Age sympathizer Leonard Sweet, and Pastor Ed Young (recently listed as pastor of one of America’s most influential churches). Schuller says the purpose of the event is to “bring the classical, contemporary and emerging churches together.”<\/p>\n

In light of the fact that the emerging church is immersed in contemplative spirituality, it is too bad to see this merging of generations take place. However, Schuller is no stranger to mysticism and in fact embraces it. In his book Peace of Mind Through Possibility Thinking<\/em>, Schuller stated:<\/p>\n

The most effective mantras employ the “M” sound. You can get the feel of it by repeating the words, “I am, I am,” many times over…. Transcendental Meditation or TM… is not a religion nor is it necessarily anti-Christian. (pp. 131-132)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the foreword of a book called The Fourth Dimension<\/em>, Schuller said he “discovered the reality of that dynamic dimension in prayer that comes through visualizing….. Don’t try to understand it. Just start to enjoy it! It’s true. It works. I tried it.”(The Fourth Dimension<\/em>, Foreword<\/a> And Schuller’s affinity with New Ager Gerald Jampolsky adds to the long list of evidence that Schuller has many New Age sympathies.<\/p>\n

But perhaps what is most disturbing in this isn’t that Schuller is having contemplative and New Age promoting speakers to his upcoming event — That really will come as no surprise to many. But what is <\/em>disturbing is that some of these speakers (who promote contemplative and\/or the New Age) are welcomed with open arms to evangelical conferences, seminaries and churches. The question must be asked, “Will Robert Schuller’s efforts to bring together the mystical with the evangelical add to Rick Warren’s efforts and Bill Hybels efforts to do the same? And will these efforts help to further merge together a mystical, Cross-less religion that all faiths can embrace without being offended but will, in the end, reject Jesus Christ?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last year, Crystal Cathedral announced…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-global-spirituality","wpcat-122-id"],"yoast_head":"\nRobert Harold Schuller Forum for Possibility Thinking Leadership - From the Lighthouse<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/robert-harold-schuller-forum-for-possibility-thinking-leadership\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Robert Harold Schuller Forum for Possibility Thinking Leadership\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last year, Crystal Cathedral announced...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/robert-harold-schuller-forum-for-possibility-thinking-leadership\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"From the Lighthouse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LighthouseTrailsResearch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-09-14T02:14:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-19T19:14:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lighthouse Trails Editors\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@LTrails\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@LTrails\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lighthouse Trails Editors\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/robert-harold-schuller-forum-for-possibility-thinking-leadership\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/robert-harold-schuller-forum-for-possibility-thinking-leadership\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lighthouse Trails Editors\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a36b703d7722ce85599858df8bacc0a5\"},\"headline\":\"Robert Harold Schuller Forum for Possibility Thinking Leadership\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-09-14T02:14:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-19T19:14:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/robert-harold-schuller-forum-for-possibility-thinking-leadership\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":549,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"A GLOBAL SPIRITUALITY\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/robert-harold-schuller-forum-for-possibility-thinking-leadership\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/robert-harold-schuller-forum-for-possibility-thinking-leadership\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/robert-harold-schuller-forum-for-possibility-thinking-leadership\\\/\",\"name\":\"Robert Harold Schuller Forum for Possibility Thinking Leadership - 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