In 1955, Robert Schuller planted a church at a drive-in theatre in Orange County, California. Within decades, church membership multiplied many times over. Schuller became famous for his televised ministry, theology on self-esteem, and glass and steel church building, the Crystal Cathedral. Now, in 2012, the Crystal Cathedral Ministries has come apart. While commentators blame recent economic and familial troubles for the church’s downfall, this thesis argues that understanding decline first requires understanding success. Looking at the 1980s, the church’s peak era, it suggests that Schuller was in tune with the times, catering to a suburbanized society that was thirsty for therapy and fascinated with celebrity culture. The thrust of this thesis is not to negate the importance of recent struggles, but rather to take success with failure, fleshing out the story of the Crystal Cathedral while also giving new texture to the historiographical record on church growth and decline.