Tuesday, May 7, 2024

Very charitable, but they declined me😢✝️ "Richard & Helen DeVos Foundation sunsets after 54 years, $1.1B donated"



 I found the letter from 2003 . Now I remember the exact details: I was asking if they would be willing to donate a copy machine for the Pastoral Care Dept on the  10th floor at the Crystal Cathedral, which, believe it or not, they did not have one at the time.  Any time the 10th floor staff  needed to make copies they had to go down or up on the elevator, etc. I had just finished 4 years at Fuller Seminary & had  started my own ministry and I was occasionally using the 10th floor as well. 

And RIch DeVos had shown appreciation for the positive thinking messages of Robert Schuller on the Hour of Power. I think he also appeared as a guest on one of the Hour of Power episodes - which I can't seem to find on the internet after a brief search-but having personally been there I remember the details. It may have actually been an evening service -, if so, it  wasn't televised for the Hour of Power. 

And I don't remember if it was prior to me sending this letter in 2003 or ex post facto. I remember one detail very clearly: Rich DeVos promised to buy Robert Schuller a new limousine because his old one, which they used to pick him up from the airport, was "bottoming out" . A limousine sounds fancy and rich of course, but I think the  original stretch limo was also donated, and it was nothing special. THe new limousine was a silver mini-Limo thanks to Devos.

 Anyways, they probably assumed that the Crystal Cathedral could afford to buy it's own copy machine for the 10th floor. And in 2003 they were probably right, even though dark clouds would start to gather in the next few years and ultimately the church would declare bankruptcy and close it's doors in 2013. I never knew it would end this way.

 I had no premonition apart from wondering at some point why the chairs in the Cathedral were getting so worn out and not being replaced? Anyways, I was there through it all, even at the court bankruptcy hearings in Santa Ana, CA. 

The Cathedral ministry actually has continued on a much smaller budget, at a few new locations (now in Irvine CA known as Shepherd's Grove) under the leadership of Bobby Schuller (Robert's grandson) and the Hour of Power can still be viewed online & on TV in some locations. 

Nonetheless, I still had my own income & savings from also working as a regular teacher and during seminary as a substitute teacher for the LAUSD and so I decided to buy the copy machine myself. I surprised the 10th floor with a gift. 

The company delivered it, but for some reason the 10th floor staff didn't accept it. They returned it. Maybe I hurt their pride. And a few weeks later they bought their own copy machine.  Whatever.

Interesting thing is we have a lot of common heritage as the DeVos family . Our family is of Dutch ancestory and Christian Reformed affiliations; as well as Grand Rapids Christian High, Holland Christian High, & Calvin College. It's a small world. Doug DeVos was a few years before me at Grand Rapids Christian High.

 Rich & Jay both attended Grand Rapids CHristian and a little bit of Calvin COllege too, I think. The DeVos family attended LaGrave CRC for many years - where my grandfather's family also attended. They had/have a cottage on Lake Michigan by Lake Macatawa as did/does my grandfather (Rest-in-Peace). 

I also worked at Pine Rest Hospital for a year after college as a Mental Health Worker mostly in the adolescent unit, which was named the Van Andel Center after Rich Devos founding partner Jay (who died in 2004; as well as his wife, Betty, Rest-in-Peace). I think the Devos Family has also made contributions to Pine Rest for the sake of Christian mental health treatment. And my father was a chaplain there for many years. 

Since 2003 I've continued to make small strides in doing Christian evangelical ministry in various ways. I've done formal mission trips, such as a summer in the Philippines with a CRC group; as well as disaster relief in Costa Rica with CRWM (world missions) after a giant earthquake caused substantial damage.

 But mostly I've done online E-vangelism (electronic evangelism: blogs, YouTube, Twitter X, etc ) as well as "street evangelism" (Gospel tracts), among many other things. All on a shoestring budget. 

My motto is "I'm not Johnny AppleSeed, but Johnny Mustard Seed" (based on Matt 17.20  which says "… Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed...Nothing will be impossible for you." I plant seeds - and hope & pray for good soil. Then I rely upon this Bible verse: 1 Corinthians 3: 6-8

Best wishes to the DeVos family as well as their staff at their Foundation.

Helen died in 2017, Rest-in-Peace
Rich died in 2018, Rest-in-Peace
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