By Dr. Jim Kok, Pastor of Care Ministries
Before most of our ushers and greeters arrive for duty on Sunday mornings, Bill Weller is taking care of the early arriving guests from distant places. These are the folks whose eyes fill with tears as they enter the Crystal Cathedral. They have included a 95-year-old long-time Hour of Power viewer, a wheelchair-confined "Make-a-Wish" recipient, and those who have traveled long distances to spend a memorable birthday at this special place. Bill Weller’s aim is to make sure their blessing continues. A serious-looking, welldressed man with an official demeanor, he is there to lead them to the best seats possible every Sunday morning.
His journey to this place began as a child attending Sunday School at a Christian Science church. He says he never met Jesus there. God yes. Jesus no. And after the early death of his young wife Kathryn at age 45, little spiritual activity focused his life as he continued to raise his daughter and two sons.
Bill had an engineering B.S. from UCLA, and an MBA also, but his minimal church experience led him to conclude that churches were unfriendly places. So, that part of his life never developed. He invested his life in a variety of jobs, including many years with North American Aviation and the Apollo Space Program.
Bill started to change when he met a young Crystal Cathedral pastor- in-training, Dunston Sampson, at an event at the Nixon Library. That conversation resulted in Bill stopping in at the early morning Sunday worship service in the Chapel-inthe- Sky. There he started to learn about Jesus. A few weeks later, he slipped into the 9:30 service where Robert H. Schuller was preaching. Growth was deepening, and this new place was becoming his spiritual home.
It was his Amway sideline that led to the next profound spiritual step in his life, which came sometime after he started growing at the Crystal Cathedral. Seeds had been planted and were germinating, and then one day he attended another of many Amway luncheons. They always included devotions, followed by an altar call. Bill said, "Something happened to me and I floated to the front." Bill was spiritually changed from that day forward. Today he is the committed man we see helping on Sundays - mornings and evenings.
Maybe it is that early experience, where he concluded that churches were not welcoming places, added to his deep appreciation for what he has found in Christ that made him the "Mr. Hospitality" that he is today. Whatever it is, Bill deserves that title for the way he connects with and embraces newcomers on Sundays. He is the kind of person who gives a church a positive reputation, attracting people first to the welcoming place and
then to the loving spirit of Jesus Christ.
