Crystal Cathedral People: Bill Weller "Mr. Hospitality"

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.

In Focus: Wayne Champion, The Music Man

Wayne Champion was born into a musical world. His father was the director of choral music at their church. His mother was the organist and pianist. Music and people were their loves and Wayne still majors in both. He plays trumpet and piano and majored in choral composition at Northern Illinois University and Roosevelt University in Chicago. But his strong mellow voice has been his musical gift, along with creating musical productions. That is why you will see during worship services sitting down front near the orchestra, his friends, every Sunday morning. It started in Evanston, Illinois where he was the oldest of six children. Hard work and high standards were values his parents modeled. It is no surprise that a city named him "Businessman of the Year." He knew how to work.

Three sports - baseball, football and track (he was an outstanding hurdler) - occupied his life in high school. Then he was drafted into the U.S. Army where he also started his musical career in earnest.

Wayne's military assignment was police work. He became a prison specialist in the army lockups. But every spare moment, Wayne was onstage singing with The Six Tornadoes of Heidelberg (Germany). He was the one on that fateful night in 1963 who had to share the terrible news that "President Kennedy has been shot."

After his military discharge, Wayne entered the business world. He did well selling for Columbia Ribbon and Carbon. Then he took a big step. When a dealer he knew went out of business, Wayne got a S.B.A. loan and bought in and soon built the small shop into a million dollar a year success. He reflects that, "I was the first black man in that company and I amazed them by my pace-setting ability."

In 1974-1975 his dad died, his wife divorced him, and his business failed. His musical talents kept him going and they continued to grow. He sang on the road with a group called The Playboys and he was a part of The Metropolitan Choraliers of Chicago and several other groups-anyone who called. Meanwhile he kept bread on the table by working as a late night chef at Lutheran General Hospital.

In 1985, Wayne came west, primarily to stretch himself in the musical entertainment world. All its uncertainties meant he also had to have another job. That turned out to be The Toll Road Company, collecting tolls.

Always a man of faith, his job gave him an unusual opportunity to radiate loving-kindness. "I could heal people in three seconds," Wayne says with a beaming smile. "I would make eye contact, smile, and say something like, 'Have a great day-anyway.'" Once an R.N. sent a letter to his bosses telling how Wayne's kindness had consistently brightened her spirits on hard days.

Today Wayne is retired, but consistently producing CDs and singing nightly with "El Mariachi" of Orange. "Each day I ask God to enable me to bless someone with my music or to let my simple human kindness touch a few lives," says Wayne. A wonderful gift of God to our world, Wayne lives his faith every day.