Crystal Cathedral vs. Rex's Erection! Who's Bigger?

And It Was Bigger Than Pat Robertson's!
(more voyeurs! Ooops, I mean viewers!)

In the wake of the collapse of the Crystal Cathedral...

I just read this wonderful story about a televangelist you may have never heard of, but who shall be remembered by everyone in the Akron, OH area.

His name was Rex Humbard and he was actually America's FIRST televangelist (1949), eventually broadcasting on 600 stations nationwide. His church, The Cathedral of Tomorrow, was built in 1958 to the staggering sum (then) of $4 million and housed his TV studio as well as the main chapel seating 5400 viewers.

(wikipedia)

His ministry eventually extended to Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Far East, Australia, Latin America and Africa, giving it a worldwide reach of 8 million viewers, greater than any of his contemporaries by the late 1970s.* In Brazil, he attracted large crowds at the giant soccer stadium in São Paulo for weeks. Humbard officiated at Elvis Presley's funeral, as Presley had been an admirer of Humbard's ministry.

Humbard began to build a rotating tower restaurant at his Cathedral of Tomorrow complex, which was also slated to hold a transmission tower for his planned local TV station on Channel 55, WCOT. When Humbard was given the opportunity to go on more radio stations throughout South America to spread Christianity, construction on the restaurant tower ceased.

*The 700 Club staged an unsuccessful assassination attempt.

And it's still standing. As a cell phone and telecommunications tower. Times change. Now Rick Warren's skateboard park at Saddleback(ing**) Church gets more attention. And Pat Robertson only has Regent University as a legacy.

What a come down for televangelists and super-evangelicals!

**Saddlebacking: sad.dle.back.ing. vb [fr.Saddleback Church] (2009): the phenomenon of Christian teens engaging in unprotected anal sex in order to preserve their virginities:

After attending the Purity Ball, Heather and Bill saddlebacked all night because she was saving herself for marriage. Unfortunately her parents found out because they got santorum all over the sheets.