Despite repeated insistence by Crystal Cathedral
officials that the 30-achre Garden Grove campus was not for sale, one
organization reiterated its interest in purchasing the property Friday.
Pastor Mark A. Thomas of My
Father’s House Church held a press conference to reaffirm a bid of $50
million for the Crystal Cathedral.
The Christian church, based
in Norco, is one of several organizations that have shown interest in
the property, including the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Orange and
Chapman University.
The board of the
financially strapped Crystal Cathedral released a statement Sunday that
Crystal Cathedral Ministries will raise the money to help pay the
church's $36 million mortgage and nearly $10 million in unsecured debt.
On its website, Crystal Cathedral
is asking its congregation and supporters to donate on to help pay down
the debt, in what it called the ministries “most urgent and greatest
challenge.”
An open bidding process for
the 30-acre campus was announced in June after a federal bankruptcy
court hearing.
Crystal Cathedral Ministries filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy in October, 2010.