I'm down on my knees right now, praying that the FSM keep and protect these poor, simple pastors of the flock:

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. -- Once one of the nation's most popular televangelists, the Rev. Robert H. Schuller is watching his life's work crumble.

His son and recent successor, the Rev. Robert A. Schuller, has abruptly resigned as senior pastor of the Crystal Cathedral. The shimmering, glass-walled megachurch is home to the "Hour of Power" broadcast, an evangelism staple that's been on the air for more than three decades.

The church is in financial turmoil: It plans to sell more than $65 million worth of its Orange County property to pay off debt. Revenue dropped by nearly $5 million last year, according to a recent letter from the elder Schuller to elite donors. In the letter, Schuller Sr. implored the Eagle's Club members _ who supply 30 percent of the church's revenue _ for donations and hinted that the show might go off the air without their support.

"The final months of 2008 were devastating for our ministry," the 82-year-old pastor wrote.

The Crystal Cathedral blames the recession for its woes. But it's clear that the elder Schuller's carefully orchestrated leadership transition, planned over a decade, has stumbled badly.

It's a problem common to personality driven ministries. Most have collapsed or been greatly diminished after their founders left the pulpit or died.

Members often tie their donations to the pastor, not the institution, said Nancy Ammerman, a sociologist of religion at Boston University. Schuller, with a style that blends pop psychology and theology, has a particularly devoted following, she said.

"Viewers are probably much less likely to give when it's not their preacher they're giving to," she said. "There's something about these televised programs where people develop a certain loyalty."

Today's increasingly fragmented media landscape is also to blame, said Quentin Schultze, a Calvin College professor who specializes in Christian media.

Church-based televangelism led by powerful personalities filled TV in the 1980s, but now only a handful of shows remain, he said. Among the struggling ministries are those of Oral Roberts and the late D. James Kennedy of "The Coral Ridge Hour" TV show.

"I don't see a scenario for maintaining a TV-based megachurch anymore. The days of doing that in the models of Schuller and Jimmy Swaggart and Oral Roberts are over," Schultze said. "It's amazing to me that the 'Hour of Power' was able to keep going as long as it did."

Gawd talkers are our number 1 enemy, as progressives. I've long argued that faith is declining faster than even the academic community has charted, for a host of reasons and despite some evidence to the contrary. And that's a good thing. The teevee preacher class has for far too long played far too significant a role in the political process in this country. And as in a lot of other political trends, their decline can be tied to the decline of the "Greatest Generation," which is saddled with too many regressive beliefs.

Just to make an overly simplistic and generalizing statement, let me say that all the Jeebus parks and Adam on a dinosaur displays in the world can't really compete for the attention and loyalty of the minds of the young and soft-brained like "World of Warcraft" or Harry Potter. It's just too much fun to play in a wide ranging pantheon, when compared to the increasingly limited and literal mythology of the Bible that most evanglicals want to force on the young. The sexual culture of the young is also changing, from a growing acceptance for homosexuality to declining interest in (female) teen "purity." I'm not going to bother to back up these assertions with any hard fact, but just enjoy some wishful thinking and anecdotal perceptions. I really hope I'm right, tho.