"After reading the info on Rex Humbard, I noticed not ONE SINGLE WORD that would indicate he was anything but a wonderful minister.  Many people, including me, would loudly disagree.  In the 1980's, I personally interviewed a former worker in his computer center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and heard about the highly questionable fund-raising methods employed.  That former worker told me that Humbard used ""scare tactics"" to get viewers, especially elderly viewers, to send in money.  The main ploy was to send out many mass mailings and claim that his program would go off the air unless the viewers sent in a lot of money.  The former computer center employee told me that Humbard told viewers in these mass mailings that ""the government"" was trying to shut him down.  Also, the former employee told me that the Canadian government was so concerned about the mailings and calls to elderly viewers in Canada that Humbard was banned from mailing any promotion materials to Canada. Humbard's computer system was state-of-the-art, as was his TV studio equipment.  An IBM engineer told me that Humbard had the newest and one of the best IBM mainframe computer systems in Ohio.  A former engineer at WJW TV 8 in Cleveland told me that Humbard had, at least for a few years, the most expensive and sophisticated television production equipment in the Cleveland area.  Again, according to that WJW engineer, Humbard's set-up was as good or better than any of the TV stations in Cleveland.  

My father told me how he would drive from Canton to attend services at the Cathedral of Tomorrow.  He said that an offering would be taken and Humbard would ask people who came the farthest to donate the most.  He told me that there was a massive cross that hung from the ceiling and that it changed color.  Also, he said that the ceiling looked like the ceiling in a planetarium.  The revolving restaurant idea stirred a lot of controversy.  The concrete tower to support the restaurant was over 400 feet tall and the FAA was against the construction due to airline flight paths into Hopkins International airport.  Cuyahoga Falls is fairly close to the airport.  SEE: http://explorer.altopix.com/map/kdaocf/277/311/Rexs_Erection.htm   for a picture of the tower.

Humbard's problems with the I.R.S. included running the Cathedral Buffet restaurant as a Not-For-Profit, even though it obviously wasn't.  Ditto the trouble Humbard got into with the women's underwear factory he bought in Indiana. Humbard sold the Cathedral of Tomorrow to Ernest Angley Ministries and that operation has also had a lot of controversy.  I hope others with information about these ""televangelists"" will post their comments."