Growing Up Shuler

     Robert Pierce Shuler surprised no one when he became a preacher. His father, John William Wesley Shuler, was a Methodist preacher, as was his grandfather, Philip Lofton Shuler. Robert was born to John William Wesley and Rosa Elvira (Cornett) Shuler on August 4, 1880 at Comer’s Rock which was on top of Iron Mountain in southwest Virginia. He spent the first 12 years of his life there. He remembered his Christian conversion at the age of nine.[1]

     The family moved a number of times. After graduating from Emory and Henry College in Virginia, J.W.W. along with Rosa Elvira and their children (Robert was then 12), moved to Bluff City, Tennessee. Robert remembered this move.

     “My father’s first pastorate as a Methodist circuit rider was the Bluff City Circuit in east Tennessee,” he said.[2]

     J.W.W. was responsible for five churches in the Holston Methodist Conference there. The family remained there three years before moving to Russell County, Virginia in 1895. Three weeks after Robert’s 16^th birthday, on August 25, 1896, his mother died from appendicitis. No doctor lived in the area and by the time J.W.W. could get one, it was too late. Robert became the head of the house for the time being.

     Robert (Bob) was licensed to preach a year after his mother died. He jumped at every opportunity. In 1898 he enrolled at Emory and Henry College and continued school while preaching at various Methodist churches. He graduated from Emory in 1903 and was ordained the same year.

     In April 1905 Bob Shuler held revival meetings at Austin Springs, Tennessee, where he met Nelle Reeves, whose father persuaded her to help in the revival. She played the organ and led the singing for the meetings. On October 4th Bob and Nelle were married.

     The newlywed Shulers started their life together in Bristol, Tennessee where Bob preached under the auspices of the Methodist Conference there. For the next 15 years Bob would continue preaching for the Methodist Conference, often becoming the center of controversy which would lead to his becoming widely known as “Fighting Bob” Shuler. His last four years as a “circuit rider” were spent in Paris, Texas. By the time they left Texas, the Shulers had five children, William, 10, Dorothy, 7, Robert, Jr., 4, Jack, 2 (born July 12, 1918), and Nelle, an infant. In October 1920 “Fighting Bob” moved his family to California to become the pastor of a Methodist church there. The Los Angeles Times, October 2, 1920 reported the move. 

     “After twenty-three years [of] service in the ministry of the Methodist church,” it said, “four of which have been recently spent in Paris, Tex., Rev. R.P. Shuler, known throughout Texas as "Fighting Bob" Shuler because of his evangelistic fervor and activity in social and political matters of the Lone Star State has arrived in Los Angeles, and will occupy the pulpit in his new pastorate at Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church tomorrow.”

     Bob and Nelle had two more sons after moving to California: Edward H., born in 1923, and Phil R., born December 29, 1924. “Fighting Bob” entered his new pastorate with enthusiasm and a large family, which kept Nelle with her hands full. With two older brothers, two younger brothers, one older sister and one younger, Jack was the middle sibling among the seven.

     Jack grew up surrounded by media attention. Trinity Methodist Church in Los Angeles was the most popular church in the area (not counting Angelus Temple which was started by Aimee Semple McPherson in 1923). Later that year (1923) when Jack was five, his dad preached a series of sermons against “McPhersonism”.[3] When Jack was eight, Sister McPherson continued to make headlines with her California disappearance and reappearance in Douglas, Arizona and with her controversial ministry at Angelus Temple.

     When Jack was 12, the Federal Radio Commission charged his dad with violating radio laws on his KGEF radio station.[4] Bob was judged guilty of some of the charges and was then sentenced to 20 days in jail. He served 15 of them.[5] When Jack was 13, Sister Aimee eloped to Yuma, Arizona and married David Hutton. When Jack was 14, his dad ran as the Prohibition candidate for the U.S. Senate and received more than half a million votes.[6]

     When Jack was 15, his dad considered running for California governor.[7] No doubt about it: When “Fighting Bob” Shuler spoke, people listened. When he wrote, people read it. His periodical publication, Bob Shuler’s Magazine, clearly bolstered his fame as the pastor of the popular Trinity Methodist Church.

In the Spotlight

     So Jack grew up surrounded by the media in an area that had become a hotbed of religious newsmakers. His father perpetually attracted attention and created continuing publicity. This publicity became a way of life. With his parents being public figures, Jack became accustomed to media around him and his brothers and sisters. Everyone reacts differently to such a situation. The fact that Jack was a preacher’s kid only added to the pressure. “Preacher’s kids” have been known to rebel against their upbringing. And Jack lived up to that. Billy Graham’s son also would one day go through that.

     Jack described himself as the “black sheep” of the family.[8] His younger brother, Phil, described him as the “smartacre” (smartaleck? wiseacre?) of the family. Phil remembered one time when they were kids and some thugs drove up to them while they were walking home in El Monte. (Such thugs bombed the Trinity Methodist church twice).[9] While in their car they asked the kids, “Are you the Shuler boys?” Jack quickly answered, “The last time I checked we were.”[10] The kids were lucky to make it home.
     This sense of humor continued into adulthood. In 1950 he pulled one over on his audience in a St. Joseph, Missouri crusade. The headline in the Reading, Pennsylvania Eagle, August 4, 1950 reported: Evangelist’s Query Traps Unwary Group. The article stated, "Evangelist Jack Shuler, leading an interdenominational revival, yesterday asked his audience how many heard 'my program this morning on radio station KRES?' About 50 persons held up their hands. 'Friends,' said Shuler, 'the devil is at work in St. Joseph. I wasn’t on the air this morning.'

     Jack’s sometimes reckless and impulsive behavior also showed up in his teens. By that time he was determined never to become a preacher like his father and their family history. He had become a “rebel without a cause” except for one. He developed a strong desire to become an actor. He pictured his name in lights and signing autographs as a movie star. He joined the Poet Theater in Los Angeles to go about reaching that goal.[11] By all accounts he was good at it. And he did have an additional asset. He was strikingly handsome. Besides that he was an exceptional athlete, playing football like both older brothers, Bill and Bob, Jr.

     What he did as a “rebel” when 17 had repercussions long after the event. It reflected his passionate personality.

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[1] Robert Shuler, “Fighting Bob” Shuler of Los Angeles (Indianapolis, Indiana: Dog Ear Publishing, 2011), 1-4.

[2] Bob Shuler, Some Dogs I Have Known (Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1953), 15.

[3] Edith L. Blumhofer, Aimee Semple McPherson: Everybody’s Sister (Grand Rapids, Michigan:William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1993), 257-258.

[4] “Charges Against Bob Shuler Filed” (Oxnard Daily Courier, July 22, 1930).

[5] “Court Upholds Punishment of Rev. Bob Shuler” Meriden Daily Journal, October 2, 1930. See also “Shuler Contempt Sentence Upheld” Milwaukee Journal, October 2, 1930.

[6] Milwaukee Journal, December 15, 1931.

[7] “Restore Prayers Instead of Beer, Says Bob Shuler” San Jose News, August 7, 1933.

[8] “Shuler ‘Acted’ Himself Into Ministry” Spokane Daily Chronicle, September 10, 1956.

[9] Gettysburg Times, October 27, 1930.

[10] My Life Story by Phil Shuler. n.d. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLLoWY-6Tuc.

[11] Jack Shuler, Shuler’s Short Sermons: Thirty-eight selected sermons by Jack Shuler (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1952). The dust cover said “Jack Shuler … received, as a promising young actor with the Poet Theater, opportunities to prepare himself for a movie career in Hollywood.”