Cru Fired Uriah and Marissa Mundell, Veteran Staffers, Over “Pronoun Hospitality”

I have many posts about the decline of Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) as they have abandoned the Gospel of Jesus Christ in favor of wokeness, CRT, and more. In the latest development, Cru fired Uriah and Marissa Mundell who were on staff 23 years. The great sin that ended their ministry? Refusing to use “pronoun hospitality” while doing outreach. Yes, really.

Disclosure – I was on staff with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship for a few year so I have more than a passing interest in campus ministry and what is happening to these organizations.

FYI – If you don’t already know it, you will see the code word winsome brought up in the articles below. It is used by fearful Christians and Big Eva to berate committed Christians for not sucking up enough to the perverse culture. As someone else said, it’s a “Gospel-centered” excuse for cowardice. It is part of the whole negative world I made a video about in August 2020: Negative World – High Profile Christians Bend the Knee & Embrace the False Woke Gospel {Sallie Video}.

LifeSite – Cru fired Uriah and Marissa Mundell

From an article on LifeSite entitled Christian campus group fires longtime staffers who objected to pro-LGBT ‘pronoun hospitality’ training:

A worldwide Christian campus organization, Cru (formerly known as Campus Crusade for Christ) began last fall to train its staff to practice “pronoun hospitality.” When two longtime staffers objected on biblical grounds to what they were being directed to do, eventually going public with the dispute, they were fired.  

After undergoing Cru’s new mandated sexuality training program last fall, Uriah and Marissa Mundell – who are married with five children and have both worked for Cru for 23 years – were deeply troubled by the dichotomy between Cru’s tradition of adherence to biblical teachings and what they were now being asked to do.    

They sensed that when it comes to sexuality and gender, Cru was drifting away from teaching rooted in the Bible.  

“When he told his supervisor he couldn’t support ‘pronoun hospitality’ – using a person’s preferred pronouns as a presumed expression of Christian ­compassion – the supervisor said Uriah wasn’t being winsome,” according to a World Magazine report by Mary Jackson.   

Upon hearing of the Mundells’ story, Tom Gilson, who with his wife served as staff members and leaders for Campus Crusade for Christ for 34 years, believes the organization’s present leaders are “making decisions that are bound to lead to its downfall” and have allowed Jesus’ “way, His word, and His truth slip silently to second place.”

WORLD – Pick a Side

If you go to the original article on WORLD  (Taking Sides – A growing divide over the theology of sexual brokenness threatens to tear evangelical institutions apart), it begins this way. I HIGHLY recommend reading the entire thing, especially if the controversies surrounding Cru are new to you because they will come to an organization near you if you belong to a theologically weak group or church. This is an organization in a death spiral as they desperately want approval from Negative World to the extent that Cru fired Uriah and Marissa Mundell.

LATE LAST YEAR, Uriah Mundell sat outside a noisy coffee shop, across from his boss, and agonized over a wrenching prospect: His decadeslong tenure with one of the nation’s leading evangelical ministries might be coming to a premature end.

Months earlier, Uriah had completed a new sexuality training program mandated by his employer, Cru. He had voiced objections to his boss and other leaders, but still couldn’t shake his concerns. Now, his boss suggested he was quibbling over semantics. He told Uriah if he couldn’t let it go, he might need to look for a new job.

Uriah left the meeting with a heavy feeling of sadness. “It’s been a tense hour and a half,” he texted his wife before heading home in the rain. As he drove, he wondered whether he was the only one concerned that the organization formerly known as Campus Crusade for Christ had drifted from Biblical teachings on sexuality and gender. He soon learned he wasn’t.

The next day, author Rosaria Butterfield stood before roughly 10,000 Liberty University students to give a convocation address. Butterfield is a former lesbian feminist and tenured English professor who is now a pastor’s wife and mother. After sharing her testimony, she called out organizations and leaders she believes are compromising on issues related to sexuality and gender: Revoice; Preston Sprinkle’s Center for Faith, Sexuality & Gender; … and Cru. The audience let out an audible gasp.

Butterfield paused to let her assertion sink in. She insisted subtle lies have crept into the Church and other Christian institutions—lies that “discourage repentance and encourage the pride of victimhood.” Among what she labels false teaching: Same-sex attraction is a sinless temptation unless you act on it; it’s acceptable for Christians to call themselves gay as long as they are celibate; people with same-sex attraction rarely, if ever, change; and sex and gender are different, so God doesn’t mind if men live as women and vice versa.

Despite the immediate furor, Cru has not responded to Butterfield’s ­allegations, even as it has taken steps behind the scenes to clarify its position and tweak its training materials in response. Far from being mollified, Butterfield argues those changes mask a deeper theological problem that remains unaddressed.

Rosaria Butterfield Calls Out Cru at Liberty University

If you haven’t watched Rosaria Butterfield’s presentation at Liberty University in which she calls out Cru by name, I shared the full talk in December 2023. I embedded the video in my post Dr. Rosaria Butterfield at Liberty University. I HIGHLY recommend watching the entire thing. It’s an excellent testimony and presentation.

Alisa Childers and Rosaria Butterfield on Side B “Gay Christianity”

Related to the end of the World article… I haven’t taken the time yet to put this video up in a separate post, but Rosaria Butterfield had a lengthy conversation with Alisa Childers about the problems with “Side B ‘Gay Christianity’.” I will embed it here since it is mentioned in the above article.

Closing words from the World article:

On a recent Monday morning, I spoke with the Mundells over Zoom. They sat at their kitchen table, their homeschooled kids occasionally slipping into the kitchen behind them. Marissa’s hair was pulled back in a loose bun. She wrapped a fluffy white blanket around her legs. I asked why they chose to share their concerns, risking a rift with an organization that has been like a family to them. Marissa immediately teared up.

“If the gospel and Jesus are not powerful enough to redeem people to complete wholeness and freedom, then we sell a cheapened gospel to this population,” she said. “It matters because our kids are watching … and because this next generation is being bombarded with false teaching and lies surrounding gender and sexuality.”

May the Lord bless Uriah and Marissa Mundell for their faithfulness to Christ, their children, and the truth.