Psychedelic Retreats, Magic Mushrooms, and a Brand New Name: An Update on Craig Gross of XXX Church
In the mid-2000s, pastor Craig Gross was a staple in the Christian community. The founder of the controversially titled website XXXchurch with the moniker of ‘the porn pastor,’ he was known for his fierce advocacy against pornography and proponent of sexually pure living, along with edgy marketing.
When he wasn’t giving talks at college campuses or developing software designed to help men and women tame the scourge of sexual sin, Gross traversed the country on a debate tour with prolific porn star Ron Jeremy, arguing for the harmful effects of pornography on the soul and on society.
Then, in 2019, he announced that he was leaving XXX church to start ‘Christian Cannabis’, where he insisted that Jesus would have “been cool” with weed and where he began selling CBD balms and vape pens. At the time he told the Christian Post:
“I went to Coachella and saw one of my favorite artists that I’ve ever seen and I used marijuana before seeing him. It was amazing. I’ve never lifted my hands in a worship service ever, ’cause I was raised Baptist. … I’ve done that in my bathroom worshiping with marijuana by myself.”
Advocating for the medical and spiritual benefits of marijuana, he touted it for its holistic and spiritual benefits, including making it easier to worship and connect with Jesus while also strengthening his marriage. He also made a landing page to sell his own branded configurations of cannabis.
Drugs and deconstruction make for a messy matrix, however, and Gross continued pursuing both while introducing his wife to his world. He delved deeper into “plant medicines,” including hallucinogens like mushrooms, MDMA and ayahuasca, which he says opened further his mind and crystallized his thinking the more he ingested.
His LinkedIn profile notes that “Craig found liberation through the transformative power of cannabis and other sacred plant medicines, which helped him break free from traditional religious constraints.”
In 2020 at the onset of Covid, his wife Jeanette was diagnosed with cervical cancer, prompting him “quit my job, stop earning income for anyone, hold spiritual retreats using spiritual plants and give away or sell everything that I owned.”
He built a psychedelic retreat center in the Santa Cruz mountains where he led “healing plant ceremonies” involving magic mushrooms and the mind-melding mysteries of psilocybin. He puts it this way:
We started realizing the mind, body, spirit connection. We brought in people that did Reiki, massage therapists, all sorts of different things from ice bath to yoga, all the woo woo sh** that I’m like, ‘oh no, it f****** works’ because you get your mind, body, spirit in this balance and you give people three, four days to just heal and you give them the space away from the noise. There was no cell phone coverage. I had a f****** landline. People thought I was crazy. I sold my computer. ‘Where did Craig go?’ I’m in the f****** middle of the woods watching the most magic that I’ve ever seen…like this opens up not just your channels, this opens up everything in your life.”
As far as his Christian faith? That’s long gone. Instead, he is deeply invested in New Age ideologies, everything from meditating with monks to seeking to open up his third-eye.
I gave up everything for a calling and a belief that was outside of me; this God, this Jesus story. When I found these medicines and I found myself through slowing down, I know what I know. I know I don’t need to read it in a text. I don’t need to hear it in a sermon or a song. I know what I know inside of me.
And:
I threw an ascension party for my birthday. That’s wild, but the return of Christ consciousness that came through the Christmas star on December 22nd. I have a ’22’ tattoo on my… Dude, there’s so much synchronicities. I believe this. We’re in Revelation. We don’t have to worry about heaven or hell. Genesis is coming. There’s a new earth. There’s a new world.
He’s also started and created multiple businesses, nearly all which are defunct.
In 2023, Gross released “Bankrupt But Spiritually Rich” an 88-page book that reads like he dropped two tabs of acid and then went on a two-hour stream of consciousness. In a rambling preamble, he reveals that though he fled with his wife to Northern California following her cancer diagnosis, he divorced her shortly thereafter, explaining:
Jeanette Gross is now Jeanette Bourgo and lives in Portland, Oregon and is working on Mama J’s Medicinals and a book of her own. We were both able to detach from our 3D marriage and life we lived as the Gross Family for 22 years.
Our decision to divorce was just that. Ours. What we have done together as a family and what we created with our two kids was and is still special although it looks different than any of us every could have imagined.
After his divorce he quickly remarried in 2022 and underwent a name change of his own.
Craig Gross became Craig Rose on my last birthday for Craig Gross and the beginning of a second part of this journey as Craig Rose. On 12/22/22 at 2:22pm I married Daisy Rose and we have plans to travel the world and live the most abundant life we can because it won’t be like this forever.
A medicine woman, healer, and source of love beyond this time or space. I am excited for the world to know and see her as I have from first locking eyes.
Now, when he’s not consuming copious amounts of drugs, he spends his days dedicated to drug-related endeavors. His newest venture is ’11:27 Promotions’, where he and fellow visionaries are “building spiritual playgrounds dedicated to elevating Las Vegas through cannabis-infused lounges, wellness spaces and immersive experiences.”
Here, he “envisions a city where cannabis sparks transformative change, creating a culture rooted in inclusivity and collaboration” with a mission to “establish socially equitable businesses redefining the cannabis industry for a positive impact.”
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Awesome, he jettisoned the things of God for the things of this world, including mind-altering drugs. Let’s pray he stays out of the pulpit…