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Cru, Lenses Institute Lied about Shutdown of Race Ministry

(Capstone Report) Video shows that Cru leadership was involved in closing Lenses Institute despite what it said publicly.

Cru top US leadership including Mark Householder & Mark Gauthier appear to be supportive of Lenses despite conservative objections.

Cru, formerly Campus Crusade for Christ, appears to have lied about its leadership’s role in shuttering the woke and racially divisive Lenses Institute. A new video provided to the Capstone Report, details how Cru and Lenses were more tightly connected in the decision to temporarily close Lenses training. In fact, a Cru panel made the decision to close Lenses and not the Lenses team as Cru claimed in its public statements.

According to Michael Sylvester, Executive Director of Lenses:

“There were some concerns placed on lenses that perhaps we were engaged in some mission drift, perhaps some CRT, and some Marxist ideology….There was a frequent incursion of those outside of Cru questioning Lenses as a direct result of SCU (Seeking Clarity and Unity) behavior. So, these questions are coming up, and the confluences—Gauthier becomes the president of Cru U.S. and it was decided that we need to look into lenses and audit lenses. It was a curious decision, but we were very welcoming to it, oh and also, that we were promoting anti-biblical teaching. So, we were very open to that…Mark Householder led that effort and put together a panel of people to be a part of the process. And we met a few times over that, the trajectory of the audit moved from an audit to a desire to reimagine Lenses, a reimagining of Lenses which then moved to a desire to pause Lenses. All that is between November and December of 2020 and July of 2021.”

This statement was made during a Cru…to continue reading click here

Editor’s Note. This article was written and published at the Capstone Report

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Apologist Josh McDowell Steps Back From Ministry after ‘Racist’ Comments

Days after Apologist Josh McDowell Came Under Fire for “Racist” Comments, he has announced on Twitter that he has decided to “step back” from his ministry and speaking engagements in order to enter into “a season of listening to address the growth areas” in order to personally grow and better understand how he can “contribute to the reconciliation and unity that God desires for us all.”

McDowell, perhaps best known for his book Evidence that Demands a Verdict, came under fire for remarks that became widely mischaracterized [Here’s looking at you, Julie Roys -Ed.] that he made at the American Association of Christian Counselors conference in Orlando, FL, saying at one point after he unloaded on critical race theory:

Everybody says blacks, whites, everybody has equal opportunity to make it in America. No they don’t, folks.  I do not believe Blacks, African-Americans, and many other minorities have equal opportunity. Why? Most of them grew up in families where there is not a great emphasis on education, security – ‘you can do anything you want. You can change the world. If you work hard, you will make it!’

So many African-Americans don’t have those privileges like I was brought up with.  My folks weren’t very rich, in fact, they were a poor farming family. But the way I was raised, I had advantages in life ingrained into me. ‘You can do it! Get your education! Get a job! Change the world!’

And that makes it different opportunities.

While the 82-year-old is enjoying his time off going through reeducation camp, one possibly manned by woke CRU staff members, the organization he is affiliated with, the ministry will continue, with Duane Zook CEO leading the daily efforts.

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Can CRU be Saved? Woke Group Purged From Organization

One of the driving forces between an acceptance of CRT and strife within CRU (formerly known as Campus Crusade for Christ) has announced that they are leaving the organization, citing the climate with CRU as having become “cautious, unclear and in some places toxic.”

The Lenses Institute, in announcing their departure, note that “there are elements within CRU who feel Lenses is misaligned with the CRU vision and is engaged in a drift from Cru’s central mission” resulting in a “climate of suspicion, mischaracterization, and in some cases direct intimidation” and consequently will be folding up shop.

https://twitter.com/lensesinstitute/status/1420832984794603521

Well, Bye.

In a must-read piece by the Capstone Report, they unpack a 174-page report prepared months ago by 350 members and handed to senior leadership that details the extent that wokeness and CRT has infiltrated and affected the organization, leading to infighting, mission drift, broken relationships, loss of membership, and loss of personal and financial support. Capstone noted:

Of particular concern is Cru’s Cultural Training called the Lenses Institute. Lenses was an in-depth “cultural competency training for Cru staff. However, it functioned as an ideological re-education camp where Christian unity was replaced by the primacy of ethnic identity.

The Lenses Institute is also one of Cru’s most closely guarded secrets. According to the report, “Staff are required to disclose nothing about the teaching content outside of the training. Independent thinking is discouraged. Most authors and scholars recommended by Lenses are proponents of CRT.”

And as information on the trainings leak, it becomes abundantly clear, why there was a gag order on discussion of Lenses trainings.

At a Lenses training on September 23, 2020, a speaker was heard to say, “Identity in Christ cannot be elevated above our ethnic identity.”

At this point, it is not known if it was a self-purge and leaving on their own accord, if the remaining conservative faction forcibly removed them, or it’s a case where senior leadership, not willing to bleed funding and support, removed Lenses to appease the conservatives as being the most visible sign of disunity, while still affirming the thrust of Lenses’ messaging.

At the very least we know Cru is better for them leaving; demonstrated by the fact that Kyle J, Howard, Jemar Tisby, and Curtis Yee are shook over it and are lamenting their loss

We pray that Cru can repent and recover, but given how deeply this messaging has been embedded, we are pessimistic that they can be saved.