Devastating Loss of Son at the Hands of Campus Crusade for Christ aka CRU

Devastating Loss of Son at the Hands of Campus Crusade for Christ aka CRU

Dec 2, 2019

"I’ve made a lot of new friends in the past 8 years and many of you may not know the story of how we lost our firstborn child. I am also going to share some information that many of my longtime friends may not have even heard yet.

On the morning of December 2, 2011, we received the most unfathomable phone call... that our 23 year old son had “passed away”. He was serving as a missionary in Kazakhstan, a country that is less than 1% Christian and did not even allow missionaries to enter much less live there. (We did not know this!) It wasn’t until the next day when our home was filled with people that we found out he had been murdered. He was found unresponsive on his bed, with a plastic bag over his head, a sheet tied around his neck and a pillow over his head. (The horror).

The organization he was with was called Campus Crusade for Christ and now goes by CRU (they can’t use the name of Christ anymore because it’s too dangerous). They assured us that they would get to the bottom of it and find out who did this and why. The regional office (Raleigh) of this organization called a private meeting with us right away (little did we know, they were trying to begin their damage control). At first they were loving and kind, but after the memorial service, things began to go down hill. They wanted no memorial fund, and absolutely no memorial of any kind. (They really just wanted this story to go away).

We went to Orlando, Florida to their headquarters. It was a beautiful sprawling campus, hundreds of acres with a huge gate and meticulous landscaping. (Hmmmm) The guard would not allow us entry! Not even a drive around! (What were they hiding?) Prior to our visit, we requested a meeting with the President of this $800,000,000 a year organization and were told he was too busy. Our son had just died on his watch and he was “too busy”. His name is Steve Douglass. Later on, this organization even tried to imply that Travis may have done this to himself! Really!? That’s how badly they wanted this story to go away.

Over the past 8 years, we have received countless messages from all over the country from parents wanting to know more about “this organization”. Virtually all of these folks were reaching out in desperation because of their own horror stories with their impressionable young adult children. Mind you, these kids are ALL college graduates (only the best...) It’s always the same theme too. Could this be a cult? Are they being brainwashed? Why can’t we get answers? Why is there so much secrecy?

My brother is a lawyer and he did some digging of his own. He found pages and pages of information on “what to do if your parents object”.

We reached out to our Senator, Lindsay Graham and he was able to assist us in opening an FBI investigation. This went on for several years, but left us empty. Our agent retired and our case was closed.

We have never gone public with our concerns, but we have many. We were naive and didn’t ask enough hard questions. Maybe someone reading this will learn something or think differently or ask harder questions. Feel free to share. We don’t know who might need to see this.

We were proud of Travis and we wanted him to spread his wings, but Gosh Darn! The devil is out there, be aware! Life without Travis has been hard. He would be 31 if he were still with us. It didn’t have to end this way.

If you have questions, please feel free to ask. If you have ideas, please share them. If you have input, please give it. We are wide open. God Bless y’all."

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We receive many support calls and emails from parents who's children are off to college and have joined up with church groups of some kind or another and are planning on going to other countries on missionary work. It sounds all great and exciting for the students, traveling, having a purpose, feeling like they are making a difference etc. This is an area of great concern from our perspective. 

We are trying to help support the family in their fight to expose this group and get some much needed answers, if you have any information or specific experiences with this particular group CRU feel free to reach out and file a complaint with any supporting evidence you may have. Any information is appreciated. Here is the link to do that: File a Complaint  

Our deepest condolences to the family!  

Sincerely, 

The F.A.C.T. Inc Team