For those of you old enough to remember that cheesy Life Savers song from the 80’s…that posting title is for you! For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about…you really didn’t miss much.:) However, now that I’ve given you a bit of a hint how old I am, hopefully you’ll extend me a bit of “cyber-grace”!

I grew up in a time when it was totally NOT cool to “poke” friends, but now it’s OK – well, if they are FACEBOOK friends, I guess. I also grew up in a time when being followed by strangers meant running to a Block Parent and “tweet” was just a simple sound that a bird makes – but not anymore. Now I’m told that “tweeting” on Twitter is a high tech way to invite the world to follow what I’m doing and where I’m doing it at any given time of day.

As Kevin (TCC Radio program writer/producer) posted last week, we have jumped on the broadband bandwagon and started “tweeting” on Twitter…and I have to admit that it’s a lot of fun! In fact, we’re going to encourage more of our core TCC team members to not only let the world know what they are doing right now, but we’ll also all be sharing “truth tweets from the streets” too as we invite you to experience more encounters in everyday evangelism with The Cross Current!

Click here to find out more about following us via our Twitter homepage!

Happy Tweeting!

Cory

Do you love your pastor? I sure love mine. I make it a point to pray for Norm Millar every day. (When asked why he prefers NOT to be called “Pastor Norm”, he humbly shares his belief that if both Paul and Peter weren’t called “Pastors”, then why should he be?)

If you’ve been hanging around TCC at all, you’ll know that we exist to help pastors equip all the Christians under their care to be Christ’s witnesses. Serving pastors and their churches is our mission and that’s why we take submission to pastoral authority very seriously! In fact, only those evangelists who submit a Pastoral Referral and Oversight Agreement are mutually permitted to serve as TCC Radio reps.

I love my pastor. Did I mention that already? I would SERIOUSLY take a bullet for the man. Not only has Norm DEFINITELY been called by God to shepherd his flock, but God has also gifted Norm as an anointed preacher and teacher too!

Click here to listen to a recent message Norm preached called “The Way of the Wise”

The message communicates the Wisdom of God revealed through the Cross of Christ. If you are short on time, fasten your seat belt and fast forward the message to the 25 minute mark to hear one of the most biblically accurate and complete Gospel messages I’ve EVER heard ANY preacher deliver!

Before you navigate away from this posting, please take a minute to pray for your pastor and his family. Having served as a pastor for a number of years, I can promise you that he needs it!

In Christ,

Cory

Source: Christian Churches Network of London (CCNL)

The Salvation Army & Family Services Centre in London is in desperate need of food supplies for hundreds of families and individuals who rely on their help every month.

The current economic struggles have forced many people to turn to the Salvation Army for help for the first time ever. Since January 2009, over 4200 families have applied for assistance at our food bank representing a 50% increase over the same time period last year. This unprecedented increase in demand has left the shelves almost empty!

YOU can help by donating food non-perishable items such as pasta, juice, canned vegetables, canned fruit, baby formula and diapers, canned fish, canned stews and peanut butter. What can you do? Have a food drive in your church or servant ministry. Organize a mini food drive in your place of business. Include an annoucement in your weekly bulletin.

Contact CCNL at 519-455-7381 or email info@ccnl.org if you can help. Food can be delivered to the Centre of Hope OR contact Major Pat Phinney and she will arrange to pick up the food at your location. Help us support those who need it most.

*TCC Note: Gospel outreach is the term we use for reaching out to the community while sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ…and this annoucement qualifies! Though TCC has been specifically called to equip the saints for the work of evangelism, serving the needs of people in not only Christ-like, but it also opens up the door to share the Gospel. Let’s all prayerfully consider how the Lord would have us support these people in need.

By Writer/Producer Kevin Lane

If you’re like a lot of people you’ve been following people on Twitter. We’ve just started tweeting about our daily work in the ministry, and you can follow us at Twitter.com/TheCrossCurrent where you’ll read short messages about what our leaders are doing at any given moment. There’s no schedule involved but whatever we’re up to we’re bound to make a quick comment on it. We’re really hoping this can grow into an almost real-time view of our lives in ministry.

One great thing about being a Linux Geek is I have a Plasma Applet running on my desktop that allows me to tweet at a moment’s notice. Check out my current desktop in this pic below.

Twitter Right On The KDE4 Desktop!

“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.” (Romans 1:8, ESV)

This verse of Scripture perfectly shares my heartfelt love and appreciation for all of you who have continued preaching the Gospel and praying for our family during these difficult days of trials and tragedy. This posting will provide a brief update on the life and ministry of our family.

These last 3 difficult weeks have ended a very difficult 9 months for our family. Last September our son Joshua suddenly started experiencing unexplained bouts of a very rapid heart rate (tachycardia). After consulting cardiologists in both London and Toronto, our entire family was launched into a painful and unnerving journey back into our past to determine whether there was any genetic connection between the death of our first son nine years ago and Joshua’s condition.

Though Dawn (my wife) and I had both said on many occasions that “we didn’t ever want to open that painful chapter of our lives again”, we would later be very thankful for the prophetic words of a believing friend: “God has written the book of your life…He holds the pen…and He requires full access to all chapters at all times.” Ouch! Tough, but true. I took those words to prayer and heard a very clear response from the Lord. He said to me: “Never fear the truth.” I wasn’t really sure what that meant at the time, but I sure was about to find out!

It was late last year when the Lord re-opened that chapter in our lives and we were confronted with a shocking reality. We had never received any medical explanation of our first son’s death, however, we were now presented with a research paper from the American Journal of Medicine reporting on the phenomena of our deceased son’s condition: one of the first reported cases in the entire world. Though we have to believe that the doctors involved with our situation are doing their best based on what they know, let the record show that the Lord always gets the last word and it’s ultimately His report that we receive as truth! Furthermore, our identity is found in Christ alone, not medical prognosis or scientific determination. But, as you can imagine, this traumatic “blast from the past” really added to our confusion concerning both Joshua, and the new baby Dawn was now carrying. We praise God that Joshua has been without incident since January, but in the meantime we humbly as that you continue praying that God will give wisdom and clear medical direction to the situation as we wait on his healing.

Judah Elias McKenna (May 30th, 2009 ~ June 5th, 2009)

On Saturday, May 30th Dawn gave birth to our fourth son, Judah Elias McKenna. Immediately after Judah was born, he started developing health issues seemingly very similar to those of our first son, Canaan. After the Lord helped us deal with the initial shock, over the next several days we began settling into a prayer/neonatal visitation rhythm painfully reminiscent of 9 years ago. However, not only were we very thankful that the medical paper we recently received was able to offload a lot of difficult storytelling about our past situation, but the support we received from our pastor, elders, TCC team, and entire home church was and still is…well…simply beyond description. We thank God every day for our church family and I pray that all the evangelists reading this posting are cultivating healthy relationships with your churches too! Despite the many, many, many blessings of the Lord that we have experienced amidst this trial, it is with mixed emotions that I report that the Lord only numbered 6 days for Judah before taking him home. Though we will miss him dearly, we are very grateful that we will see him again soon and all the McKenna boys now have a brother to play with – both here on earth, and in heaven too!

Canaan James Nolan McKenna (September 21st, 2000 ~ October 18th, 2000)

A beautiful memorial service was held for Judah here in London and I personally performed the graveside service in our hometown of Halifax, where Judah’s remains were buried beside his brother Canaan. We praise God that He allowed me to preach His Gospel to many family and friends and we are very thankful that the gracious support of our Christian family and friends has been an undeniable witness to the reality of Christ’s resurrection and His transforming regeneration of  His Church. Please continue praying that the Lord will cause this very difficult experience to work for His good by producing fruit of salvation. We also thank God for all of you who have been suffering with us, praying for us, and practically supporting us in so many other ways.

Though I could say SO much more, I do need to ask you to continue praying for my wife, my family, and me as we step back onto the mission field this week. Though it’s going to be a challenge, we praise God that His grace is sufficient and when we are weak, He is strong. I encourage you to be regularly checking our online ministry calendar, this Studio/Street blog, and our online Members Site for the latest news and updates related to The Cross Current.

Remaining in His Grip,

Cory, Dawn, Joshua, and Caleb McKenna

The 2009 XTM Toronto Team: (back – l to r) Mike Vinson, Greg Sceviour, Tom Briggs, Trent Herbert, Kem Chapman, John Gonciarz. (front – l to r) Chris Wood, Cory McKenna, Jeff Mardling

This past Saturday May 16th, The Cross Current came together for another ground-breaking and life changing event: The 2009 Xstream Team Mission (XTM) Toronto! We praise God that He graciously gave us favour as we hosted one of the world’s most multi-cultural cities to almost twelve hours of fun-filled, power-packed Gospel outreach!

Here was our itinerary for the local mission trip:

8:00am | Met at Cory’s house for team worship, prayer, and briefing

9:30am – 12:30pm | Traveled to downtown Toronto together in Trent’s twelve passenger van (thanks Trent!)

12:30pm – 2:30pm | Witnessing one-to-one and prayer at the crazy corner of Yonge-Dundas

2:30pm – 4:00pm | Took a lunch break during “rain delay”

4:00pm – 9:00pm | More witnessing one-to-one and prayer at the crazy corner of Yonge-Dundas

9:00pm | Team “take a knee” prayer at the crazy corner of Yonge-Dundas

9:30pm – 11:30pm | Shared a meal together in Mississauga

11:30pm – 2:00am | Traveled back to London

Do you know that there are over 100 languages spoken in Toronto and virtually every type of false religion is practiced? This past Saturday the Lord allowed us to preach His precious Gospel to dozens and dozens of  Atheists, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Scientologists, New Agers, and Roman Catholics – just to name a few! We also passed Gospel tracts to thousands more and prayed for several too.

Special thanks to: Mike Vinson of Harvest Bible Chapel Oakville for partnering with us to represent for this event and all those who committing to praying for our time in Toronto. Praise God that He’s brought us all together to keep the Cross current in our culture!

Our next XTM event is scheduled for the Freedom Festival in Windsor, Ontario on Saturday, June 27th. This will be our very first local missions trip to Windsor, so please pray in advance for God’s favour on our time there and for Him to help us develop strong partner church relationships for this event.

Click here to view the entire 2009 XTM Toronto photo album

Click here to submit an application to join the XTM Windsor Team

Click here to contact us about having your church partner with us at XTM Windsor

Click here to contact us about sponsoring a local missionary for this event

Well, that’s all for now…stay tuned for more 2009 XTM Toronto testimonies and we’ll make sure to provide a full field report in our next newsletter!

Seeking And Saving,

Cory

Reflecting on our outreach in Toronto (May 16th), I have come to the point of a greater love and appreciation for all team members who sacrificially gave of themselves to sow the seeds of the Gospel among such a diverse and ethnically mixed population. Furthermore, I am thankful for all of the brethren who prayed for the team and who prayed for those touched by the Gospel message.

I thank God for His love that lives within us and flows from us. This is manifested in our burden for the lost and in our desire for all to be reached and saved (1st Timothy 2:1-4; 2nd Peter 3:9).

My continuous prayer for the TCC Team is that God will strengthen and embolden us through the gifting and fruit of the Holy Spirit. Of course “the greatest of these is love”: love for God, love for one another and love for the lost. Through love our unity is enhanced, and through the loving encouragement of the Scriptures we are assured that our efforts (in the Lord’s strength) will have eternal worth and value (1st Corinthians 15:58; Galatians 6:9). Love is further extended when we have the “servant’s heart”, upholding all others in higher regard and esteem than ourselves (Philippians 2:1-4; Hebrews 6:9-12). I believe that the divisive spirit of pride and competition is overcome when we, together as a team, seek and grow in a spirit of humility and cooperation. Each believer needs to be the servent of the servents in order to be servents to all (Matthew 23:11-12). In all of this God is glorified; that’s the bottom line.

Tom Briggs

Welcome to our local missions field report for March and April of 2009! These brief, bi-monthly, Good News letters are specially designed to give you the bottom line on all the latest and greatest happenings, highlights, and Gospel glory stories we encounter as we serve the Church to keep the Cross current in Canada.

WINNIPEG WITNESSING!

We praise God that this past March TCC was invited to equip and lead an army of 75 witnessing warriors onto the streets of Winnipeg!

Above: 75 “souled out” students praying together in downtown Winnipeg

Though it was a frigid day weather-wise, we praise God that our breath wasn’t all we saw! We also saw the Holy Spirit move powerfully in the hearts and minds of the young believers we trained and the non-believers He allowed us to share the Gospel with!

Here are a few excerpts from the many Gospel glory stories that are pouring in from the students who continue reaching out in their everyday lives:

“Wow! So much has been happening in Winnipeg since the conference, my whole family has totally changed the way they see people. I just wanted to thank you again for coming here and sharing this amazing truth with us. What is really amazing is the love God puts in your heart for these people. You just so want to see them in heaven and their lives are so important to you all of a sudden. I used to not even think about the people around me but now everywhere I go I can’t help but think if they are going to heaven or not. Nothing else can compare to the feeling of telling someone else about God. I have told all my friends about witnessing and they absolutely love it. You have no idea how this has helped my Christian walk as well.” ~ Sarah T.

“I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed all the sessions. I’ve been moved to share the Gospel with people that are lost. I don’t have any friends that are not Christians but time is running out and I know God has called us to tell others about Jesus. I’m so very grateful for The Cross Current team who are willing to teach others how to witness to the people that are lost. I am very moved by what was taught and I have never felt this strongly to go and tell other people about Jesus. Thank you so very much.” ~ Raechelle P.

“My life has been totally changed by the message you spoke last weekend. After the course I was so pumped up. My friends and I arranged to go witnessing the following Saturday. When we drove home we stopped for groceries, I wanted to give a million [dollar bill tract] away so badly, but my mind was like, “No, this is not the right time”. Then I told myself, I am not walking out of this building with this million in my hand. So I went to the lottery centre and placed it by the coupons. “Someone will get a million”, I thought, and even though I didn’t speak words to someone that same joy returned – the joy of sharing the truth and promise of our savior. I had stepped out and “dropped” a tract!” ~ Jenni T.

Jenni’s email went on to testify as to how she has not only been actively sharing the Gospel with many of her family and friends, but her new-found fire for seeking and saving the lost has become so contagious that one of her Christian friends commented on how obviously excited she is about her “new real, living, talking” part of her faith. Praise God!

On behalf of our entire training team, we extend a very special thanks to all those who took the time to pray for God’s favour on our ministry in Winnipeg. As always, your prayers made all the difference! We also ask you to keep praying that God by His Spirit will continue fanning the flames of evangelism that He has lit through our time together in Winnipeg.

View the entire Winnipeg Witnessing online photo album

Access more information on having TCC train your youth or adult group for more effective life and witness

SHARING THE GOSPEL WITH THE GIDEONS

In Romans 10:13-17, the apostle Paul writes:

“For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

If anyone trusts in the reality that faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of God, it’s the Gideons! That’s why we jumped at the invitation to preach the Gospel and offer free evangelism training at their regional camp meeting on April 20th. As partners in the preaching and distribution of God’s Word and the Gospel, the Gideons and TCC form what you might call “A Romans 10 Tag Team”!

Here are a few encouraging words of feedback we received from the Gideons after our time together:

“Of course, I’m quite accustomed to the great zeal you possess to get out on the highways and byways to reach lost souls for Christ, and your enthusiasm is just the inspiration we Gideons need to help us continue to get out there to put scriptures in the hands of a very hungry world.”

Don Paulton, Secretary/VP of Gideons London

We thank God for the Gideons and trust that this posting will inspire you to commit their ministry to regular prayer!

HANGING WITH MARK CAHILL!

Above (L to R): Chris Wood, Jeff Mardling, Mark Cahill, Cory McKenna, John Gonciarz, Tom Woodburn

Wow! I know that I safely speak on behalf of our entire TCC Team when I say that taking in Mark Cahill’s teaching at Morningstar Christian Fellowship in Toronto on April 11th was nothing less than a speechless experience! Author of the now legendary evangelism books One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven and One Heartbeat Away, Mark is also an amazing man of God with a sincere love for the Lord, His Church, and the lost.

A very special thanks to Mark for graciously taking the time to personally hang with us for a few minutes after a long couple days of preaching and also for recording a hot promotional plug for TCC Radio.

Hear Mark’s promotional plug now as it will be heard on TCC Radio

Here is the encouraging email Mark sent our team the day following the seminar:

“It was great to meet you and your team Cory! You guys are doing awesome work for God. Thanks for understanding how valuable it is to do things that will matter for eternity.

Let me know if there is any way that I can bless y’all.

Please tell the folks in your network that I said hello and to stay bold!”

Mark

After we spent the morning taking in two of Mark’s seminars, we then took full advantage of our time in Canada’s most multicultural city by hitting the streets and experiencing the power of God’s Word first-hand through several one-to-one witnessing encounters!

Hear our team debrief on the way home after hearing Mark’s seminars and hitting the streets in TO

View more photos from our Easter weekend witnessing adventure

Let’s all be encouraged and let’s also take Mark’s words seriously to stay bold in our life and witness!

BREAKFAST WITH BONNKE!

On April  25th, TCC Reps Chris Wood and Cory McKenna had the privilege of sitting in on a special event breakfast with Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke, Founder of Christ for all Nations (CfaN).

On May 1st of this year, Reinhard celebrated his 50 year anniversary preaching the Gospel! However, for the past 30 years he has been called specifically to seek and save lost souls on the continent of Africa – with hundreds of thousands at his massive crusade meetings and as many as 1.6 million people attending one single meeting!

We thank Reinhard Bonnke for graciously taking the time to encourage us in our evangelism ministry and also for recording a promotional clip for TCC Radio too! We also thank John Mitchell of CfaN Canada for connecting us with Reinhard through this event.

Hear Reinhards promotional plug now as it will be heard on TCC Radio

THE TC/TCC TEAM-UP!

This past March The Cross Current had the privilege of training over 30 on-fire Christ-followers at Teen Challenge Farm! The Witnessing Workshop started onsite with several hours of interactive learning before we all boarded a bus and took the training to the streets of London, Ontario.

When we arrived back at homebase, we all let out a shout of praise to the Lord of Jericho proportions and then gave many “glory stories” as to how God impacted our lives and the lives of those we shared the Gospel with!

Here are just a few of the powerful comments that were shared by the Witnessing Workshop graduates:

“I’ve spent my whole life passing death to people, but for the first time in my life…tonight I was passing life!”

“Of all amazing time I’ve spent on the Teen Challenge Farm, this was the most personally impacting yet!”

“Thank you for taking the time to help get started with something God has been calling me to do for my entire Christian life.”

Special thanks to Wayne Flonders and Craig Carlisle of Teen Challenge for taking the lead on evangelism in-house and making our training time run so smooth!

SHARING AND SERVING AT ARK AID MISSION

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warm and filled, “without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also  faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (James 2:14-17, ESV)

TCC is a local mission that exists to partner with leaders and their local churches to spread the Gospel in Canada. Serving the needs of the disadvantaged in Jesus’ Name is not only an act of obedience, but it also facilitates a wonderful environment to help precious lost souls see and hear the truth that the only reason it’s even possible for us to demonstrate Christ’s love to them is because God first demonstrated His own love for us! How? In that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us…Amen!

Our team serves specifically at Ark Aid Mission in our hometown of London, Ontario because it’s a Gospel-centred outreach ministry that allows us to serve the needs of lost people while freely sharing the truth of eternity.

Here is a thought about the experience from the servants’ heart of our youngest Ark Aid Mission Gospel outreach team member to date:

“I feel it is important to serve at Ark Aid because I think serving is good to do because it is helping people.” ~ Joshua M., Age: 7

TCC SEED SOWING STATS | March – April 2009

By God’s grace, The Cross Current continues to share the Gospel on the streets of Canada each week and equip other Christians to do the same!

Here are the bottom line seed sowing stats over the past two months and our accumulated field report since January of this year.

• Evangelism Training – Over the past two months, TCC has equipped approximately 125 more Christians to biblically share their faith with loved ones and strangers. That’s an accumulated total of 200 since January!
• Witnessing – Over the past two months, our local Gospel outreach team personally shared the Good News with over 150 more lost souls and passed over 1000 more Gospel tracts! That’s an accumulated total of over 300 Gospel conversations and 2000 tracts passed since January!

Access more information on how TCC can equip you and your church to more effectively share Christ

TCC RADIO REVIEW | March – April 2009

Thou Shalt Not? | March

Law. Some people consider the idea of God laying out a Holy Law which demands complete obedience to be oppressive. This series looks at the rule of law, which the Canadian Constitution Act of 1982 affirms as one of the fundamental principles of our society, and the various purposes it plays in our nation and our spirituality. Does “thou shalt not” mean that you shouldn’t unless you have a good reason, or does it mean never ever do it? What could be the purpose of a Law that none of us seem to be able to keep? Oppression, depression, or obsession? In this series we law down the law.

Listen to this series on TCC Radio

Operation: Unknown Christian | April

There is an army of secret operatives in our midst. These soldiers are so far “underground” that most people – even their allies – are not aware of their presence. The shocking truth is that one might even be hiding right under your nose! What are we going to do about it, Canada?

Listen to this series on TCC Radio

Access the TCC Radio broadcast schedule

Subscribe to the TCC Radio Podcast

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ISN’T IT NARROW-MINDED TO SAY THAT YOU KNOW THE TRUTH?

Click here for your TCC Radio “Quick Q & A” 1-minute answer!

We thank God for you and your ongoing partnership in spreading the Gospel with The Cross Current. We humbly ask that you prayerfully consider becoming a “Cross Carrier” who will commit to regularly praying and donating to our local missions ministry in Canada. In turn, we will continue praying that the Lord uses these brief updates to impact your own personal life and witness for Him!

For His Glory,

The Cross Current Team

Charles Spurgeon said “The power of the Gospel does not lie in the eloquence of the preacher” for that would be the wisdom of men. In 1 Cor. 2 1-5  the emphasis of Pauls preaching is the redemptive plan of the Christ crucified, and fear and trembling (anxiety) for something urgent. Paul puts faith in GOD and not in his own opinion, no enticing words or persuasion, just Gods transforming Power. I Praise God that I have been privileged to witness  Gods Power at work this week.  I challenge all whom are able to join us in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ and walk with us in prayer and witness into this mission field which is our very own back yard. Thank You to all active participants in the TCC and a special thank you to the men of teen challenge whom have put on the armour of God, stepped onto the battlefield living in victory and not defeat.  Please read Cory’s selected passage for this week   2 Chronicles  20, 1-30

Gods word says that his faithful love endures forever. Knowing the Lord seems relativeley easy, TRUSTING in him is much more difficult. my prayer is for us to Trust in him in all we do and say, through prayer, action and his spoken word. May the Lord Bless all of you for your service and obedience.

Tom Woodburn, TCC Rep