E-Tools Newsletter | July 2010
Saturday, July 31st, 2010Welcome to our E-Tools Newsletter for July 2010! This monthly TCC field report also includes strategic outreach resources to encourage, equip, and empower you to more effectively share the Gospel with all the loved ones in your life as we faithfully serve Christ in Canada together.
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GO Canada!
Canada needs Christ. This three-word phrase has become the cry of our hearts as we hit the streets of our home and native land each week to preach the Gospel. And what better day to connect with Canadians in Jesus’ Name than on Canada Day?
This past July 1st, The Cross Current partnered with the Gospel Outreach (”GO”) Team of Harvest Bible Chapel London to celebrate the birth of our nation and to share the grace and truth of Christ with our community.
Left: The Gospel Outreach “GO” Team of Harvest Bible Chapel London
Securing a “salvation station” is the first important step we take towards enjoying a fruitful day of outreach during special events. This is simply a team base whereby we can set up all the resources necessary to connect with the community and plan for follow-up as the Lord brings opportunity.
GO Team missions leader, Chris Wood, sourced us a prime location for our salvation station; a high-traffic hotspot in the centre of the city where we set up two tables: one containing free Canada Day souvenirs and the other containing Bibles and church information.
Our Gospel outreach team of men, women, and children then spent the afternoon sharing Bibles, balloons, and the Good News of Jesus Christ. The most popular conversation starters proved to be Canadian million dollar bill tracts and Canada Day surveys.
Above: Our “salvation station” table of Bibles and church information
Both enabled us to break the ice and build a quick relationship with non-Christians before talking with them about matters of life, death, and eternity.
Right: TCC Rep, Jeff Mardling, and GO Team member, Rebecca Coyne, pray for a man after sharing the Gospel on Canada Day
We thank God that many people heard the Gospel, were prayed for, and are continuing to be followed up with. In fact, we have already re-connected with a young man we prayed for that day named Doug who is still anxiously awaiting a kidney transplant. Would you take a minute right now to pray that Doug will receive a healthy kidney and that he will keep his promise of joining us for church to receive the ongoing support that he needs?
View our entire Canada Day Outreach Photo Album
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Xstream Fishing at the Falls
What do you call it when 15 plus seed sowers set aside an entire Saturday to hit Canada’s premier tourist trap for the purpose of passing tracts, preaching open air, and witnessing one-to-one? We call it Xstream Team Mission (XTM) Niagara Falls 2010! Though we have invaded the Falls several times, little did we know that this time the Lord would “pour out” a special lesson in faithfulness for our entire team…
Right: The 2010 Niagara Falls Xstream Team Mission Team
Never before had we been faced with a 90% chance of rain the day before an Xstream Team Mission. Would we postpone the trip or would we push on through? After much prayer and consideration, our key leaders decided that we would step out in faith and complete the mission rain or shine.
Left: XTM newcomer, Tanner Morrison, breaks the ice into a one-to-one witnessing encounter
We arrived in the Falls shortly after lunch and were greeted with overcast skies. After about three hours of witnessing, the heavens opened up and torrential downpour fell like I haven’t seen in years! Again, we debated about aborting the mission. However, this time our entire team agreed together that we weren’t going to allow a little mid-day moisture to dampen what God wanted to do through us amidsts hundreds of thousands of lost people. Needless to say that by the end of day we were very thankful that we persevered through the storm…and so were Dan and Toby. Cory shares the story:
Let’s just say that when Brad (our cameraman) and I initially encountered Dan and Toby, neither of us were too optimistic about the potential for a quality video interview. However, something compelled me to ask the question anyway: “Hey, could I interview you guys for The Cross Current TV?” Toby was not interested, but Dan was.
Right: TCC Rep, Thomas Woodburn, preaches the Gospel open air
I began by asking Dan the “million dollar question”: “Dan, where do you believe that you will spend eternity?” He gladly shared his view that whatever any individual believes about the afterlife is what happens in the afterlife. I responded with a very thought-provoking question that we teach in our witnessing workshops: “Dan, are you looking for something to believe in, or are you looking for the truth?” The change in Dan’s tone led me to believe that he had never been confronted with the truth about truth.
Initially, Dan was quite flippant in his responses and Toby soon chimed in with the same nonchalant attitude. However, as our dialogue unfolded, their change in countenance confirmed that the Holy Spirit was somehow working in their hearts and minds. In fact, by the end of our talk together, they both gladly give me their email addresses for further follow-up! But God wasn’t finished working on them yet…
In the late afternoon we began open air preaching. It was when TCC Rep Jeff Mardling began preaching Christ crucified that Dan and Toby came back to listen. Both were arrested by the Good News and stuck around to talk more about the truth of life, death, and eternity. In the end, both Dan and Toby received Bibles to take home with them and were very thankful that they had encountered Jesus Christ that day at Niagara Falls.
Above: TCC Cameraman and evangelist, Brad Young, talks with Dan and Toby for the second time around
I am also excited to report that just a few days after our conversation, Dan emailed me back on behalf of he and Toby to express his gratitude for us talking and giving them free Bibles. He also wanted to know when their interview would be streaming on The Cross Current TV outreach broadcast.
The moral of the story? “…faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). We needed faith that day, and so did Dan and Toby. So let’s preach the Gospel (rain or shine) and pray that the Lord justifies ans sanctifies all those who hear His Word!
~ Cory
We also want to congratulate Brad Young for “breaking the sound barrier” and preaching open air for his very first time! This bold demonstration of faithfulness resulted in Brad becoming our first “open air extraordinaire” and being awarded his very own portable open air preaching pulpit. We thank God for you Brad!
Right: Brad Young “breaks the sounds barrier” by preaching open air for his very first time
Please continue praying for the salvation of all those who encountered Christ through our team that day.
View our entire XTM Niagara Falls 2010 Photo Album
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TCC officially flows onto The Stream TV!
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TCC exists to preach the Gospel in talk and walk and to help pastors equip their churches to do the same. TCC TV will support this mission by enabling our viewers to experience the encounters in everyday evangelism that we experience for themselves. This program will also evangelize non-Christians and disciple Christians into more faithful proclamation of the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Click here to visit The Cross Current channel on The Stream TV
Are you interested in having us TCC come onsite to equip your church to share the Gospel with your community in word and works? Your church can not only leverage our experience in the local mission field, but we may also feature your Gospel outreach event on The Cross Current television program.
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The Power of Applied Apologetics
For the past 3 years, TCC has been invited to equip teen aged students at a very specialized conferenced called CYWAL (Christian Youth Worldview And Leadership). This is a very solid training ground designed to prepare senior teens for life and ministry in the real world. Featured speakers/ministries include: Ravi Zacharias International, Creation Ministries International, Truth Matters, and several others. Our role as a ministry is to help wrap-up a jam-packed week of apologetics with a special time of field application.
Left: The CYWAL class of 2010 boards the bus bound for their field witnessing trip
On Thursday July 29th, Cory conducted an interactive session called “Witnessing in One Hour” at the conference centre in Cambridge, Ontario before we boarded a bus and hit the streets of Guelph that same afternoon.
Right: CYWAL students Samir and Jacob share the Gospel on the streets for their very first time
Special thanks to all those experienced evangelists who took time out of their busy summer schedules to serve as street team leaders. By God’s grace, your investment into the lives of His preacious young followers will bear fruit forever!
CYWAL offers student training in worldviews, apologetics, evangelism, and leadership. For more information, visit: www.cywal.org
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3 Minutes to Live!
What would be most important to you in you only had 3 minutes to live? What would you say to an unsaved loved one or stranger if they only had 3 minutes to live? Is there something, anything you could possibly share to help make the difference between Eternal Life and Eternal Death for this dying person? In this candid series, our street team confronts the culture with a “truth or dare” challenge to prepare their souls for the journey we all must take into eternity. This is literally the series of a lifetime!
Witness with your loved ones using Listener’s Resources for this series
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Your Prayer Pulse for July
Let’s continue partnering together to keep our prayer pulse for TCC and the Church in Canada strong!
This month we humbly ask you, your family, and your church to remember to pray for the following TCC outreach and training events in August:
> Barrie Local Mission (Caribfest) – August 13th & 14th
> Ambassador’s Academy Los Angeles (2 TCC leaders attending on scholarships) – August 25th to 29th
Continue keeping a pulse on our prayer needs
Bookmark our ministry calendar to continue praying for our local missions
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We again thank God for you and your partnership in preaching the Gospel and equipping other Christ-followers to do the same.
In Christ Alone,
The Cross Current Team
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I truly wish I could tell you that sowing into the local mission field every week is a sure-fire solution for becoming becoming a fearless super soldier for Christ – but this has simply not been my experience. Yes, God rewards our faithful witnessing with increased confidence in conversations, but the fluttery feelings of trepidation and insecurity just never seem to go away. So all I can do in those tough times is cling to Christ’s call and command to leave the ninety-nine to go after the one who is lost and remind myself again and again that (thankfully!) all my God asks of me is to be faithful.
Christ also said that after the sheep was found, the man came home and called together his friends and neighbours and said to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.” That’s why I share this story with you all as friends, neighbours, and brothers and sisters in Christ. Let’s encourage one another to continue leaving the ninety-nine for the ones that are lost. And let’s rejoice that the lost are being found…in Jesus’ Name!
Paul serves as the director of HeartCry Missionary Society and is known for preaching strong truth surrounding the biblical Gospel.
Paul was one of the most humble and gracious conference speakers whom we have ever had the privilege of meeting. He spent hours sitting with the conference attendees to get all their questions answered. He skipped lunch to counsel one single soul who desired a more biblical understanding of the Gospel. And he joyfully did all this despite dealing with a debilitating bone condition that causes him constant pain and stiffness in his neck and joints.
This month we humbly ask you, your family, and your church to remember to pray for the following TCC outreach events in July:
Left: “Lazarus” lays it down to draw a crowd before Cory preaches open air
Planting seeds in the Lord’s field with not only Cory and his team, but other evangelists, was the best day I think I ever had in my life. ~ John B.
Left: Ange takes the time to share the Good News with a fast-talking Torontonian
Teen Challenge (TC) is a 12-month, faith-based, residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation program. The Cross Current has the privilege of facilitating the students at TC with hands-on life and witness training twice a year. The training this past month took place over two Wednesdays nights and we are very pleased to report that not only did four TC students join us for XTM Toronto, but several more are also scheduled to take the training to the streets of London with us as well.
Every year the All Ontario Youth Convention brings together over 800 youth from all over Ontario for a full four days of fun, excitement, and opportunity to learn more about God. This year Cory McKenna was invited onsite to share TCC’s new one-hour witnessing workshop. Believe it or not, it is possible to learn how to become a more biblical, confident, and effective seed sower in just sixty minutes! In fact, would you believe that this mission was accomplished in just fifty minutes?
Let’s continue partnering together to keep our 
What better day of the year to share the Good News than Good Friday? But, unfortunately, the two policemen who moved us off a public street corner this past April 2nd didn’t share our enthusiasm for preaching the Gospel to the lost of London, Ontario.
Right: TCC Field Rep Jeff Mardling equips the saints for the work of evangelism during a TCC Community Witnessing Workshop.
Our evangelistic temperature has risen significantly, which has resulted in more adults coming to Christ, more baptisms, more excitement and energy in all our ministries. We recognize that this is all of God but we can clearly see TCC being God’s hands and feet to help be a key element in bringing this about. 
Who and what “Rock” is the true Church of Jesus Christ built upon? 
You reading this right now. Yeah, you!
Left: TCC Field Rep, Chris Wood, enjoys an “encounter in everyday evangelism” during the production of The Cross Current reality TV program.
World Class Witnesses
However, in addition to continuing to pray diligently for the physical needs of all those involved in this tragedy, as per Jesus’ words in Luke 13:1-5, we have also been using this current event as conversational common ground to share the message of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ…while there is still time.
In the studio, both Dale Elliott and Richard Spruyt of Grace FM 105.9 in London hosted
Right: Jeff Mardling breaks the sound barrier by preaching open air live for the first time in 
