Our team of twelve seed sowers hit the streets of our hometown with a simple plan: pray and preach. After sharing the Gospel one-to-one with several people downtown, we busted out the soapbox and began open air preaching. Cory McKenna was the first to break the sound barrier, preaching a message called “What’s so good about Good Friday?”. Tom Woodburn stepped up next, opening the Scriptures to share the true meaning of Easter. However, it was when Jeff Mardling began preaching that we were confronted by the “Bad Cop/Good Cop” tagteam.

“Good Cop” told us that we had to move because we were blocking foot traffic on the sidewalk, which we were not. When that angle didn’t work, “Bad Cop” abruptly announced that we were actually breaking a municipal noise by-law, despite the fact we were not using any form of amplification. Though we knew that our rights as Canadian citizens were being violated, we humbly assured both policemen that we respected their authority and would comply with their request to move, so as not to corrupt our witness for Christ.

Watch what went down on video

As this is the second time we have been moved off public property for preaching the Gospel, we are currently seeking legal counsel and will soon be providing comprehensive training to local missionaries on municipal, provincial, and federal laws pertaining to Gospel preaching in Canada.

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“With Outstretched Arms”: Taking the Gospel to the Jew First

Why does God’s Word say that the Gospel is to the Jew first, and then to the Gentiles? Why was Paul the Apostle willing to give up his salvation for the sake of the unsaved Jews? Many Gentiles seem to forget that Jesus was a Jew. In fact, nowhere was the link between God’s redemptive plan and Jesus more clear and powerful than in the suffering servant passages in the book of the Jewish prophet Isaiah.

Do you know that more Jewish people have come to faith in Yeshua (Jesus) in just the last two decades than in the last two millenia? This special series of TCC Radio will reach out to the Jews with the Gospel and help Christians learn how to reason from the Scriptures and allow the Holy Spirit of God to reveal Yeshua’s true identity to the Jewish people.

Maximize your witness with your loved ones using our Producer’s Notes and Listener’s Resources for this series

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TCC TV Pilot Episodes

Join The Cross Current “In the Studio and On the Street” for this pilot series of encounters in everyday evangelism!

In Part 1, we take you into the studio of Grace 105.9 FM in London, Ontario to talk about witnessing with Pastor Norm Millar of Harvest Bible Chapel. In Part 2, you will experience an encounter in “wireless witnessing”; a Gospel conversation from the studio to the street via cell phone in real-time with a non-Christian!

The clips are raw, the conversations are real, and this is what happens when we step out in faith to share our faith together.

Watch these pilot episodes of “The Cross Current” TV program

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Important Donation Information!

Will you pray about planned giving towards our cause of local missions in Canada?

There are still several ways to give to TCC. However, at the request of several current monthly ministry supporters, we have recently set up an Automated Funds Transfer (AFT) service to securely transfer your tax deductable donations between your bank account and TCC.

For more information on setting up AFT with TCC, please call our office at (226) 663-1822 or email us at admin@thecrosscurrent.com.

Donate to our mission in Canada

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Our Prayer Pulse for May

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:

• Xstream Team Mission (XTM) Toronto (May 15th) – this is our first local mission trip of 2010. We’ll be personally training a large team of believers from several local churches to witness one-to-one and open air preach in the largest and most multicultural city in Canada.
• Teen Challenge Training (May 12th & 19th) - Cory McKenna will be onsite at Teen Challenge Farm to teach a 2-part witnessing workshop.
• All Ontario Youth Convention (May 22nd) - we will be training a large group of youth onsite before venturing offsite to reach out to the community with the Gospel and good works.

Continue keeping a pulse on our mutual prayer needs

A similar version of this story is scheduled to appear in the upcoming Easter edition of the Christian Life in London newspaper.

Jesus said, “go”. Go into all the and preach the Gospel. Go and make disciples. To be a follower of Christ is to “go”. The Cross Current is taking this command seriously.

The Cross Current (TCC) is a London-based local missions ministry and outreach broadcast that exists to help pastors equip Christians to “go”. To “go” and personally share Christ with loved ones, and to “go” as a team to share Christ together with the community. We help local churches develop and equip Gospel Outreach “GO” Teams of Christ-followers to preach the Gospel while serving the spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and material needs of the lost in the community.

After enjoying several other fruitful ministry missions together earlier this season, on February 13th TCC and the GO Team of Harvest Bible Chapel London partnered together to reach out to the disadvantaged in our community with the Good News, a cup of hot chocolate, and a warm winter coat.

Of all the praiseworthy field reports from that day, we especially thank God that He moved our team to leave the ninety-nine to find the one named “Tim”. Tim heard the Gospel and encountered Christ through the GO Team on Saturday, and then joined us for church the next morning. What joy the Lord brings when we obey Him!

Above: TCC Radio and TV Host, Cory McKenna, shares the Gospel with our new friend Tim on Saturday. Right: TCC Field Rep Tom Woodburn welcomes Tim at church on Sunday!

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It has also been our experience that Gospel outreach brings a sort of “double blessing”. Not only are non-believers blessed by encountering the power of the Gospel first-hand, but we as the brethren also enjoy the blessings of authentic biblical fellowship when we die to self and love the lost as Jesus did…together!

GO Team Testimonies

GO Team missions leader, Chris Wood, says: “There is something amazing and eternal about stepping into the community and serving, praying, and preaching the Gospel. It makes me think: this is the Church the way it should be.”

“Since serving with the GO Team, my focus has totally changed! It is now more of Him and less of me”, says Donna Feica, a GO Team member serving in the area of prayer and follow-up ministry. “The teaching and example the GO Team provides in witnessing continues to encourage me and give me the confidence to actually look for opportunities to share God’s love!”

Norm Millar, senior pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel of London, candidly shares, “Evangelism tends to leak out of the ministry life of any church and so we are very thankful to God for the Harvest GO Team and the TCC leaders who help us keep Biblical evangelism front and centre in all we do.”

It has been said that the mark of a great church is not in its seating capacity, but its sending capacity. May the Lord continue to build great churches that will “go” for His glory in Canada.

More on how TCC can help your local church develop and equip a Gospel Outreach Team to share Christ with your community

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See “The Faces for Radio” on TV!

In our January – February 2009 Newsletter, it was announced that The Cross Current had received an exciting offer from The Stream TV network to launch an Internet-based reality TV show to preach the Gospel and equip the Church in Canada and around the world.

The program was tentatively scheduled to air in the spring of 2009. However, this date had to be postponed after our video editing contact relocated.

An urgent prayer answered!

Late last year, our program director at The Stream TV told us that The Cross Current TV program could be airing on their network today if the episodes were already edited. That’s why we believe that the Lord orchestrated a way for us to purchase a computer from a local church for a very reasonable price to begin editing and producing these shows within our existing team.

Left: TCC Field Rep, Chris Wood, enjoys an “encounter in everyday evangelism” during the production of The Cross Current reality TV program.

So, though we totally understood the seemingly bad timing of sending out an appeal for support so close to the holiday season, late December we stepped out in faith and invited believers to pray about sowing into this urgent ministry need. Our hope was to receive at least half the money required from supporters. This would enable us to move forward while continuing to exercise responsible stewardship as a ministry.

Well, we were humbled and overwhelmed when several supporters stepped up and gave so generously that we were able to purchase the computer outright, with no money owing. Praise the Lord! Now that we have the computer, The Cross Current TV program is already in production and we hope to have several episodes ready to broadcast by late this spring.

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Our Prayer Pulse for March

Let’s continue partnering together to keep our prayer pulse for TCC and the Church in Canada strong! This month we have three main prayer points that we humbly ask you, your family, and your church to remember for us in March.

TCC Radio Expansion

Please pray that The Cross Current Radio Show will enjoy exposure into more cities in Canada to facilitate greater Gospel preaching coverage and increased ministry support.

TCC TV Production

Please pray that The Cross Current TV production will run smoothly and that the Gospel-preaching program will begin streaming online as soon as possible.

Continue keeping a pulse on our mutual prayer needs

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We titled this very special series of TCC Radio Live, “Giving the Greatest Gift”. Just as God freely gave the greatest gift of His only Son, our goal was to freely give His Gospel to all those in our world this Christmas and to equip our listeners to do the same.

In the studio, both Dale Elliott and Richard Spruyt of Grace FM 105.9 in London hosted

TCC founding president, Cory McKenna in discussing the topics of personal witnessing, community outreach, local missions, and overseas missions.

Right: Cory McKenna talks to a non-Christian live on the air during another “wireless witnessing” segment of TCC Radio this December.

On the street, TCC team leader Chris Wood coordinated our Gospel ground troops and also set up the “wireless witnessing” encounters between Cory and two non-Christians from the community via cell phone.

Left: Harvest Bible Chapel Gospel Outreach “GO” Team member, Sharon Enwright, gives a passerby a warm welcome with a hot cup of Christmas cider.

However, the greatest groundbreaker of the entire series had to be the “open airwaves” preaching!

We praise God for the faithfulness of our Director of Ministry Relations, Jeff Mardling, for preaching the Gospel message open air live on air.

Right: Jeff Mardling breaks the sound barrier by preaching open air live for the first time in TCC Radio history!

After leading a group of carolers from the GO Team of Harvest Bible Chapel of London in the singing of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”, Jeff used the lyric about “God and sinners reconciled” as a beautiful springboard to powerfully proclaim the true meaning of Christmas to those passing by on that frigid Friday night. TCC has open air preached in several Canadian cities, however, this is the very first time that we have attempted breaking the sound barrier on live radio before. Praise God!

We know that faith comes through hearing the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). As such, we are so thankful for the many

testimonies we have received from Christ-followers across our city of how the Lord has brought faith to the hearts of many loved ones who were invited to tune in to the show and just “happened” to hear Jeff’s preaching. Chris has also been following up with a student of the Baha’i faith who heard the Gospel for the first time throughout the production of this live series. Click here for more on Chris’ Gospel glory story and please continue praying that the Lord brings the increase now that the seed of His word has been sown in their hearts.

Click here to listen to this entire live series on the new and improved TCC Radio website!

TCC Radio: Encountering Islam

Do you know that Islam is the second largest religion in the world after Christianity? Do you also know that there are second and even third generation Muslims living in virtually every major city across Canada and that number is consistently rising every single year? The Lord desires that none should perish and that Christians would be a blessing to Muslims by sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Now, we all know that the mere mention of Islam can spark intense and often hateful controversy. But let the record show that we are not going to go there in this series of TCC Radio. When the final credits roll, we are hoping and praying that it will serve as a great Gospel outreach resource that you can confidently lend to your Muslim an non-Muslim loved ones.

Our Prayer Pulse for January

In fact, to equip you for more effective life and witness, please click here to access your new TCC Radio Listener’s Resources including “behind the scenes” Producer’s Notes and special Listener’s Scripts. We trust that these brand new online outreach tools will help you make the most of each episode of the program when sharing Christ with your family and friends.

Let’s continue partnering together to keep our prayer pulse for TCC and the Church in Canada strong! There is only ONE main prayer point that we humbly ask you, your family, and your church to remember for us in January.

Early in the month, our core leadership team will be coming together for our third annual prayer & planning meeting. We have found this time together to be invaluable for helping our team seek the Lord’s face for the year and to grow in stewarding our time and talents for Him.

Please pray that the He will give us the vision and direction we need to continue moving forward in His service to make His Name even greater in Canada this year!

We again thank God for you and for your ongoing partnership in preaching His Gospel in Canada.

Continue keeping a pulse on our mutual prayer needs

On Saturday November 21st, two months of evangelism training and preparation converged on the campus of the University of Western Ontario (UWO) where TCC and several members of the Harvest Bible Chapel of London (HBCL) GO Team partnered together for an “all-original” outreach.

Right: The HBCL GO Team works together to turn a busy public street corner into “seed sowing central”!

This year marks a double anniversary in the life of Charles Darwin: his 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of his controversial classic, Origin of Species. Not only did we enjoy origins/Gospel conversations with over 85 students, parents, and professors surrounding this subject, but we also managed to round up over 40 emails and distribute close to 100 copies of the special “Gospelized” version of Darwin’s book, as republished by Living Waters Publications.

Left: HBCL GO Team member, Rebecca Coyne, uses an origins/worldview survey as a springboard to build a relationship and share the Gospel.

Perhaps the most memorable encounter of the day involved a student named Dan who had an overtly critical reaction to the origins resources we were giving out. Cory was the recipient of Dan’s four-letter words of welcome! After letting our new friend vent for a few minutes, Cory responded by saying: “You must have pretty strong beliefs to react that passionately about a supposed science book! Maybe we’re more alike than you realize!” Cory then began to dialogue with Dan about the fact that we all have faith about what happened in history because none of us were actually there to observe it for ourselves. Further, it’s this personal faith commitment about the past that determines how we interpret the same evidence that we all share in the present. After somewhat diffusing Dan’s desire for fighting about the issue, the Lord then opened up the door to share a very candid conversation about the Creator, His Word, His Son, and His Gospel. Though Dan didn’t commit to showing up at church the next morning, he did give Cory his email and request recontact. Praise God!

TCC exists to equip all the saints in your church for the work of evangelism. We offer both personal and community witnessing workshops to help you more effectively share the Gospel in all your personal relationships and beyond.

In addition to taking the HBCL GO Team through our workshop training, here are a couple other online resources we used in preparation for our origins outreach together that we encourage you to take advantage of as well:

Origins/worldview series called “What On Earth Is Going On?” (TCC Radio)

Article on witnessing to evolutionists called “Hitting the Nail on the Head” (CMI)

TCC Radio: Giving the Greatest Gift…LIVE!

TCC Radio is going live for Christmas! We trust that God will help us help you keep the Cross current and keep the Christ in Christmas in a very unique and special way this holiday season.

Starting on Friday December 4th, our regular radio broadcast and podcast will feature inspirational in-studio Christmas commentary and real-time reports from our field reps on the streets. Invite your family and friends to tune in to hear Gospel glory stories from across the country, open air preaching, and live “wireless witnessing” encounters via cell phone!

Listen to the “TCC Radio LIVE! @ Christmas” commercial

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Just as God freely gave, we want to do the same by freely giving God’s greatest gift of all to the loved ones in our lives this Christmas! To get equipped for more effective personal evangelism at this most wonderful witnessing time of year, we have produced a free audio tract to share with all of our family and friends.

This very special Christmas episode of TCC Radio has been carefully remixed and reinforced with a Christ-centred introduction to provide non-Christians with an accurate biblical context for the Christmas story. So, instead of just giving your unsaved loved ones another pair of socks this season, why not stuff their stockings and their hearts with a free gift of the greatest free gift of all eternity?

Hear, download, and distribute your free TCC Christmas audio tract

Our Prayer Pulse

Let’s continue partnering together to keep our prayer pulse for TCC and the Church in Canada strong! Here are three strategic prayer points for you, your family, and your church to remember in December: