Welcome to our July E-Tools Newsletter! This monthly TCC field report also includes helpful outreach resources to encourage and equip you to more faithfully share the Gospel with all the loved ones in your life as we witness for Christ in Canada together.
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FISHING AT THE FALLS…PART 1!
By God’s grace, this month The Cross Current lead an Extreme Gospel Outreach (GO) Team of more than 50 Christ-followers to fish for the souls of men and women in the most popular tourist promenade in Canada – Niagara Falls!
HEAR the trailer for the upcoming “Fishing at the Falls” on TCC Radio!
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Mingling with the multicultural mayhem in the small region of Clifton Hill were an army of seed sowers empowered by the Holy Spirit to pass tracts, witness one-to-one, and preach the Gospel of Christ in the open air.
Police and park security? No problem…with prayer!
While there is always some resistance from those who hear the biblical Gospel, we are very pleased to report that God graciously responded to the prayers of His people by keeping the involvement of police and park security to a minimum for us!
There were only two isolated instances of involvement from park officers.
One officer at the bottom of Clifton Hill simply asked a group of open air preachers to relocate to an area that actually turned out to be much more favourable for a greater number of people hearing the Gospel.
The second officer at the top of the hill cordially requested that we take down our open air preaching signboard.
We praise God that neither point of contact with local authorities hindered the preaching of the Gospel in any way!
No excuses to not evangelize!
While it’s likely that many of our missionaries overcame trials and adversity to enlist in this mission, three participants in particular proved that there are no excuses to not evangelize!
First, Bill Dawson had to walk up and down the hill all day in the hot summer sun with a cane as he continues to recover from knee surgery.
Claudia Chon Him had a foot injury that forced her to hobble the streets and step up onto the soapbox using crutches.
Finally, Jeremy Joseph was our very first deaf participant of an Extreme Team Mission! Though no interpreter was available to join us, was still content to pass tracts, pray for people, and enjoy the day of fellowship in the Gospel with the other evangelists!
In the end, it was our extreme privilege to partner with more than seven equipping evangelists and their churches to faithfully fulfill our first of two Extreme Team Missions to the Falls scheduled for this summer.
Extreme Team testimonies
The following are testimonies from several Extreme Team missionaries who completed this mission together:
I am so blessed to be part of a team of evangelists who share such a love, burden, care, and concern for the lost. In love for God and love for all people (Matthew 2:36-40) we are compelled to preach the Gospel together to the many of the lost sheep who are on the broad path, leading to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14; 9:36-38). Yes, “The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few”. As Christ-followers, we are called by God to be His labourers. Taking part in the future Extreme Team Missions is a fulfillment of that calling. Let God have the final word as He calls and leads you (John 14:21; Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8-9; Romans 10:11-15; 1 Corinthians 9:16, 22-23; 2 Timothy 4:3-5). ~ Tom Briggs (St. Thomas, Ontario
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Attending the Extreme Team Mission in Niagara Falls was a jolt of encouragement, fellowship, and faith building. It’s an event every Christ follower should participate in. Being able to hand out tracks and pray for people who don’t know Christ not only planted seeds for the kingdom, but also built my faith to see God at work. ~ Karen Loney (London, Ontario)
I was so blessed to be part of the last Extreme Team Mission to Niagara Falls. I was awestruck at the grace of our God as I talked to Christians from different cities whose lives have been completely transformed and who want to live as a living testimony to God’s grace.
I initially went on the trip because of a heartfelt conviction to reach out to the lost in obedience to the Great Commission, but was overwhelmed by such a sense of the Body of Christ working together and building each other up as the day went on. I can’t wait to go again and would encourage EVERY Christian to go, to be obedient to our awesome Saviour, and to watch as He blesses beyond all that we could ask or think.~ Paul Drane (London, Ontario)
Sharing the Gospel with someone who has not heard it before just overwhelms you with blessings for being obedient. Once you have done this, you will understand the joy that follows. In Niagara Falls, we had many opportunities to do just that. God is always faithful. We pray for opportunities to witness and He opens them up right before our eyes.
One of the most memorable conversations that day was with Jamie, a professing alcoholic who used to be a Catholic but didn’t know what he believed now. It’s not about not knowing what to say. When the Holy Spirit guides our words, the right words are shared in a meaningful way for that unique person. We can continue to pray for Jamie, for the others who heard about Jesus that day and for us to be prepared for the next conversation.~ Caroline Hales (Oakville, Ontario
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I also appreciate the boldness of our team leader Chris Wagler, who is willing to preach the fullness of the Gospel out of love. I can see his heart for the lost. If you feel a calling to evangelism or to preach the word, I would encourage you to check out this type of evangelism and explore others as well. There are many types of evangelism with one purposes. Within each type you will find something that God will use to teach you more about reaching the lost.~ Hunter (Kitchener, Ontario
)At this past Extreme Team Mission, I was able to witness how He uses each and everyone in the team for His glory! As one team member started by sharing the law with a man who clearly got convicted by the Holy Spirit of his sins, just when he was about to leave another member of the team shared the grace part of the gospel with him and finally when he expressed his world view, another team member shared with him the truth about Roman Catholicism! That’s what I would call full-service-witnessing! God is awesome and He is mighty to save! Fellowship, spiritual growth and a stronger Christ-following church family are some of the fruits that come from these missions – all for His glory!!! ~ Claudia Chon Him (London, Ontario
)Why do I do this? Why do I think evangelism important? Let me explain. My life such as it is has been a challenge. Some might describe it as a train wreck. It has had its ups and downs that have taken me to great joy and utter despair. The past years have been difficult with the death of my wife, mother, father and two sisters along with a life threatening illness of my daughters which has returned. My own health has been a challenge especially as of late. There have been other issues that I won’t go into detail but have added greatly to the struggle. Despite this, I count myself as being blessed beyond measure. The one thing I hold onto, the one hope that I stand on to is the knowledge that my Lord and Savior is sovereign over all things. He has laid everything aside to die on the cross and suffer the judgment that I deserve. Now, I’m no evangelist and I struggle every time I share the gospel, but someone loved me enough to die on the cross for me, and someone else loved me enough to leave there comfort zone to share this gospel with me. With this being said, I can’t seen that I have a choice. Well, not really a choice but a privilege.~ Bill Dawson (St. Thomas, Ontario)On behalf of the entire TCC training team, we thank God for all pastors, prayer warriors, and the evangelism leaders and their teams who enlisted and completed the first of two Extreme Team Missions to Niagara Falls scheduled for summer 2013!Also, a very special thanks again to Harvest Bible Chapel Niagarafor serving as our partner church for this outreach event.Stay tuned for our field report from “Fishing at the Falls – Part 2” in our next newsletter!
VIEW the picture gallery from this Extreme Team Mission
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About Extreme Team Missions
TCC Extreme Team Missions are local missions day trips into major urban centres for the specific purpose of preaching the Gospel through high volume tracting, one-to-one street witnessing, and open air preaching.
These events allow participants to fully leverage the local missions experience of The Cross Current and receive personal mentoring from some of the most experienced evangelists and open-air preachers in Canada.
Not only will Extreme Team Missions catalyze your own personal life and witness for Jesus Christ, but these events also provide the team equipping experience you need to continue championing the cause of the Gospel in your own local church.
Click on the pic to the left or HERE to watch a brief Extreme Team Missions promo
Enlist in our next Extreme Team Mission on August 24th
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EQUIPPING AT THE CYWAL CONFERENCE
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CYWAL (Christian Youth Worldview and Leadership) is a non-denominational Christian organization dedicated to assisting parents in the training of Christian youth to think and live in accordance with a biblical worldview so they will serve Christ and exercise leadership in the culture.
The goal of the ministry is to equip students to engage others effectively in spiritual conversations to deal with the question, Who is Jesus?
Speakers
Every July, CYWAL hosts a week-long worldview, evangelism, and apologetics conference for students aged 15 to 19. Conference speakers include:
- Nathan Betts ~ Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM)
- Cal Smith ~ Creation Ministries International (CMI)
- Dr. David Herbert ~ Author, Educator, and Evangelist
- Sye Ten Bruggencate ~ Absolute Apologetics
Here are testimonies from several students about The Cross Current’s contribution to their CYWAL experience this year:
The Cross Current has significantly helped me grow in my faith through Extreme GO Teams Training. During this training I have been taught what the Bible teaches about witnessing and how I can apply it. Through TCC workshops, I now feel equipped to share the Gospel in a Biblical way. As a high school student, witnessing appeared intimidating at first sight. However, with the help and encouragement of The Cross Current, I now feel confident to hand out tracts, witness one-on-one, and even open-air preach. Not only can I now witness to strangers, but I feel prepared to share the Gospel with my non-Christian family members and friends. Through my experience with The Cross Current, I now rely solely on the Bible as God’s authority and truth, comprehend the reality of eternal life for both believers and non-believers and trust in God to provide the words for me to say when witnessing. These are all important for a disciple of Jesus Christ. I firmly believe that God has used The Cross Current to continue my growth in faithfulness and passion as I follow Him. ~ Brittney Murray (London, Ontario)
The Cross Current’s involvement with CYWAL has given me the opportunity to put all the things I’ve learned over the week into practice. Through the sessions on evangelism, and the street evangelism excursion right after, I was able to actively share my faith in a meaningful way which brought glory to God and the Gospel to the lost. ~ Austin Mejia (Lasalle, Ontario
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The Cross Current being at CYWAL enriched the experience immensely and created in me a huge desire to spread to others how incredible our God is and how everyone needs to make him a priority in their lives. Cory McKenna is one of my favorite speakers and through his talks, I realized how important it is to tell people I know, as well as people I don’t know about Gods sacrifice on the cross for our sin. I learned how to witness properly from his example and although it’s a process and I’m still learning how to do it effectively, I’m well on my way to making witnessing a part of my life. Thanks so much to The Cross Current! ~ Hannah Humphries (Winnipeg, Manitoba)
Before I went to CYWAL I didn’t have the courage and the understanding to know how to truly share the gospel and defend it. But Cory McKenna from The Cross Current came to teach us about Extreme GO Teams training, which taught me how to share Christ with strangers and how to defend the gospel in a loving and respectful manner! Cory took us out to downtown Kitchener, where I first-hand saw him witness to people about God. I could just see the respect and love he had for the people he was talking to. The whole experience really gave me the confidence and it has motivated me to go share God’s Word in obedience to Mark 16:15: “He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” ~ Jon Ullman (London, Ontario)
Click on the pic to the left or HERE to watch several CYWAL students preach the Gospel open air for the very first time!
HEAR the “CYWAL Special” on TCC Radio NOW (details below)
VISIT CYWAL online
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OPEN AIR OPEN MIC!
The Cross Current is committed to equipping Christians and their churches by example to advance and defend the Gospel to the glory of Jesus Christ. This involves a being discipled in both declaring the Good News and reasoning from the Scriptures concerning the ultimate authority of Christ and His Word.
This month our weekly Extreme Gospel Outreach Team launched a brand new “open air open mic” ministry in the heart of our hometown. While we don’t believe that this concept is totally new to street preaching culture in North America, it is most definitely new to us at TCC!
How does this “look”, you ask? The setup is very simple. Situated about 10 feet away from the preaching bench is a microphone on a mic stand. As the open air preacher heralds the Gospel, he constantly invites any skeptics listening to step up to the mic to ask any questions and to engage in rational dialogue concerning our differing worldviews.
By God’s grace, this fledgling new preaching ministry is already bearing fruit! However, we thank you in advance for committing to pray that God’s protection and provision will rest upon all aspects of this new project.
Click on the pic to the left or HERE to watch TCC’s very first “Open Air Open Mic”!
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All Christian parents and pastors desperately want our children soundly saved and serving Christ. But how are we working in biblical cooperation with God and each other to better equip ourselves and our youth for more faithful life and witness in the real world?
The Christian Youth Worldview And Leadership (CYWAL) Conference is faithfully and fruitfully doing just that.
Please listen carefully to this “CYWAL Special” as we discover together that the goal of disciple-making isn’t just keeping our kids in church…it’s about biblically equipping students to boldly engage their culture with the Gospel for the glory of Jesus Christ.
HEAR the “CYWAL Special” on TCC Radio NOW!
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YOUR PRAYER PULSE FOR AUGUST
Let’s continue partnering together to keep our prayer pulse for TCC and the Church in Canada strong!
There are four specific petitions that we humbly request that you, your family, and your church continue lifting up to the Lord on our behalf related to our ministry calendar in July and throughout the rest of the year:
As mentoring evangelists to lead their own local church witnessing teams is a huge part of fulfilling our mission, please pray that the Lord will help us faithfully coordinate and complete our second Extreme Team Missions to Niagara Falls this summer on August 24th.
As helping churches “normalize” sharing the Gospel with lost loved ones is a top priority for our ministry to pastors, please pray for the overall fruitfulness of our upcoming training times in local churches.
> Church Champions Training Retreats
As equipping evangelists within local churches is the heartbeat of The Cross Current, please pray that the Lord will help us receive all the support we need to host more Church Champions Training Retreats.
As outreach radio expansion is one of our major objectives for 2013, please pray that the Lord helps us equip and release additional TCC radio representatives as more partner churches and radio stations embrace the partnership opportunities associated with our outreach broadcast.
Canada needs Christ! Please pray that God will speak to the hearts of more and more supporters who will financially support our work of equipping by example pastors, Christians, and their churches to share the Gospel in Canada.
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Continue keeping a pulse on our prayer needs
Bookmark our ministry calendar to continue praying for our local missions
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We thank God for you, your church, and our partnership in His Gospel!
For His Glory Alone,
The Cross Current Team
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