This Palin announcement is one of the more rambling disconnected speeches I’ve heard in awhile.
The dominionists political hope, may make a Presidential run in 2012.
Polycarp

Right Wing Watch has an interesting analysis of a new US political coalition calling itself The Freedom Federation.
Look at the list: Morning Star Ministries and increasingly politically active Teen Mania.
I linked to the Canadian site; while it looks like just another razzle dazzle youth ministry to attract teens, it is not.
Think Jesus Camp for an older crowd and the militant Joel’s Army imported culture war teaching of the political right. I’ve written about Teen Mania, Aquire the Fire before, this year they are putting on one Canadian show in Hamilton.

A few weeks ago a Kentucky Pentecostal church made news for a church event where people got to bring their guns and friends with guns. Across town other churches got together for a gun free event.
Apparently about 200 showed up at the pentecostal service. The insurance company wasn’t impressed and has notified the minister the church insurance policy will not be renewed.
PJ Miller

What happens when you put a Muslim imam, a Christian priest, a rabbi and a Buddhist monk in a room with 10 atheists?

Turkish television station Kanal T hopes the answer is a ratings success as it prepares to launch a gameshow where spiritual guides from the four faiths will seek to convert a group of non-believers.

The prize for converts will be a pilgrimage to a holy site of their chosen religion — Mecca for Muslims, the Vatican for Christians, Jerusalem for Jews and Tibet for Buddhists.

Guess who has the sense to refuse to participate in Penitents Compete? Not the Christians.

Saskatchewan is looking at legislation that will permit it’s marriage commissioners to opt out of performing same sex ceremonies while providing for the couple by bringing in an employee who doesn’t object to doing their job.
There are two forms of the proposed legislation, a religious freedom of conscience opt out and an exempt (grandfathered clause) for commissioners hired pre-2004. Saskatchewan isn’t a hot bed of civil marriage, there were 83 same sex marriages performed in the province in 2004. PEI is the only province or territory with a conscience clause for commissioners. Of the 300 commissioners in Saskatchewan in 2004, 10 resigned. According to Stats Can there were 4,977 marriages in the province in 2003.

Two news outlets have picked up the Crossroads press release (more media will as it goes out on the wire) that Ron and Reynold Mainse stepped down from their responsibilities at Crossroads Christian Communications. Ron was president of Crossroads, his brother Reynold VP of MIssions. Both were hosts of the show 100 Huntley Street. 

The first is CTV: No church cash in alleged scheme

The Canadian ministry behind “100 Huntley Street” says church money was not misappropriated by the TV show’s hosts, who have been suspended over links to a US$14.1-million Ponzi scheme.

Crossroads Christian Communications CEO Doug McKenzie says any investments made by Ron and Reynold Mainse were “personal and private” in nature and did not draw from the ministry’s 20,000-plus pool of donors.

In May, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a court order halting the scheme allegedly run by Gordon Driver, 51, a dual resident of Hamilton and Las Vegas.

In its complaint, the SEC alleged Driver solicited friends, neighbours, and business acquaintances to invest in his company, Axcess Automation.

Crossroads Christian Communications is not a church, and I’m not clear if this is a slip up or reference to churches which alleged point people or finders in the Driver/Axcess case attend or attended. 

Crossroads Christian Communications is a Canadian charity known for it’s  TV program 100 Huntley Street. It’s a 23 million dollar media/ministry business. Crossroads Christian Communications spun off a none profit cable station from it’s Burlington Studios, CTS. Crossroads bills 100 Huntley Street as the largest Canadian religious televangelist show in Canada.

The second is Canadian Christianity: Mainse brothers step down from Crossroads during ponzi scheme investigation.

Lorne Jackson, president of the Canadian National Christian Foundation(CNCF), told CC.com that he believed the Mainse brothers to be men of integrity. He said they both had taken training from the CNCF’s ‘Advisors with a Purpose’ program, which attempts to equip financial advisors and ministry leaders with tools to deal wisely with investment decisions.

Jackson said the first he had heard of the SEC complaint or the Crossroads’ board action was from the CC.com reporter.

While declining to talk about the case in question, Jackson had some guidelines for ministry leaders who also are expected to be investors.

Crossroads is also a member of the Canadian Council of Christian Charities and there have been no word from the organization on whether the council board is aware, or investigating involvement of the Mainse brothers and their cousin and former Crossroads Director of Ministry Relations David Rutledge.  The Council has 3000 members.
David Rutledge is named in the Ontario Exchange Commission order regarding Axcess Funds.  David Mainse, founder of 100 Huntley Street and Crossroads Communications sent a newsletter out to donors after his sons were removed from leadership.

The Maranatha News which was first mentioned in the Christian Week article on the alleged affinity fraud  now has CEO’s Doug McKenzie’s interview online.

MN: How did you learn about it?
DM: Our board became aware through some Christian friends of the ministry.

MN: Why did the Board determine to take the step of removing the Mainse brothers from their positions?
DM: We know that Ron/Reynold had invested with Mr. Driver. While that investigation continues, Crossroads’ board of directors feels it is best for our ministry that they step aside.

The timeline of the events regarding the investigation and civil case in the US against Gordon Driver, as well as choices by Crossroads and blogs picking up events and providing background is here.

Crossroads CEO Doug McKenzie’s pr is focused on Crossroads Christian Communications, not on investors harmed in this alleged affinity fraud.  According to US court documents,  about 15 US investors were identified, and investigators say approximatley 85 Canadians invested in Axcess Automation/Axcess Funds. 

As this Crossroads statement goes out and gets picked up by media:

 CBC:100 Huntley Street hosts suspended during Ponzi scheme probe 
The Canadian Press used CTV’s copy mislabelling Crossroads Christian Communications as a church: ‘100 Huntley Street’ says church money not used in alleged Ponzi scheme.

Most news outlets will pick up the Crossroad pr today.
Update: Out of 22, 18 are using the copy calling 100 Huntley and Crossroads Christian Communications a church. sigh.

For investors:  After the May filing by the Commodities and Futures Commission of the civil case against Gordon Driver, there was a pre-trial hearing in California District court in June.  Gordon Driver did not have a lawyer, and the argument before the judge centred around unfreezing some of his assets requested by Driver, so he could pay council.  Judge Wright (California US District Court) agreed on limited release and the next pre-trial hearing is in early August. Once I receive confirmation of the dates from California, I’ll post them. There are also posts for investors on affinity fraud.
Several sources say there is an active involvement by Canadian financial investigators.

Companies paying bloggers to push their products is nothing new. It’s an online concern which has drawn the attention of The Federal Trade Commission.

Commenters are paid to search and go to blogs and websites where they pitch a product by making personal comments. There are bots which search by keyword and drop what look like personalized comments into comment sections. Using bots, a person can take a generated list and put in a cheery  ‘personal’ comment which has a better chance to get past a spam filter.

It is known governments set up propaganda blogs which do not identify the blog owner as a government contractor or employee or the political agenda. 
Commenters are send out to by political parties to plant ideas under stories and posts  do damage control and disparage commenters with a contrary point of view.
Go to a newspaper website such as The Globe and Mail, The Star or National Post, pick a hot topic and check out comments yourself.
It’s hard to know if any of the commenters under political posts are being paid to do so isn’t it?

One of the points which has come up here at BDBO is how quiet Crossroads Christian Communications has been since the April/May legal documents came out. 
The longer the silence, the harder it will be for Crossroads to win back viewer, donor and public confidence.
So, if you were handling Public Relations for Crossroads - what would you do?

1) I’d be careful about media interviews,  asking all staff to zip their lips, especially with ongoing legal issues and investigations. Crossroads CEO Doug McKenzie has done one interview with an offline pentecostal magazine,  calls were not returned to the first media outlet (The Hamilton Spectator) to run a story. The other Crossroads story is by Christian Week. which receives letters to the editor but doesn’t use online comments.

2) I’d send my pr staff out searching all forms of media for any information about the company/ministry. The longer official company silence, the more important it is that well placed ideas by the pr department can be used.

3) I’d be checking to see what the average viewer or donor might be saying.  Planting information deflecting from the main issue is a common marketing management tool.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Crossroads pr people were leaving comments at BDBO, that is a none issue as far as I’m concerned.
 What pr techniques would you use if you were running a company/charity facing tough issues?

This comment is interesting and I’m using it merely as an example of what I’m attempting to explain.
I want to be very clear to the above commenter. I am not questioning your integrity. 
With the open communication comment sections provide readers drop in with pieces of information.

To add to this tone of sadness–a few months ago the volunteer group of prayer partners were told that they were gradually being phased out and would no longer be needed in the future; the plan was to replace this group with some kind of hitech tapes.
Many of the prayer partners were quite upset and disillusioned with this announcement These volunteers are older folks who have faithfully supported Huntley and prayerfully ministered to viewers!
It would appear that Huntley is becoming insensitive to their volunteer groups and disconnected to their viewers!
Sad!!

Volunteers seem to be available for Nite-Lite, a Crossroads production.  There are 2 call in numbers for prayer.
416-9291500      905 335 0100     One seems to be a local area land line, the second toll free is VoIP.
The Crossroads Prayer Centre now uses two VoIP numbers and  has continued the  online email field for write in prayer requests. The web platform Crossroads now uses is  donor.com, a specialized system for non-profits which collects specific data for the company/charity from sign ins.

The Crossroad Prayer Centre page says:

Crossroads National Ministry Centre is pleased to provide coast to coast spiritual support, through our Telephone prayer lines.

Providing two way communication, nation-wide, we support individuals twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week with their prayer needs.

The prayer lines are supported primarily by volunteers who give more than 25,000 hours per year to provide this vital service to the nation of Canada and beyond.

Monthly, the ministry receives calls from more than 30,000 needy people, representing a myriad of requests.

There is no way to know how many calls the ministry receives.
There is a TTD (hearing impaired line) that requires some training to use (it’s like texting) and there is a toll free number     1-866-273-4444  .    (I took the Cdn toll free VoIP number and changed countries to see what would come up). 
A land line can still be used, do any other voIP systems come up?
Is VoIP the ‘hi tech’ mentioned in the comment? 
The commenter says ’the plan was to replace this group with some kind of hi-tech tapes.’

Would elderly, faithful volunteers find Skype or other VoIP difficult to work with?
VoIP can run pre-taped messages, trace calls etc., and it’s a lot cheaper to use.
This is the first time I’ve seen a VoIP number available on a company/charity, but then again I haven’t been looking.

How many volunteers have been let go?
Was this dismissal part of the re-structuring mentioned by CEO Doug McKenzie or reaction to the April/May issue? 
How many volunteers does Crossroads usually have staffing  prayer lines? How many now?

There is another possibly brought up by a commenter. Gotta love BDBO readers.:^)

 I have reflected on the prayer centre and have remembered that during the last several weeks on the programs 100 Huntley Street and Nite-Lite, they run a 45 to 60 second video clip of the prayer centre.

I wonder if that is to dispel the rumour of the recorded tapes coming in. It’s hard to discern what’s what, here.
——-

There is something else, about recorded systems.
If one presses 1 for marital problems, 2 for compulsions, etc., could that be a way of streaming callers so they end up speaking to a person who can best handle the callers concern?

After all, not all volunteers have had the experience of addiction and not all have had the experience of grief and mourning.

I just wonder if volunteers are being prepared for such an undertaking.

The fact that little information is forthcoming does not do anyone a service. A service such as telephone counselling should not be taken lightly and major changes sprung on the system and its callers with little or no advance notice.

Both scenarios presented above are possible, both are probable. However the longer Crossroads stays quiet about changes which have nothing to do with legal issues the more speculation takes root and the more people move on. 

What do you think is occurring?

Last year during the Lakeland ‘revival’ hype a clarion voice with quick wit, solid knowledge of the bible and a low tolerance for the lies and falseness of Todd Bentley, the Straders and New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) leaders started putting up hard hitting videos on You Tube.

He had a decent eye, his videos were an effective way of communicating truth during a period of time when charismatic media went into overdrive to deceive and spiritually trap as many people as possible with ‘Lakeland.’

Local Pastor is no longer on You Tube, there are many others putting up videos, thousands of posts written about the on-going deception of neo-charimania.

Local Pastor was unique.  A few of his videos were watched hundreds of thousands of times, and I don’t his work jolted many people out of their stupor and from being dazzled by spiritual bling.
I’m grateful to him, he was north on a moral and spiritual compass during a deliberately orchestrated spiritual storm.

Thanks LP, you’ll be missed.

This has not been a good week personally.
Upside: The weather has been terrific and the call of the outdoors has been irresistible.
I have to be outside, it pulls me, which means the computer gets ignored and things pile up. (it’s easier to blog when its winter  and the wind chill is hitting -30C)
Family illness and obligations ate into my quiet time, and fatigue has played a part in two email mistakes I’d like delude myself into thinking I wouldn’t make. I’m embarrassed. The pressure I’ve been feeling may be somewhat self imposed.

Blogging has not been fun this week, it’s been demanding and stressful and I’m not a good organiser.
I”m a lousy organizer.

I owe an apology to emailer Steve H, who asked a dignified, thoughtful question and got a response meant for another person. How rude of me, how bizarre for him. Both people on the receiving end of my email mistakes have the right to had to wonder where I’d left my marbles - outside in the great weather and sunshine, where June is busting out all over I  think.:^)

I’ve goofed on BDBO email twice in 6+ years, and both have been around Crossroads/Axcess, which tells me I’m not paying attention to stress, pressure, volume and personal boundaries around the topic.

Time to lighten things up, enjoy the outdoors, turn  thinking and writing in my head off while I’m being pulled outside. I’m going  to consciously practise staying in the moment. Have a great weekend.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Why report?

Over the next few weeks ChristianWeek will conduct its own interviews and explore the situation further. Why do we consider it important for the Christian community to know more about a ministry when it’s experiencing difficulties?
One major reason in this case is the high profile nature of 100 Huntley Street, which bills itself as “Canada’s longest running daily talk show,” “authentic,” “trusted by Canadians for over 40 years” and “broadcast live across Canada Monday through Friday, reaching nearly every home in Canada.” Prominence is a key factor in continuing coverage.

A second reason is that much of the funding for the program comes from donors, who have every right to question a ministry whose most visible faces are suspected of using their connections to instill confidence in a scheme now seen to be fraudulent (at worst), or of simply being duped (at best). Either way, their judgment is in question and people within their circle of influence have lost homes and retirement savings. Bridgeway Foundation president Mark Petersen has written a helpful blogpost) outlining the situation and offering good advice to donors. His first two points: “Don’t pull funding…yet,” and “request clarity.”

What’s next?

As 100 Huntley Street gears for the summer and a legal investigation winds its lengthy course, questions continue to swirl. Did the board do the right thing when it removed the Mainse brothers from their positions at Crossroads? Why did they wait until the Hamilton Spectator story appeared before they took public action? Is there more housecleaning yet to come? How will donations be affected? What other changes are likely? Will the organization continue as a member in good standing with the Canadian Council of Christian Charities? So far, there is no public evidence the ministry was involved in any wrongdoing. May it so remain.

ChristianWeek

Last time I was in the US I wandered into a Thomas Kinkade gallery.  It was upscale, someone’s idea of colonial tasteful,  and empty, no customers were wandering around. I’m not a fan, but The Guardian said in 2006 that 1 in 20 US homeowners are. He has been marketed and markets himself as an evangelical. 

All I could think gazing around the store was the news Kinkade was making because of financial issues with gallery owners.  The owner picked up on the Canadian accents quickly and wandered back to the front desk. Kincade is known for mass marketing his work and for trademarking the term ’Painter of Light’.

Kincade’s company has been ordered by a three judge panel to pay two former gallery owners $860,000 in damages and 1.2 million dollars in legal fees.

The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Norman Yatooma, said the ruling was “a breath of life” for Hazlewood and Spinello, who were “lied to and cheated and broken, and are broke because of the deceit they endured at the hands of Thomas Kinkade” and his assistants.

Yatooma represents other former gallery owners who claim Kinkade ruined them financially. Kinkade has won most of the cases but has lost two arbitrations, the Hazlewood-Spinello case and a recent $1.4 million award to the owner of four closed galleries in Grand Rapids, Mich.

The painter, whose Thomas Kinkade Co. is based in Morgan Hill, is known for his glowing pastels of everyday Americana that have been far more popular with the public than with art critics. He is a born-again Christian who uses religious themes in his art and his marketing, and once said that “God became my art agent” after his conversion.

The plaintiff’s lawyer says other people have complained to him (he won another arbitration for 1.4 million) but can’t afford the legal costs.  MorganHillTimes:

After the galleries’ failure, the couple announced its claims that Kinkade and his company falsely represented the agreement they entered into by telling them they would be treated as “partners,” and used their Christian faith to establish an unwritten trust.

Furthermore, the Thomas Kinkade Company did not disclose to the couple that they could not charge below a minimum retail price for the artist’s works, while Kinkade undercut them by selling the same products inexpensively through his own stores and Web sites, according to the 2006 arbitration award.

As the couple’s attorney put it, the company “openly and wildly deceived” his clients by telling them they would be part of a “religious mission.” He said they were told they would succeed financially by opening a Kinkade gallery.

This is an interesting and perhaps more realistic take on store owners hitching their wagon to a bad business scheme. 
His product doesn’t appear have the fan base it did/does in the US, the company home site lists about 40 international stores.
He has a blog, which seems to be about about new paintings. It reads as if it is written by a marketing employee who thinks a blog post has to be X number of words. There is also a YouTube channel.