On Thursday September 3, 2009 Crossroads Christian Communications CEO Doug McKenzie is appearing on 100 Huntley Street.
It’s anyone’s guess what he’ll be discussing; Crossroads/Axcess, the alleged Driver ponzi scheme, the yanking of hosts off-air, the forensic audit, the Canadian Council of Christian Charities investigation, the recent fund-raising, the decision to keep the founders sons off air for restoration, the ongoing investigation, investors…
It’s anyone’s guess. For readers able to watch 100 Huntley on Thursday, drop in and leave a comment, eh?
Or he may just choose to remain relatively tight-lipped and tell people that if they don’t give more money, they’ll have to cut back to a 30 minute show like Hour of Power did.
The Crossroads board seem to have some sense that restoration is needed, but instead of just focusing on these two men, I hope they will begin to realize that the whole ministry needs to be restored to a right foundation. The goal should not be a slick, professional and popular Christian TV program, it should be the simple, humble preaching of the gospel to a perishing world. Instead of preaching around Jesus and the cross, I hope they will come back to preaching Jesus and the cross. And before anyone can do that, they need to come back to that cross themselves, applying that old rugged, humble cross to their own flesh, which we all need to do – and I hope and pray they will.
I watched Huntley Street last week, and Anne Mainse was hosting with David. I believe she is the wife of Ron Mainse? I guess she is hosting again now. Perhaps that was a one time thing, I don’t know. Just thought that was interesting that she was returning to work. I really do hope for the best for these families.
I spoke to the CEO of Crossroads today when I visited the studio today and personally witnessed the amazing ministry that they provide. He told me that he has delayed his appearance on the program until at least next week so that he can speak after more has developed.
In regards to Ann Mainse back in the saddle of hosting. That was great to see for the past 2 weeks alongside her father-in-love. I don’t know if that will be an ongoing thing but I do know that she is still the Anchor Host of the Friday “Full Circle” edition.
Lastly, what was this about “The Hour of Power” reducing to a half hour, did they actually do that or did they warn people that they may have to?
Thanks Jordan.
Although no court date was set after the motion to release funds was rejected in California, I was told Gordon Driver has about a 45 day window.
There has been no word on the criminal investigation, as stated earlier Mr. Driver has been assigned a public defender.
While Crossroads has stated the investigation in Canada is active, that’s vague. There were several investigations, the board, the accounting company, the Canadian Council of Christian Charities; which leaves what? The OSC? CRTC? Charities Rev Can?
Ron and Reynold pictures were not removed when Crossroads cleaned up it’s webpages this summer. As you point out, Ann hosted the fund raiser, Kathy Mainse picture hasn’t been removed.
They were probably on the payroll, there has been no word they weren’t.
As for “The Hour of Power” I honestly don’t know. There is no message stating air time cutbacks on the US or Cdn websites.
Here is the Cdn schedule – the promo for Sept 6th says an hour.
http://intl.crystalcathedral.org/tvschedule.php?tid=tv
I did not see Doug McKenzie on the air today.
Today’s program was mainly pre-recorded segments
from previous weeks and months and other
taped elements. The only real live element were
the portions with Cantelon and Lodde.
And I wonder how live that was, come to think
of it.
It’s been largely pre-recorded since late May with
some slight exceptions and if it continues past
the day after Labour Day, then I’ll think it’s coming
to an end.
I rather think there’s a mad scramble to flesh out
a roster of program elements that are new.
Viewers must be tired of the same old tapes
going around for seemingly the n-th time.
During the fundraiser there was a lot of discussion about the Crossroads websites and putting the video vault online.
ie: Huntly kids. David Mainse mention his 14 thousand interviews more than once.
I don’t know for sure when the programming started to suffer Torontonian, but every since Crossroads/Axcess broke, what little I’ve seen, has as you say. has been pre-recorded with a few minutes of host banter.
Giving is down a minimum of 20%, a part of a CEO’s job is to keep programming on air, I’ve wondered if Mr. McKenzie would be fleshing out their web based move more.
We’ll see.
One of the giveaways of a live telecast is the inclusion
of something from the daily newspapers. It becomes
the segue into a talking point about either ministry or
the “falling away” [my term] of the world. Then comes
the Bible reference and expansion on the topic before
going into the day’s regular programming.
No newspaper telegraphs to me the fact that it’s a
recorder program.
At least, that’s how it’s always looked to me.
But what do I know? I’m not a regular viewer.
I’m assuming by all this that Huntley St. is not giving the viewers advance notice of when to expect the CEO to appear on the program.
I noticed recently a new (to me) program on Vision TV called Foundations that is supposed to be hosted by Ron and Ann Mainse according to the billing at the beginning of the show and on the satellite listing info, but currently seems to have a stand-in host, Willard Thiessen. Vision TV website describes the program:
“In this unique, hour-long talk series host Willard Thiessen (It’s a New Day) delves into issues such as temptation, mercy, forgiveness, shame, healing and grace, through interviews with guests from every major faith group in Canada.”
The format so far seems to be allowing a person of another religion (Jewish, Muslim, Hindu) to talk about their beliefs, with the Christian host nodding and smiling and just reflecting back what the non-Christian guest is saying, and making the odd reference to God (which god he means one cannot tell, his own or his guest’s) with absolutely no Christian witness whatsoever that I’ve seen. I don’t know if this is a Crossroads venture or not, or why Ron and Ann Mainse (or any Christian for that matter) would want to be part of something like this. I sure hope it isn’t their ‘Plan B’ if Huntley St. doesn’t work out.
@Therese
I have twice notified Vision TV about the erroneous program listing
and they are working to resolve the issue with the cable tv companies.
I believe the listings are from another source and are sold or
subscribed to by operations such as cable companies and others.
Therefore there is the intermediary who needs to make the necessary
amendments
Thank you for clearing that up, Torontonian…thought I was onto something for a minute there…!
I could entitle this “Who’s minding the store?” because of all the
serious shortcomings I’ve seen on the station during the last
few months. I am talking about more than 100 Huntley Street.
I’m talking about the station itself.
During the last four months the Nite Lite program has been
in repeats on the weekend nights. I find it odd that such a
broadcast would now find itself having to resort to replaying
previous nights’ programs. Before the mid-May revelations,
there was no shortage of volunteers to fill the Nite Lite chair
if Paul Willoughby could not be there. Now it’s in repeats on weekends.
On one of the programs I noticed Kim Christink was the host
and he looked haggard, tired and drawn–and not wanting
to be in front of the camera.
During all this time–particularly on weekends, I have not heard
one reference to the Bayridge Counselling Center and I wonder
if it is still operating. Bayridge always had the Sunday morning
broadcast and staffed it with one or several of their personnel.
That’s not been the case for four months now and that’s a
reason for my concern about internal collapse.
Nite Lite also had a roster of volunteers to staff the Monday
telecast but I have not seen several of the regulars.
I just wonder how many of these people have been either
hurt by the misfortunes of the Mainse family or have chosen
to distance themselves from the entire operation.
Nite Lite’s weekend operations have been hosted by people
who have books to sell or pet issues–and talking points.
That’s not the type of person for such an operation at that
hour of the night when viewers are in varying degrees of
need and comfort.
——–
I’ve also noticed that some of the regular self-produced
telecasts are lacking closed captioning for an entire day’s
programs. This has now happened about 4 or 5 times in
this past month.
Another failing I saw was the rebroadcast on Global in
Alberta and BC was flawed and the picture was too large
for the screen. During the fundraising efforts, viewers
couldn’t see the pledgeline number because it was out
of frame. People who have high definition TVs know that
a regular non-HD program can be enlarged to fill the screen.
I notified Terry Maskell about this problem and he said I should
take it up with the cable company. It seems–to me, at least–
that CTS should be VERY concerned about the quality of the
delivered signal to their viewers in other parts of the country
especially if the picture is so inflated that the fundraising numbers
and pledgeline numbers are no longer visible.
I e-mailed Maskell about this and he said I should take it
up with Rogers and I returned that message with the remark
that CTS should be the one to speak about this matter with
Global out west.
[It is known that the central control for Global TV out
west is in Alberta and they have had serious technical
failings and miscues over the last number of years.
They supply the signals for many of the Global stations
out west
Such is the price one pays for cutting staff to the bone and
centralising everything with one place and not having a
local back-up in case something goes terribly wrong].
The station is now repeating discussion programs from 2007
and earlier. These programs are male oriented and are hosted
by Glenn Allan and are sponsored by Promise Keepers.
Other programs from the vaults are so old the colours are
washed out, faded and dull. Either the tapes are so old and
have been played so often, they’ve degraded to unwatchability.
Apparently no-one sees the sense in buying new recordings
of these programs that are fresher and brighter in image and sound.
100 Huntely Street still has an air of death surrounding it
and since the roster of hosts is very narrow, a sameness
and pattern-book predictability is also setting in.
It’s almost as though someone sucked the air out of the
studio.
All the electronic videos that Mainse was talking about are
not there in the numbers that he stated and the choice of
languages is pitifully short and not near his claims.
David Mainse has a tendency to exaggerate and overstate
and that penchant is probably the reason why he’s being
kept off the scene (except Thursdays) so as to not cause
further embarrassment to the operation.
What’s visible on-screen is representative of the confusion
that the behind-the-scene people in the offices must be
undergoing. It does not bode well for the operation.
What’s visible on the internet also speaks to the sorry
state of affairs.
I truly wonder how much longer this operation can
sustain itself. There’s a death-watch air prevailing
and it’s sad that it gets extended with no visible
signs of progress.
The faithful viewers deserve better.
The faithful donors deserve better.
The employees and the contractors to the station
deserve better.
It’s a crying shame it’s had to come to this.
Torontonian:
Is Bayridge Counselling a separate entity from Crossroads?
I’m asking because The Crossroads 2008 tax return breaks it down: 50% broadcasting, 24% camps and 12% counselling.
Given they laid off prayer/counselling volunteers for the TV show(s)…
There is an 11 thousand dollar ‘gift’ to Heaven’s Rehearsal.
Reynold seems to be an evangelical playboy dabbling in entertainment. His media company seems to have disappeared.
They are still peddling the one homeless night they used their kid for, still doing holy land tours. The TV shows I’ve seen are re-runs, and the Conrad School hasn’t been updated in months that I’ve seen, the Facebook page is a sad little place.
The YouTube channel is surprising, I thought there would be more hits.
It would be hard to be an employee, too bad they just can’t just turn off the lights and exit with grace.