Crossroads Christian Communications Inc. which went through a finders scandal this summer (Gordon Driver/Axcess) in which many of the investors were recruited from Ron and Reynold Mainse; unveiled their plans this week on 100 Huntley Street for their new foray into social media. The Driver case is ongoing in the US and it is not known whether Cdn finders will be part of a possible civil trial. Driver has made an agreement with the SEC.
Ron Mainse was put back on air after being yanked in June. The Driver/Axcess scheme came to light in April/May 2009. You can watch his return  on Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 in his interview with Jim Cantelon. Mainse was demoted to spiritual director after his public admission of his involvement.
As well the non-profit Crossroads Television System went through posting of a non existent charity in the fall of 2009 and winter of 2010. It has since been removed although there has been no public acknowledgement of wrong doing.
A summary of the media organizations tough year is here
The credit I want to acknowledge is a more honest portrayal of Crossroads CEO/Chairman Don Simmonds who came to the organization in October although it was not announced until December with an erroneous pr to ChristianWeek in December.
As part of the Crossroads social media rollout (which I’ll blog out more later) Simmonds has a page up at Crossroads corporate which does not reflect the error in the pr handed to Christian Week. If we can be faithful in small things, the parable in Matthew 25:21 NIV says we will be put in charge of larger things. Luke 16:10 (NIV) says “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.”
Jim Cantelon mentions in the roll out this week that Crossroads is innovative in their movement into social media, that observation is not quite true in Canada or  US religious media. Competition is fierce and The Miracle Channel  and Grace TV have been using social media for some time including Twitter and Facebook. As well other religious programs broadcast in Canada have also utilized You Tube, Facebook and Twitter. Some of the Crossroads social networks have been registered for some time and have been very poorly utilized. Time will tell if the younger demographic joins in.
You can see the social media discussion on the March 8 to 12/10 programs.
The error in the ChristianWeek pr has not been acknowledged, but kudos to Crossroads in being careful with the copy that is now up on their site about the CEO/Chairman. Every honest small step aids damaged public perception.. Jim Cantelon mentions Crossroads is innovative in their movement into social media, that is not quite true in Canada. Religious media competition is fierce and The Miracle Channel  and Grace TV have been using social media for some time.
Still, I want to commend Crossroads for this weeks 100 Huntley Street effort to announce honest, technologically updated and more transparent steps.
About the only real changes are
Reynold and Kathy are no longer around
There is a new Chairman
Fewer staff are working harder with
less working capital from a decline
in donations.
Fewer “Names” are visiting
100 Huntley Street. Perhaps a
pariah status is now attached to
the operation and “names” want
to stay away until . . . .
Repeat segments abound and entire
Nite Lite Live programs are repeated
quite frequently.
It’s getting to be a bit ramshackle and
all I’m wondering is when–like an old
empty house–the centre will collapse
and take the rest down with it.
Only a matter of time at this rate.
Reynold Mainse presented a segment “Stay in Touch – Reynold Mainse in Haiti” – March 04, 2010 – view online at http://www.100huntley.com
Tim: Reynold Mainse will also be on 100 Huntley next week.
Since he left Crossroads over a year ago, might be nice if viewers were told about that.
Torontonian:
At least this part of the set is new and isn’t such an dated eyesore.
We now know there are still two boards if John Richardson’s interview is correct (Richardson GMP): Simmonds is listed as CEO Crossroads/CTS.
So the CITS Media Resources Organization/Our Hope grab for public funds with no charitable status happened under Simmonds watch.
Very few viewers would check Simmonds background re: AirIQ in trade and business news.
Viewers don’t care, those videos introducing management and outlining direction have dismal numbers.
The Facebook and Twitter apps weren’t used well to reach the audience, the pr department didn’t send anything out.
Donors have to get to know Simmonds, the organization needs him to bring in new money and seriously clean up the image, and Crossroads is in such a rut with it’s people and direction that if it doesn’t try to reach out to the larger southern Ontario evangelical community it will just go under faster.
It’s going to be difficult I think, Crossroads has done damage to the itself in the industry, public and faith community. They will have to do a heck of a lot more than talk about integrity or new shiny ideas.
Approximately 65 Crossroads employees, family members, viewers lost millions last year because the of the Crossroads culture.
Not all the problems Crossroads face are self-inflicted, I point out the ones which are.
The question I have watching these interviews is: would I trust these guys with my charitable giving?
What did I learn about where they plan to go?
Moving from a visionary model into an administrative one is something Phil Cooke talks about in The Last TV Evangelist. Many religious media businesses won’t make it.
They’ll have to find funding for better programming, I think we’ll see them tap rich friends, foundations and government.
They’ve identified 6 areas of programming they need to improve on – simply put – all of it.
While a key target demographic is family and youth, they’ve got more than self imposed walls to climb over, the biggest one being disinterest. Crossroads has been declining for so long, mobile apps, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube isn’t going to impress that group.
Partnering with YFC or companies helping them with SEO such as Cadre Ministries or the Crossroads ‘ new media’ employee (tech guy) Jon Oleksiuk is one approach they have to take. The technology has been there since 2008 and has not been utilized well at all. I think it was Oleksiuk who got defensive about 100 Huntley YouTube viewership, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt because I can’t find his comment and he may not wanted to sound defensive.
Can you imagine having to work at Crossroads when management calls internet platforms and mobile apps ‘new media’? That would be really stressful.
100 Huntley is following on the heels of The Miracle Channel, which is providing updates from it’s new CEO. This introduction is a different management approach in the attempts to establish creds and be more conversational about it.
Vision TV isn’t even in the picture in terms of providing content other ways.
Grace TV is wired to the hilt and was from launch.
Will 100 Huntley lead with new and half decent programming?
We’ll see.
We don’t know the staff compliment of 100 Huntley or CTS.
They strained their few good talent hires to a breaking point, that’s going to be a huge obstacle.
Getting decent guests is going to be a major challenge for 100 Huntley, I wouldn’t want to be a booking agent.
Ironic the Simmonds daughter would be promoting Kenny Blacksmith/The Seige – one of the new apostolic reformation initiatives we will be hearing more about as they gather on Parliament Hill this summer.
We know Heaven’s Gate (Reynold Mainse) has it’s fair share of neo-charismatics, and Canadians aren’t interested with what they have to offer, so they are heading off to entertain Ugandans.
One family dynasty passed the torch to another, Mainse/Simmonds; different skills sets.
We aren’t viewers they will ever win back Torontonian, we’ve watched the foolishness too long.
I think Simmonds deserves some growing time, he can’t unring the bell; he has a specific skill set Crossroads needs, the CRTC licences come up in 2011 and the business has little left to lose.
only god know judges , but the more i watch study ect different especially non denominatinal religions i find most of them too be more biased politicalaly especially corporate right wing. political more then they are christian ,are they also corpoate puppets the same as our goverment . after all jesus was more of a socialist , and when david manze is condeming the postal strike and the workers who send him money ? this is not of god
Michael:
When did David Mainse condemn the postal strike?
On 100 Huntley Street?