Why does evangelist Faytene Kryskow want such a control over how she is portrayed in the press? So much so, that she has warned the media that they have to ask her for permission to cover events that she is a part of?
Well, something that I think might be newsworthy to note, if you were covering Kryskow, popped out via a way that she had no control over.
Yesterday, I stumbled onto an online video in which she explains to a church audience why she felt a need to control what got out about last year’s The CRY in Vancouver B.C.
And she was worried that if certain information about that event was released, it might prove damaging to “the government”. I am guessing that in her mind she means the minority Tory government of Stephen Harper.
Why would Faytene Kryskow, who operates a “non-partisan” ministry, care why mentioning what happened at The CRY Vancouver hurts the Tories?
Earlier this year, I am guessing, she spoke at Northgate Foursquare Church in Courtenay B.C. (A small town on B.C.’s Vancouver Island). At any rate, a video of her remarks as part of the church’s “Somebody should…” series of speakers was uploaded to the Vimeo video platform site on January 19, 2010.
And here it is:
Somebody Should... Week 2 ~ Faytene Kryskow from Northgate Foursquare Church on Vimeo.
Her entire sermon was uploaded to Vimeo, but what I found amazing was included in her introductory remarks.
I think that she might try to have this video pulled, if this is as telling as I think it might be. I’ll be quoting at length, to save her quotes, so I will be continuing in the second part of this post.
She prays and offers what is sort of a “prophetic “ insight to her audience.
She then starts discussing, in a general way, why she is in town and what she has been doing in the area recently.
This naturally leads to The CRY Vancouver, which I reported on last year. After thanking members of the church for all their support of the event in various ways, she then explains that part of her sermon will include “testimony” from the event.
Starting at 13:01, Faytene Kryskow says this in the video. I’ll be adding some emphasis:
“…so there’s two things that I am going to try and accomplish this morning, in the short time that we have.
Number one, is, I want to do just that, I want to share the testimony of what God has been doing in the nation and just some really key stuff that’s important, for God’s purposes in our nation and in this year and that’s really exciting, and some of it is exciting and some of it is serious, and so, but all of it is stuff that I believe that the Lord wants to bring to our attention. Secondly, I have a word, it’s actually a dream that I had a couple of years ago that I just felt the Lord wants me to share with you, so I’m gonna kinda segment my time into those two things, but—
After the CRY Vancouver last summer [of 2009], so it was, what was it, it was August 15, yeah it was August 15. 40 years to the day of Woodstock! That still blows my mind that The Lord arranged that, it was just amazing. Gives us the exact field where the be-ins used to be in the late ‘60s. Um, it was such an awesome prophetic picture of the Lord taking back something that was lost. You know, over this last season.
And so, there was so much that happened [at The CRY Vancouver] in the realm of testimony um, that our leadership team, we actually decided not to release over the Internet what what had happened in the way of testimony, just simply because, well you’ll see in a second. Um, if that, if it got into the wrong hands, it would be twisted, and maybe used against, even, the government or used against what just what God was, God is doing through this expression and so you have to be as wise as a serpent and as gentle as a dove and so sometimes the Lord says “I want you just to blurt it out and tell the world”, and other times He says “I want you just to hold that back a little bit on this one and use some wisdom.”
And so, it’s exciting when I can be in person in a place and share some of the testimony trusting that that this is you know, not totally contained, but somewhat contained. So, I wanna announce, again, and I will continue to announce, that there is a new “normal” in Canada….
Oh, Faytene, please don’t blame the Lord, for how secretive you choose to be.
Why "contain" the good words that she and her friends are doing?
Faytene Kryskow is talking about some of the good things that were done in Vancouver. She wants to share some of the video that was shot there. As “you’ll see in a minute.”
“But all of it is some stuff that I believe that the Lord wants to bring to our attention”.
Well if this is the case, then why share it only in Northgate Church, and not to the wider church? Wouldn’t it be edifying for the rest of us?
The CRY Vancouver was done in the biggest park in one of the largest cities in Canada. It was also broadcast worldwide on God TV, after Faytene Kyskow arranged for it.
Of all the various speakers at The CRY Vancouver, I didn’t see anyone who would need, on the grounds of personal safety, say, to ask Faytene, “On second thought, I shouldn’t have said that in public. I or my family might be endangered.” No-one there, that I saw, was saying for the first time in public that they were Christian. You could argue, for the sake of safety, that it would be wise not to further publicize it. But I don’t believe this to be the case.
I saw and heard much, however, that explains the side of The CRY Vancouver that people may not laud, or may have some questions about.
As I have noted before, I don’t dislike Faytene Kryskow. I like some of what she does. Canada needs someone like her—but, I would respectfully suggest, not with the aberrant extras she has added to her piety, skills, and passion for her country. But if Faytene is secretive about what she does, she won’t be in a position to grow and learn from her mistakes so that she may become only a blessing to Canada. She is only delaying any “explosion” of bad publicity to the point where she can’t learn and move on. Rather, the secular media when “it” blows up will notice and I fear that the good of Faytene’s work might be wiped out at the same time as the bad.
She’s spiked a release of The CRY Vancouver, or parts of it, to the wider public in case “it got into the wrong hands” namely her critics. If, however, the good outweighed the bad at The CRY Vancouver, wouldn’t the great neutral mass of the church be able to see and recognize it? Does Kryskow lack the confidence that people will see The CRY as she does? What does that say about her confidence that The CRY Vancouver was a very good thing?
Trying to stuff The CRY Vancouver down the “memory hole”, in order to ensure that her possible critics can’t use it to their advantage, also shows a lack of confidence that The CRY can prevail over such criticism.
I would also say that it seems unseemly to me, for someone in the church, working in the public where anyone can see and hear you, to hint “Psst, let’s keep this a secret.” Unless there are strong and valid reasons to do so, which I don’t believe apply here.
We may disagree about this, but I do not think we will disagree about another reason for secrecy about The CRY Vancouver that she lets slip.
Footage of The CRY Vancouver “may be used against, even, the government” and that is a reason for Faytene Kryskow to hush it up.
Scary.
What “government” is Faytene talking about? Here is my best guess, and in Faytene’s defense, it remains only a guess.
She doesn’t really work with municipal politicians. I don’t think Faytene would care that the left leaning city government of Vancouver was embarrassed by The CRY. Rather, I think she would be more likely to buy time on local TV stations to rebroadcast The CRY Vancouver to shame them into repentance.
I saw no B.C. politicians or B.C. Liberal party activists on stage. But I did hear, from Lloyd Mackey’s report, that federal Tory politicians were there. And my guess is that means she is thinking of the federal government, headed by Stephen Harper, whose eyes, Faytene Kryskow has publicly commented, shone with fraternal love when they met.
If Tories were advocating godly things at The CRY, or offering support to young Christians who were "sold out for Christ" why not publicize it?
I wonder if Faytene Kryskow got a call from one or some of the Tory politicians that she let on the stage at Stanley Park? In such a scenario, they may have realized that while they were happy to share a Christian witness, they overspoke what they meant to say. Or, which may perhaps be more likely, they realized that some of the things that were said or done at The Cry Vancouver might sound a bit extreme to the average voter. And then during the next election campaign, they read a story or see or hear an ad that says “MP Bloggs is friends with *these people* “
Faytene Kryskow may not even have to field such a call. In the 24th minute of this video, she is explaining that shortly after The CRY Vancouver, another poll gave the Tories a bigger lead. She then says (at 24:38) that she contacted some of her “Member of Parliament friends” and said “Make sure that you tell your boss, the Prime Minister that we had another CRY…They gotta clue in here!”
[Does she have no “friends” on Parliament Hill that would report to their “boss”, the leader of the Opposition, or the leader of the NDP, or the Bloc? That would be a good question for a reporter to ask…if they are ever allowed in the same building as Faytene Kryskow.]
Let’s remember that Faytene wears two hats in Ottawa. The 4MyCanada lobbyist hat and the “The CRY leader” hat, in which she “speaks truth to power”.
Is the lobbyist in Faytene affecting the CRY leader in Faytene, leading her to hush up things that could be used against her “Member of Parliament friends” who have a boss who is leader of the Conservative Party as well as Prime Minister?
If the CRY is to do its work well, it has to work without fear or favour, callings thing as they are, being willing to do a little rhetorical overturning of the moneychanger’s tables. Even the Conservatives may need to be called to repent and change their ways. The public needs to be able to call their “Christian MP” and hold them to account for not pursuing the good things that they may have promised to do at TheCRY Vancouver. The voters in the MP’s riding need to see and hear all that allows them to decide whether their MP who took the stage at The CRY Vancouver is wise. Faytene Kryskow is hindering and not helping this.
We don’t need Christians with a lobbyist mentality in Ottawa.
We need Christians who will “speak truth to power”.
Faytene Kryskow, I beg you, I implore you, I ask you, please take note.