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Mobilise
One Cross, One House, One Call
By Matt Hogg
Portsmouth, UK
It was on a cold January morning that a group of nine bleary-eyed students started to make their way to Cambridge at the unearthly hour of 6am. The purpose of their rude awakening: to reach Cambridge in time for the Student Worker’s Day 2005. Some were excited about the day; some just wanted breakfast; others weren’t totally sure what they had signed themselves up for! What sticks out from that day was a sense of excitement, anticipation and faith for this year’s Mobilise. Tom Shaw enthused about how great Mobilise will be this year and then showed us the promotional DVD, a fantastic advert for what God had planned for four empowering days in Brighton.
Full of faith and excitement at what God was going to do through Mobilise, word quickly spread among our students and twenties. In the end more than double the bookings of 2004 came this year, a fantastic answer to prayer and a demonstration of great faith from the Mobilise team. So what did Mobilise ’05 mean to me?
One Cross
Wednesday brought to us the power of the cross. It came with such supremacy and quickness that you could so easily have passed off the morning without a second glance.
Lex Loizides kicked off the morning with a seminar on healing in the main hall of the Clarendon Centre in Brighton, UK. There was to be no gentle start to Mobilise! How does a man full of the Holy Spirit teach on healing? He spends 40 minutes praying for the sick and seeing testimony after testimony of God’s healing power right here, right now – that’s how! There are no wise and persuasive words here (no offence Lex!) – this is a demonstration of the Spirit and of power!
Buzzing, we left the seminar for a short coffee break and rushed back in for some kicking worship led by Simon Brading. The Clarendon Centre rocked with praise as 1,000 young people let go of their inhibitions and let rip to the King!
Nothing, though, could have prepared us for what was to come. Most of us had heard of CJ Mahaney from friends, but many of us had not seen or heard him speak live. If two words could sum up what CJ said they are ‘the cross’. I’ve never heard someone speak so passionately and so profoundly on the importance and impact of the cross and of Jesus as our mediator.
The stark reality of my conflict with God before I knew Him came up and slapped me hard in the face. It didn’t matter if I’d grown up in a Christian family, if I’d gone through teenage rebellion or if I’d just come to Christ that week; without Christ I was alone, at war with God and in need of a mediator. We staggered out of the building dazed by the talk and blinded by the sun. There were so many thoughts racing through my brain; this was a talk I must listen to again. I feel like I have taken in only about 25% of what CJ has said.
One House
If Wednesday was about the cross, Thursday was about the house of God! As we sang and danced our way through several Xhosa worship songs, led by Evan Rogers from Cape Town, I was struck by the awesomeness of our King who makes all nations, tribes and cultures one through Himself. There is only one King and He is building only one house for Himself.
It was 7 July and as news of the London bombings filtered through, the impact of our King sank in even more. How urgent our message of peace through Christ is. We are not defined by skin colour, nationality, clothing, class or language. Joel Virgo passionately reminded us that we are called upon to build a house for God, as King David longed to and as Solomon, his son, ultimately did.
Our celebrations continued into the evening as we prayed our way around the world. Praise God that the gospel is being preached further and further into the nations and tribes of the world. The ever-increasing house of God will gather in all the peoples of the earth. Hallelujah!
One Call
Friday may have been only half a day, but it was most certainly not half measure! Mobilise sparked into life again with Simon Brading’s inspired worship leading and with several prophetic words.
All excited by the worship, we squeezed onto one of the benches to hear Sibs Sibanda from Zimbabwe. With more drama than an episode of Neighbours, and brilliant humour, Sibs confronted us with the stark reality of going home. What are we going to do with what God has spoken to us about this week in Brighton? It was a cry for us students and twenties to take hold of the one call, to make ourselves available to the one King. God asks of us nothing more and nothing less.
Mobilise is such a fantastic opportunity for many people to make friends and renew old friendships. With so many meals and breaks it’s great to catch up with what God is doing around the world. But Mobilise ’05 for me was not all about cappuccinos, noodle bars and the historic Lanes of Brighton. No, for me, Mobilise ’05 will always be about the one cross, the one house and the one call. |
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