My initial response: WOW. Wow at what was preached. Wow at my brothers and sisters in Christ who came to worship, learn, and respond. Wow at the plethora of ministries and resources available to us. WOW at the things God put on my heart this week.
For those who have never been or heard, CROSS is a four day conference organized by the IMB to expose college students to the need and call for missions and to provide the needed agencies and resources for that. Their mission statement is this: “to mobilize students for the most dangerous and loving cause in the universe: rescuing people from eternal suffering and bringing them into the everlasting joy of knowing and worshipping Jesus.” It involves beautiful worship, intense group Bible studies, and intimate break out sessions. Everyone, whether you have already felt that call or not, leaves with a jittery craving to GO.
CROSS puts a lot of heavy emphasis on the 6,817 unreached people groups in the world, many of which don’t even have a Bible in their language. This news completely broke my heart for those people. We were preached to with urgency because as Thabiti Anyabwile said, “Hell is real. Time is short. Jesus is worthy.”
In each main session we dove deep in the Word to explore our call to missions and our role in missions whether we are senders or goers. I loved learning about the role of the local church in missions, that it should be in partnership with missionaries and should be active in teaching, equipping, and supporting missionaries in order to send them. Honestly, every session was fantastic. They each brought to the surface things in scripture that are too often looked over.
The breakout sessions were great, too. I had the pleasure of being with Afshin Ziafat in his sessions “Honor Thy Father and Mother” and “Reaching Muslims for Christ”, both of which totally pertain to my life of being a mission-called believer in college. I also studied with David Platt in his session “Reaching the World Through Global Cities” and all I can say is I need to be more fired up about living in such a thriving port city and attending an internationally-recognized university!
My response to CROSS is this: I WILL GO. I do not know when, where or how. I do know that I will go when God says so, where God sends me, and how He tells me to do so. Conrad Mbewe said, “If He, who is infinitely high, could sink this low and pay the price for sinners, who am I to hang on to my earthly comforts?” The great commission is for every believer; though we are not all called to pack up and move to another country, we are all meant to be living on mission wherever we are. Elias Medeiros instructed us to not waste our geography and I think that is SO important. In my time of waiting for God to send me I will not grow idle; I intend to explore the gospel, live the gospel, and share the gospel wherever I am.
CROSS Conference was one of the most amazing and awakening experiences I have ever had. I left feeling renewed and recharged in my mission to share Jesus with the world. There are over 2.9 billion people in the world who have never heard of my Jesus and I am going to do something about it! As John Piper said, “There is no better reason to lose your life and no greater way to live it.”
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20
If you are wanting to see what all the hype is about, go to crossforthenations.org to check out videos of the main sessions from #CROSS2016!
