Thinking Out Loud: Mobbed for Jesus?
Opinion: The latest television show to hit the airway is Mobbed. It is hosted by Howie Mandel and comes on the air following American Idol. Originally, the plan was for it to be a one-time program. Mobbed was so popular that the network immediately planned for seven additional episodes.
So what is Mobbed? Mobbed gets its premise from the phenomenon called a flash mob.
A flash mob is a group who assemble suddenly in a public place to perform an unusual and sometimes seemingly pointless act for a brief time. When flash mob is finished, the participants disperse. They are performed for purposes of entertainment or satire. If you missed the show, you can check it out at fox.com/mobbed.
When people gather in large groups for a singular purpose, something powerful happens. Remember Tiananmen Square, the Berlin Wall and the Civil Rights movement? These and other “mob’ events demonstrate the power and impact of people uniting for a cause and purpose. These can be and often are catalysts for justice, social change and other amazing results.
Believe it or not flashmobbing—I think I just made up a new word—can be found in the New Testament and the formative years of the Church: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
Shortly after Pentecost, the believers “mobbed” together to worship, grow, serve and share. Their flashmobbing, fueled by God’s Holy Spirit, raised quite a few eyebrows. It changed their community, and in the long run, it changed the world. Lives were transformed! New believers were added to their numbers every day. Now, nearly 2,000 years later, we are still talking about their curious, compelling activities.
Last Resurrection Sunday (Easter) most churches experienced their own flashmob. The Church family that my family & I attend usually averages over three thousand every Sunday, but this Resurrection Lord’s Day we mobbed out with over five thousand with over forty baptisms. Stories are already being shared of the impact on these loved ones lives. Our goal was not that we might look good, but rather that God would receive all the glory! God gets all the glory when we live out what Jesus called the first and second commandment found in Matthew 22: 35-39, “One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”
As a church family, we’d like to continue to plan large-scale flashmobs just like what we experienced this last Easter, and this coming Lord’s Day is a golden opportunity to demonstrate another faith-flashmobbing. Then in our small groups we will experience a mini-flashmob encounter with the Lord and His word. If you are interested in flashmobbing on a regular basis and if you are not currently connected to a Christ-honoring, Bible believing church family with a mission to change the world by loving them as individuals one by one into the kingdom of God, then I encourage you to be brave, bold and adventuresome and find such a place.
A lot of people don’t understand that we (born again people) are preparing for the ultimate massive flashmobbing that will occur at the end of time! It’s called “Judgment Day!” We want to be ready! We would love for everyone to be ready to meet Jesus face to face! Let’s be involved with Jesus in flashmobbing!