CROSS exists 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 friendship with Jesus. A free simulcast took place on February 27. Watch videos from the event below.
Undaunted by the Darkness: Invincible Joy for the Sake of the Nations
John Piper opens CROSS 2015 with a clarion call for Christians to love unreached peoples by sharing with them the hope of the joy of everlasting friendship with Jesus. This joy, Piper asserts, is the motivation and end of death defying missions. This joy is the light that pierces and penetrates the darkness that plagues unreached peoples and motivates them to other mighty movements for Christ.
Don’t Mortgage the Mission
Thabiti Anyabwile delves into the biggest decisions students, especially those headed to the missions field, are considering: debt, marriage, professions, and how to faithfully honor one’s parents. Exhorting listeners with anecdotal testimonies of grace from his own life, and bolstering those with the wisdom of Proverbs and other Scriptures, Anyabwile offers pertinent counsel for potential missionaries here at home who hope to go the field there among unreached peoples.
People are Inadequate. “But God…”
Emcee of CROSS 2013 and 2015, Isaac Adams shared a spoken-word poetry piece reflecting on the inadequacy of humans in light of the full, omnipotent sufficiency of God — most wondrously displayed in Christians’ salvation through Christ. Walking through the Bible to show how God has been pleased to use the foolish and the weak, Adams exhorts missionaries to remember that Christians walk by faith, not by fruit. God’s people are not mighty, “but God” is!
Who On Earth Are We Talking About? Naming the Unreached and Unengaged
Thabiti Anyabwile, John Piper, Mack Stiles, Kevin DeYoung, and David Platt discuss and break down the common terms often used in the context of missions. What is a “missionary?” What specifically are “unreached people groups?”
Undaunted by Resistance: Sustaining Missionary Zeal for the Sake of the Nations
To close CROSS 2015, David Platt reflects on his journey through the Himalayan mountains and the unreached people groups there, who challenged and convicted him to see the darkness blinding unreached peoples to the glory of Christ. Platt, with zeal and passion, exhorts Christians to plunge into this darkness empowered by the Spirit, not their own strength, full abandoned to the purposes of God.
The Need in South Asia
South Asia is an area of the world with one of the highest densities of unreached people groups. The economic poverty is horrific there, and the gospel poverty is near unspeakable. This area is in desperate need of a flood of faithful Christians who will help build Christ’s church there. Would you join us in praying that workers would be raised up from CROSS to this end?
Putting the Spread of the Gospel at Risk One Click At a Time
Kevin DeYoung provides a stinging yet graceful meditation on the dangers of the plague of pornography besetting so many young Christian men and women. Looking at the prophet Ezekiel’s ministry to the nation of Israel, DeYoung reminds listeners why their personal holiness is massively relevant to the happiness of the nations. There is at least one thing we can all do to help the spread of the gospel among the nations, DeYoung says, “put away the porn.”
Clever Missionaries Need Not Apply
Mack Stiles, a veteran missionary, walks through seven different aspects of modern missionary service that showcase how too many missionaries’ today are more devoted to cleverness, not faithfulness. He lays out the basic gospel message and reminds us why that is the power of God unto salvation. The gospel, not our wit, is what unreached peoples of the world need.
