Partnership — Stuart Briscoe

And I have the official task to welcome you to this banquet tonight. When I read that the first time in the program, I thought, what is this all about? And some people who know something about it told me, this is a thank you for all what you mean to Operation Mobilization.

Some of you as board members, others as friends, others as co-workers. And they have asked me to moderate this evening because I guess I'm an expert in eating. Because I believe that one of the nicest ways to express thanks is through food.

At the same time, have fellowship together. But one of the greatest tortures you can also give to someone is if you seat him at a nice table, prepared to eat, and then you have a lot of talk. So I don't want to fall into that trap tonight.

But I want to ask Daniel Gonzalez to come. He has been one of the first OMAs in Europe, and I ask him to come and to pray in the beautiful language of Spanish for this evening and for the meal as well.

Thank you for everything you have done for the advancement of the Gospel in this world. And we also thank you for this opportunity of the new changes, the new foundations you are putting in OM. We thank you because in the midst of all this we have your presence.

Thank you, Lord, also for these moments of fraternity.

In just a moment you are allowed to eat. But while you start eating, the Korean board wants to give you a present tonight. They have produced a beautiful memory of these days together. And there is one for every family.

So if you are married and your wife is not here, you can take one at home, home for her. From my funny accent you realize that English is not my mother tongue. I have been on the Logos and on the Dulos, and Logos 2 for about 14 years.

And I'm now retired. And when people retire in OM, they make them board members. So presently I am the chairman of the GBA board. And my name is Manfred Schaller. And now enjoy the food. Bon provecho.

Enjoy the fellowship. And thanks a lot to the board of Korea for producing this nice meal. The meal tonight reminds me of many receptions we have had on Logos, Dulos, Logos 2. And especially some of the openings that we have had.

Sometimes some very unfortunate things are said in these openings. I remember it was in the Cape Verde Islands. And we had the president of the country on board as the guest of honor. And in the age of contextualization, I thought about something that we had in common.

And the only thing we had in common is that we had both very little hair. So I tried to make a joke about it. And I said, wherever there is hair, there can't be brain. And when I said this, and I tried, I thought I had made a joke.

The whole meeting was dead silent. And at the end of the meeting, someone came to me and said, you have really offended the president of our country. Because the translator translated, where there is no hair, there is also no brain.

I should better have said what one of our captains used to say in such occasions. God gave only a few people perfect heads, the rest he covered with hair.

He said, God gave only a few people perfect heads, the rest he covered with hair. I hope the meal was good for you and the community is happy. During this conference, something amazing happened.

The Origins and Name of Operation Mobilization

I would like to introduce you to this special thing in the history of OM. But to put that in a proper way, I want to ask George to come and tell, just in a few sentences, how the name of Operation Mobilization came into the viewpoint.

I think many of you have heard the story of our great failure in the Soviet Union in the summer of 1961. The work at that time was known as Send the Light. I got that from one of my favorite hymns, which eventually became very boring to me.

The work at that time was known as Send the Light. I got that from one of my favorite hymns, which eventually became very boring to me. I am glad that Roger Molsted is here. He was the one who took me to the Soviet Union.

Due to my own mistake against Roger's good advice, we ended up arrested by the KGB and American spies in the Soviet Union. Big newspaper publicity, by the way. They're in a town called Rovno, and it's amazing our team recently was working in Rovno.

They confiscated everything we had. Almost everything. I think they left our clothes. After two more days, decided we were religious fanatics and gave us a submachine gun escort back to Austria. A lot of things had been in my mind all during those days on how we could reach Europe with the gospel.

But actually, our vision before that didn't even include Europe. It was only communists and Muslims. We weren't interested in places like Britain, where there are already so many churches. Forget it. As I often did in those days, I went for a day of prayer to seek the Lord about all this.

I think it was in the mountains in Austria or Germany. Maybe Roger remembers. It was down by the border. Roger, do stand up. People want to see who you are. Anyway, to make a long story short, I thought of all the people that had killed each other here in Europe.

Somewhere that name, mobilization, had come into my mind. Somewhere I had picked that up. I think it is a term that became popular in the war. And I thought, instead of a revolution of hate, we need a revolution of love.

That concept was at the heart of it. And then the idea to mobilize a lot of Europeans. The name came right after the idea. I was actually on the top of a tree then. It's one of the few places I could sing without bothering people.

The name came to me, Operation Mobilization. That's a well-known story. What people don't know is I went back to Madrid, Spain. I took a group of Spaniards out for a weekend of prayer to see if they believed this was from God and would join in this vision.

And one of those Spaniards is Brother Daniel Gonzalez, who my son is named after, who opened in prayer here tonight. Thirty-plus years later. That's amazing.

One young lady from Austria would like to make you a present with a condition. That you give it back to the team because they are still using this piece of equipment.

And we'd like to ask Roger to come up and join us. As legend has it on our team in Austria that serves Russia, this typewriter has been passed down as being from that time and that typewriter. And George, here is one of the little Gospels of Mark that was done after that time.

But this is now the kind of book that we'd like to do next. And to do this kind of book, we have progressed from this machine to needing something with 64 megabytes and one gigabyte. The Gospel is being mobilized to Russia.

And yes, we're still using this to tell the story of how O .M. got its name.

I'd like to know how you ever got it back from the KGB. Amen. Our mystery goes on. I just want to say one other thing while I have this chance. I just want to thank the Korean board and the Koreans for these lovely mementos they've given all of us.

Of course, the Koreans know me. I've been to Korea. And they know I'm much more into money than mementos. So with this memento, they also gave me a check for $4 ,000 to help with the expenses at Network 94.

Thanks a lot for all these things. We would like now to just have a short break. Don't leave the room. But I just want to invite the waiters to come and clear the tables so that we can continue our program in about five minutes.

Early Encounters with OM and Its Founding Boards

There's no question about my highlight. That was to appear in the alternative history of O .M., which Peter presented. Now, you'll notice that I didn't appear in the real history. That's because I'm a new boy in the work.

The heroes of the faith for me are men like Jack Rendell, my first field leader in Spain when I was just a child. But I did have some early contact with this movement. We have a large metropolis just outside Carlisle called Crofton.

And in 1962, an O .M. team came to Crofton led by Ron George. And they visited every home in the metropolis. And as they went from door to door, they graced the hills of Cumbria because they sang as they went from door to door.

A classical hymn they sang. It went like this. I will now give you a rendering. And I'm sure you'll follow Emmanuel in German. This is what they sang. Ringing doorbells, ringing doorbells for my Lord.

Wearing out my shoes, bearing God's good news. Ringing doorbells for my Lord. A classical hymn from the pen of Charles Wesley. They produced a prayer letter at the end of this summer campaign. The prayer letter spoke of 90 converts in this metropolis.

The problem was I knew every house in this metropolis. And the population of the village was and still is only 60. You can imagine that I avoided this organization for many years to come. But one reason I couldn't avoid O .M. was a man called Mr. Beckwith.

His son Keith was killed in an auto accident in Poland in 1965. His dad was a board member of O .M. for many, many years. And still lives in an old folks home up in Scotland. And I have the privilege of visiting him fairly regularly.

And Mr. Beckwith to me is one of the real heroes of the faith. A man who supported a young movement and many young, inexperienced people. In those days these men risked everything in human terms. In supporting O .M. in those days their houses, their capital was at risk.

We actually tonight have the great privilege of having some founder members of our very earliest boards with us. And I think it's a great privilege for us to meet them all tonight. Firstly we have Mr. George Verwer Sr.

Please come and join me George. When did you first get involved with this organization? What year? 1956. 1956. Ever regretted it? No. Praise the Lord, never regretted it. We also have with us Mr. Peter Vroon, also a founder member of the O .M. USA board.

Would you like to come and join me Peter? Yes. What is your first memory of George and Greena?

First memory of George was that the kid around the corner found the Lord last night. And we all got to know him because he was active in the neighborhood. He went around and visited a lot of people and telling people about the fact that he had found the Lord.

And he told us every so often about those who had taken the time to listen to him and made a decision for the Lord. And we praised God with him.

Has it ever given you any headaches at all being associated with O .M. or has it just been plain sailing for you? Nothing but headaches. We'd also like to welcome Isabel Vroon. Would you just stand Isabel?

The wives of our board members have quite a price to pay as well.

This is Isabel Vroon.

I would like to introduce Bill Dalley.

He is a member of the first association in the English board.

When I think of Bill I always think of one word. It's the word prayer. When did you first get involved Bill? George arrived at our very precise brethren assembly and he came with about eight others. And then he did a dreadful thing.

He says, do you mind if I pray in Spanish? I thought I'd be polite with him. I just said, I suppose you've fixed up for lunch, aren't you? And he says, no. So they came home for lunch and I was really blessed about it.

We were all blessed with them coming. It was new life to us. Just what we needed. It was marvellous really. The thing was then, he says, would you like to join the board? Well, when you're 50 and you're doing well in business and saving up for when you get old, and it was STL, not a limited company where you're safe.

Everything was in jeopardy. Young Americans, would you like to be on the board, you see? I said, well I'm very busy, you'll have to think about it for a bit. As I continued to pray for them, one thing came to my mind.

It would be better for me to go down than for OM to go down. So OM first. One of my greatest blessings. I praise God for OM. I can testify it's been OM first for Bill ever since. Alec Brackett, founder member two.

Is this correct? I believe it's correct of the OM UK board. Come and join us, Alec. I should just say that Bill is retired from the OM UK board, but he's still a member of the EBE board. Alec, you come from Lancashire?

Manchester, yes. Manchester, that's kind of the heartland of the history of OM.

Alec, you come from Manchester, that's kind of the heartland of the history of OM. Tell us something about those days. I remarked to the driver that the tyres looked a bit soft and maybe he ought to get them blown up a bit more.

So we called in at a garage and they were already blown up to two and a half times the proper pressure. We actually managed to get to Atherton with the whole load. No further events. And it was quite a pile of books we had in fact.

It took us the rest of the day to unload them. I think they were there for a couple of years and then suddenly one of the pubs in Bolton was converted. 86 Deansgate Bolton was the address for quite some time after that.

Thanks Alec. We're also delighted to have Sheila Brackett with us. Just stand Sheila and let's welcome Sheila. I have to say these men are a tremendous challenge to me. I often think they must have had absolutely no idea of what was ahead when they took that step.

But God has honoured their faith and their courage. And I have a real sense that we're at a critical moment in OM's history. And we need men and women of this generation with the faith and courage of these men.

To stand with us in the next stage of OM's development. So join me please in thanking God together for these men and their wives. Let's give thanks. Father we thank you for the privilege of having men and women who are tremendous examples to us.

We thank you for the faith and the courage you gave to these men and to their families. And thank you that you've honoured that faith and courage. And Lord as we sit around these tables we will pray, Lord increase our faith.

It's great Lord, it's good to look back and to give thanks. But we want to gaze forward too. And say Lord please help us to take OM into the next stage of its future for your glory. We give you our thanks in Jesus' name.

Amen. Now we do just have a very small memento for each of you. And George is going to come and present that.

Wow this is a high energy moment for I think most of us. And I think we realise for each one of these men there are many other board members that we would love to recognise in this way. And there are a number of them already in glory.

Like Mr. Gallenkamp, another man from my hometown. And these gifts that I'm presenting on behalf of the whole OM movement are just tiny, tiny tokens of appreciation for your years of service and loyalty.

And we just give God all the glory and all the praise. We know that these men and their wives haven't done all this work in order to get some little recognition from us human beings. But in fact we are human beings and it is good to do this kind of thing.

But I can't do it unless you hold the microphone. Mr. Dalley, a tremendous book, Valgrave must be behind this, about Manchester.

Amen. A book about Manchester for Mr. Dalley.

A book by Peter Maiden that I'm sure is going to produce a powerful gift.

A speaker was invited to a conference. And a lot of programme was before his speech. And time was going on. And the organiser got more and more nervous. And he went to the speaker. And he said, would you mind putting the main points of your message in the closing prayer?

We are not doing that to Stuart tonight. He has received many introductions this week. But there is one person who knows him the best. And I wanted to ask Jill and put her on the spot. I'm very sorry for that.

I'm actually not sorry. Just give five adjectives that describe Stuart. And then I want to invite Stuart to come and to speak to us. I'm being prompted here. Tall, dark, handsome, he says. Five. Only one word each time, huh?

Driven. Driven. Father. It's alright. Husband, grandfather. And lover of Jesus. Thank you very much. We've really appreciated both of you being here with us these days. And I want to ask you to come, Stuart, and speak.

The Body of Christ in Action

This has been a very special evening. And I will try very hard not to spoil it. I'm reminded of the speaker who was talking to a group of students on one occasion. And he said, I have so many things to say to you, I don't know where to begin.

And one of the students said, well, begin near the end. This meeting was supposed to finish 25 minutes ago. So we will be just a little late finishing. A lot will depend on how much I'm interrupted, of course.

All the interruptions come out of George's time to Mnoronite, not mine. I was in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I'm an Englishman living in America. And I miss football very much indeed. Whenever I think of Brazil, I think of football.

So I made inquiries, are there any football games here this weekend? They said, only one. Only one game in the whole of Brazil? They said, yes, it is the final of the championship. Where will it be played, I asked?

They said, down the end of the street. I said, is there tickets? Oh, they said, you really want to go? And I said, yes, of course I want to go. They said, well, we did have tickets, but we thought you'd want to have a meeting.

So I said, why do you think Jill is here? So the women had a meeting. And we had a meeting. It was a meeting between two first-class football teams. The center forward for Grêmio was called Balthazar.

Grêmio, Balthazar. I didn't want to spoil your... The right winger broke away with the ball. Balthazar started to run down the middle of the field. The ball was crossed very high. Running very quickly, Balthazar jumped high in the air.

He touched the ball with the top of his head. He flipped it down onto his chest. He bounced it onto his left thigh. He hit it with his right foot. It went straight into the goal. And Grêmio won the championship, one goal to nothing.

Why do I tell you that? Well, it seemed appropriate when I started to tell the story. But there's a second reason. I'm trying to remember now what the significance was. Can you think of an application?

I'm thinking. They told me to keep this talk light this evening. There really is a purpose to the story. This is a picture of a body in action. Think of all the different parts of that body that were at work.

Think of how all the parts knew what they were to do. The foot did not say, unless I can hit the ball, I won't play. And the left foot didn't say, because you are right-footed, I will not play. The eye knew exactly where the ball was coming.

The whole body was coordinated. And here's the good news. You are the body of Christ. And every one of you is a member in particular. And all of us have a part to play. Some are more prominent parts than others.

But all are absolutely necessary. There's a sense in which operation mobilization is an expression of the body of Christ. And I'd like to talk to you for a few minutes about that. What is a body for? About 20 years ago, we were going to build a new church.

The Purpose of the Body and the Church

The architect said that anybody in the church who had any ideas should let him know about them. Everybody had ideas. We worked out how much it would cost. And it came to $1 .75 billion. So we decided not to build that building.

But he asked me what I would like in the building. And I said three things. Number one, I would like the building circular. Number two, I'd like the pulpit in the geometric center of the building. And number three, I would like a gallery for the spirits.

No, no, no, a gallery for the spirits. A gallery for the spirits, yes. That's exactly what I wanted. And that is what I'm probably not translating very exactly. Well, that's all right. I like my interpreters to let me know when they've started giving their own talk.

I understand some German. Would you like to give your talk and I'll translate it into English? Okay, can we go on with this gallery for the spirits? Yeah. He said, I've never heard of a gallery for the spirits.

He said, it sounds like an interesting idea. But why do you want one? I said, it seems to me that all the cost in church buildings has to do with bodies. You have to heat and cool for bodies. You need light for bodies.

You need somewhere for the bodies to sit. It's so expensive. I can save us a lot of money. He said, how? With a gallery for the spirits. It would be very, very small. We don't need to heat it. We don't need to cool it.

The spirits never sit down. But he said, who would go there? I said, all the people who will tell me each week. Stuart, I'm sorry we can't be with you on Sunday, but we'll be with you in spirit. Stuart.

The architect looked at me, and this is what he said. He speaks American, which is a kind of English. He said, if you ain't there in your body, you ain't there. I went away, and I thought about that profound statement.

And I got the answer to my question. What is the purpose of a body? It is the means whereby a spiritual entity functions in a physical environment. And you are the body of Christ. Think of that for a minute.

Acts as the Continuing Work of Jesus

What is the purpose of OM? It is the physical means whereby a spiritual Christ moves in this world today. Do you remember how Dr. Luke started the Acts of the Apostles? He talked about the former book that he had written.

And he said it described all that Jesus began to do and teach. But you will remember how his book, the Gospel, finished. It finished with the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. And he called that Himmelfahrt.

And he called that all that Jesus began to do. Why did he say that? Because the Acts of the Apostles was about all that Jesus continued to do. In the Gospel, Jesus did it through His body. But in the Acts of the Apostles, He did it through His body.

What is the difference? Well, perhaps the difference was that He had a body like mine in the Gospels, but the body in the Acts was thousands of people all over the world. The only difference is that He did it through His own body.

I think the Gospels is Volume 1 of all that Jesus did. I think the Acts of the Apostles is Volume 2 of all that Jesus did. And I think the Acts of the Apostles is Volume 2 of all that Jesus did. I believe that OM is called to write Volume 3 of all that Jesus continues to do.

You are the body of Christ. But there's another thing about the body. The body has many different members. And all the members have a purpose. But many people have not discovered their purpose. I often talk to young Christians.

Discovering a Calling and Spiritual Gifts

I talk to them about their future. What do you want to be when you grow up, I ask them. I say, I assume that because you're a Christian, you've considered mission. They look rather surprised. And then they say, oh yes.

And what did you decide? Oh, I decided no. And why was that? Well, I haven't been called. Well, what exactly is a call? Well, I'm really not sure. Well, if you're not sure what it is, how do you know you haven't had one?

This is a common response in the evangelical church today. Let me tell you how I got my call to be a preacher. Do you mind if I give a personal word of testimony for a few moments? Nod your head if that's okay.

Shake your head if you don't want to hear it. Just hold it steady if you're asleep. I was up in the English Lake District. It was a beautiful day. I remember it well. It was the only beautiful day of my childhood.

I was sitting by a waterfall. The sound of the waterfall had almost a hypnotic effect upon me. I lay down beside it on this beautiful, beautiful day. I listened to the sound of the music. It seemed almost as if it was like organ music.

Then I sensed that I heard a voice in the music. The voice said, look up into the sky. I looked into the sky and the clouds were breaking up and the wind was blowing strongly. The clouds were breaking up and the wind was blowing strongly.

The voice said, look at the shape of the clouds. The clouds appeared in the shape of the continent. Would you ask these people to stop laughing while I give my testimony? I would try not to laugh when you give your testimony.

And will you stop laughing as well, please? May I wipe my brows? What appears to be laughing is actually serious. I will try to keep going. The voice said, you will preach on every continent. The voice said, you will preach on every continent.

I was in my early twenties and this was quite a challenge. How many of you believe that? God bless you, I see that hand. Is there another? God bless you, I see that hand. Alright, that is not what happened.

Let me explain why I told you that. Because some of you were laughing because you thought it was so silly and others of you were listening very carefully because you thought it was possible. And others were not sure what to do.

And that is a picture of the church when we talk about being called. We are not sure what we are looking for. We are not sure what to be doing. We do not know what our gifts are. Now I will tell you the real story.

I was seventeen years of age. I was standing at the back of a church. I had just moved to the town three weeks earlier. I was brought up in a very, very small church. How small was it? It was so small that my brother and I were the Sunday school until we grew up and became the youth group.

Peter, Peter, are you listening? Is this light enough? I was very excited about this new church. There were about twenty or thirty young people there. A man came up to me. I had never talked to him before.

How old are you, he said. I said, I am seventeen. He said, it is time you were preaching. I said, I cannot preach. Have you ever tried? No. Well, if you have never tried, how do you know you cannot do it?

I said, you will preach a week from Tuesday night, he said. And your subject is the church at Ephesus. At that point, I was not aware that they had a church in Ephesus. Are you alright? A very strange thing happened.

I started to study the church at Ephesus. There is a very important point here. Many people think you must motivate people and then mobilize them. I do not believe that. I believe you mobilize them and they get motivated.

That is what happened to me. I got motivated to study the church at Ephesus. The great day came. I stood up to preach. I took a deep breath. And I went through my first point. I dare not look at the clock.

I knew it would not have moved. But I knew I had to look. It had moved. It had gone five minutes past time. And I had two more points. I had listened to English preachers. You have to have three points.

I did not know what to do. But this is what I said. I am terribly sorry. I do not know how to stop. An old man was sitting on the back row. He gave me some very helpful advice. Shut up and sit down. Shut up and sit down.

The man who got me preaching came to me. You did not finish, he said. No. You will finish it next week. So I started a series on the church at Ephesus. And so I preached a series on the church at Ephesus.

He then came to me at the end of my series, which lasted two weeks. He said, there are a lot of little churches around here that do not have pastors. So I will arrange for you to go and preach. I said, what do I tell them?

He said, tell them about the church at Ephesus. So I went to these little churches and I found out why they had no pastors. They had no congregations. A very strange thing began to happen. I began to discover I could do it.

I discovered deep joy in doing it. I found people were helped when I did it. And I began to discover something. I discovered a gift. How do you discover your gifts? This is how you discover your gifts.

You see something that needs doing. If nobody else is doing it, you do it. One of two things will happen. You will do it well or you will do it badly. If you do it well, it's because you're gifted. If you do it badly, it's because you're not.

And something wonderful has happened. You've discovered your gift. Now everybody will have an interest in something. And wherever you look, there are needs. So you look at your area of interest and you volunteer to do something about an area of need and if you discover that you're any good at it, you've discovered your gift.

But what does that tell you? Well, look at it this way. God created you. God created you for a purpose. If God created you for a purpose, he created you capable of doing it. So what's the best way to discover his purpose?

Discover what you're capable of doing. And I'm convinced of this, that in the church there are thousands of people who need to discover what God has called them to do. And then they need to discover and they need to be prepared to do their part.

Why? Because you are the body of Christ and members in particular. One last thing about the body of Christ. I used to think that Christianity was just between Jesus and me. I thought it was just a case of Jesus and me.

Christian Life in Community

I thought Jesus had died for my sins so that I could go to heaven. Then somebody pointed out to me that Christianity is lived in community. And he began to explain to me why the community of believers is so important.

Let me explain why it's important. In the beginning, God created man. A little later, he created woman. When he created man, he created one thing. When he created woman, he created something very, very, very different.

You can interpret that exactly however you wish. Let me explain what I mean. When God created man, he created an individual. When God created woman, he created community. Then the fall came and individuals became alienated from God.

What else happened? Community began to come apart. Individuals have been fallen ever since and community has been coming apart ever since. Is God concerned about fallen individuals? The answer is yes.

What is his answer to the fallen individual? It is Christ. Is God concerned about fragmenting community? The answer is yes. What is his answer? It is the community of believers. A community of believers living as only a community of believers can live.

Our fallen individuals need Christ. Our fragmenting community needs the community of believers and you are the body of Christ. Where do we leave this this evening? We recognize that OM is a reflection of the body of Christ.

Partnership as the Mission of the Body of Christ

It is made up of different people all of whom know their place. People anxious to exercise their gifts. But it is also the body of Christ so that the life of Christ can be released in our geographical world.

But we are also the body of Christ to be an alternate community in the midst of fragmenting community. It is called partnership. We have the privilege not only of being related to Christ we have the great privilege of being related to each other.

Jill and I thank God for Operation Mobilization. And we are grateful for the privilege of having a very small part in the work. Thank you for listening.

Thank you very much Stuart. Let's just pray. Lord we thank you for Stuart, for Jill, for all those other brothers and sisters who have ministered to us during these days. And we commit them to you for their ministry in their church and beyond that in different parts of the world.

And I thank you Lord for this evening for this time of thinking back over the beginning of Operation Mobilization and what you have done for ordinary men and women. And we pray that you will continue to use this movement that you continue to use the partnership that we have heard about tonight that it may grow stronger that you help us when there are problems when there are tensions when there are difficulties to overcome them and to move forward so that thousands and millions of people in the days to come will hear the good news and be in heaven one day because of OM and because of the work that we all here in this room have put in.