Most everyone has seen or heard about the Oprah flash mob dance video. The video features the Black Eyed Peas singing "I Gotta Feeling..." in front of a live crowd on Chicago's "Miracle Mile". It was part of Orah's launch to her 24th TV season in September 2009. If you haven't seen the video yet, check it out below before reading on.Disclaimer: let me say up front that by using this clip in this post, I am not endorsing Oprah's show, nor am I condemning her or her views. Simply put, I don't watch her show or follow her career. This video is used here as an illustration.
One solitary dancer who initially seems to be alone in her joyful abandoned enthusiasm, is joined by a handful of others, and it multiplies like a rip tide throughout the crowd until 20,000 people are dancing the same choreography in unison. It's an impressive site, isn't it?
Even if you don't like Oprah or the BEP's, you can't help but wonder, How did they stage this event?
This didn't just "happen" minutes before the show. It took months and months of preparation. Here's the amazing thing, the choreography training started off with only 20 people. Then those 20 people trained 800 more people, and those 800 people trained even more until there were 20,000 dancers. Amazing!
This video demonstrates the influence of the small through the power of multiplication. All the great movements of recorded history, whether religious or non-religious, started with just a few people sharing a common vision, passion, and the courage to act. In most cases, they didn't set out to change the world, just their sphere of influence.
I used to work for an inner-city development mission in Detroit that was honored with a "Point of Light Award" by then President George H. W. Bush. We had a saying in that organization, "How do you change a city...? One block at a time..." The work of this organization changed the city's worst drug infested neighborhood by starting a revolution that spread person to person, house to house, block by block, until the drug lords and gangs were driven out. By doing so, it became a beautiful revolution that reclaimed a desirable neighborhood.
Greg Boyd wrote, "What Jesus was about was starting a revolution. He called this revolution 'the Kingdom of God'... manifesting the beauty of God's character and thus revolting against everything that is inconsistent with this beauty." Boyd calls this a beautiful revolution.
"So you see, the Kingdom has nothing to do with religion... It's rather about following the example of Jesus, manifesting the beauty of God's reign while revolting against all that is ugly."
This Cross becomes the paradigm for the revolution of sacrificial living, even suffering for others. That kind of life involves even revolting against society and traditions - everything that keeps us apathetic and narcissistic.
Erwin McManus wrote, "Anyone who can picture Jesus as the great Advocate of tradition is doing some serious doctoring of biblical history. Jesus was anything but the poster child for status quo. With a band of brothers and a small community of others, Jesus instigated an uprising that He expected to reach the very ends of the earth. You must never forget that it was only to a handful of individuals that Jesus entrusted an outcome that would make disciples of all the nations of the earth. The uprising was to transcend culture, ethnicity, race, religion, status - every and any divide established by men."
Every great revolution needs a revolutionary. Where does the revolution need to take place in your world? In your youth group? Your church? School? Neighborhood? City? It just takes one to start.
The following flash mob video illustrates this even more beautifully than Oprah's staged event, because this one is real and spontaneous. Watch it through till the end. It starts with only one...
Facebook and RSS readers, this is a post from my blog containing two videos. Click here to view the clips.
HT to Kevin






