A timely word.
Hear and heed.
A timely word.
Hear and heed.
Dr. David Platt is deeply devoted to Christ and His Word. David’s first love in ministry is disciple-making—the simple biblical model of multiplying the gospel by sharing the love of Christ, showing the life of Christ, and teaching the Word of Christ in all nations. He has traveled extensively to teach the Bible and church leaders throughout the United States and around the world. Atlanta natives, he and his wife, Heather, made their home in New Orleans until they were displaced by flooding following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The Lord led them to Birmingham the following year, where they have served The Church at Brook Hills since 2006. David has just accepted the position of President to the International Mission Board, beginning in a few weeks.
A life-long learner, David has earned two undergraduate and three advanced degrees. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism (A.B.J.) from the University of Georgia, and a Master of Divinity (M.Div.), Master of Theology (Th.M.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He has previously served at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary as Dean of Chapel and Assistant Professor of Expository Preaching and Apologetics, and as Staff Evangelist at Edgewater Baptist Church in New Orleans. He has authored several books, Radical – Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream, Radical Together – Unleashing the People of God for the Purpose of God, and Follow Me: A Call to Die, A Call to Live. David recently founded Radical, a resource ministry, dedicated to serving the church by making disciples of all nations.
David holds a deep and abiding passion for global disciple-making. “I believe that God has uniquely created every one of His people to impact the world. Some may count it as idealistic, but I believe it is thoroughly biblical, rooted in Psalm 67:1-2, yet covering Scripture from beginning to end. God is in the business of blessing His people so that His ways and His salvation might be made known among all people.”
David practices what he preaches through his travel nationally and internationally, teaching from God’s Word in churches, seminaries, the underground church or even under a shade tree in Africa or Latin America.
David and his wife, Heather, live in Birmingham with their four children.
How has Platt influenced me? Simple. Another young guy, pastor, theologian, author, massively into gospel risk for the sake of Christ’s fame among the hard to reach nations? How could I not like this guy should be the more appropriate question. He is John Piper in a 35 year old body. Bottom line: this guy rocks.
His book “Radical” was a best seller and the reason was simple, a call back to normal Christianity and away from American Christianity. Though the book is called “Radical” he says all over the place that this is what should be normal for all Christians. The reason it seems “radical” is because we’re so steeped in American culture. Such good stuff.
This past week a movie came out called “Heaven is for Real.” What are we to think about such things? Thank you to Justin Taylor for putting together a nice blog post on his Gospel Coalition blog, here it is below:
David Platt on the movie “Heaven is for Real”
Here is the MacArthur book that Platt is quoting from: The Glory of Heaven: The Truth about Heaven, Angels, and Eternal Life (2nd edition, Crossway, 2013).
In this podcast, John Piper argues against such books from Isaiah 8:19 (And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?)
God’s beef with necromancy is that it belittles the sufficiency of his communication. Why would you inquire of the dead to find out what you want to know instead of inquiring of me? And if they say: Well, I have inquired of you and you didn’t tell me what I want to know. He would say: Well, that is your problem. I have told you what you need to know. You don’t need to know about such and such if I haven’t told you. And, in fact, if you go trying to inquire about such and such that I haven’t told you, you are dishonoring me. So that is the nature of the argument. And, therefore, I think the prohibition of séances and necromancy applies to this kind of thing and people ought to stop writing those books.
David Platt on the dangers of the “sinner’s prayer”:
So how does he train people to lead others to Christ? Here is what he teaches his people: