New York Times Best Selling author David Platt is stirred up about the topics that matter to him most, reaching the world for Jesus along with his family’s passion for adoption. Platt, who is also pastor of McClean Bible Church, is clear that his ministry and life are all out of the overflow that he is experiencing with his time with Jesus and being part of His local church. “My book Radical came from the overflow of what God was doing in our local church at that time.” In a sit-down interview with Crosswalk, Platt clarifies that Christ’s followers need to be focused on reaching the world with the Gospel Message.
Crosswalk Headlines: You recently wrote an op-ed piece for another publication on the need for followers of Christ to focus on sharing the gospel. Where did the passion to write that op-ed come from?
David Platt: I don’t know exactly where I was. It’s the overflow of what God is doing around the world that I’m getting to see. It’s awesome how we can lock arms with our brothers and sisters worldwide and the picture of the church today to spread the gospel.
CWH: You live and do ministry in a part of the country that many would call post-Christian. What is that like?
Platt: There’s no question that living in and pastoring in metro Washington DC, has shaped me in the sense of the picture of the church here; our church family has people from a hundred different countries in it. To see the body of Christ represented around the world in our local church, but then too, in an increasingly secular culture, to say, how can we faithfully spread the gospel, make Jesus known in this city and among the nations in this city? There are opportunities to reach the nations with the gospel just in metro Washington, DC. Obviously, it’s different in different places, but God’s brought the nations to us. We definitely live in a culture where the trend lines have shown a decreasing influence of the gospel in the next generation. But praise God, the Holy Spirit in us is not held captive to trend lines and can totally reverse those and change those when we as the church step up in obedience to him, in sensitivity to him, and in his power to proclaim the gospel, spread the love of Jesus, where we live and among the nations in ways far beyond what we could ask or imagine.
CWH: 86% of most Christians do not know someone who’s Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist.
Platt: I think we need to intentionally act; we will never accidentally reach people with the gospel. This must be intentional and specific when it comes to reaching the nations with the gospel, starting right where we live. Each of us needs to take inventory in our lives and ask, who do I know who’s very different from me? and that could be on a variety of different levels; how can I intentionally share the gospel with them, and what would that look like? I think when we’re asking those questions, God’s going to open our eyes to the opportunities that are there for us, but that must be intentional in us.
CWH: When you sat down to write the book Radical, did you think it would be a New York Times best-selling book?
Platt: Writing that book was the overflow of personal conviction in my own life. I didn’t know it would be a New York Times best-selling book. I was on a personal journey that I then led our church through just to say, are we really following Jesus? I was pastoring a large church, but was I dying to myself? No. I think I was doing a lot to kind of, live for myself. Heaven and hell depend on people hearing and believing the gospel. I began to preach the overflow of that personal conviction in my life and the church. It was a self-published book we used to give away to church members and visitors; then, it landed in the hands of a publisher. I honestly thought that just my mom would buy the book.
CWH: You’ve changed roles at the church and become one of the lead pastors. How are you enjoying that?
Platt: I strongly believe in a plurality of leadership in the local church period. Michael Kelsey and I serve together as lead pastors, and I’ve intentionally yielded a lot of leadership. Michael’s the leader of us as the lead pastors. It’s really good for our church family, but it also frees me up to steward God’s grace in my own life when it comes to focusing on getting the gospel to people who never heard it when I lay my head on my pillow at night, what I dream about is people who have not heard the gospel, hearing the gospel.
Photo Credit: ©YouTube/Radical
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