Hanging In Orlando

It’s day 2 here at the SBC in Orlando.  It was a blessed time last night at the opening.  We were blessed to hear from David Uth, Steve Gaines, and Ravi Zacharias.  Uth is the pastor of FBC Orlando.  We went to church there yesterday morning and were tremendously blessed.  David morning sermon was a challenging and affirming message from Acts 27 reminding us that God has planned a time of shipwreck and crisis in our ministry but has also promised us that if we stay on the ship, we will make it.  His evening message was a powerful reminder that we are in the business of changing lives.

Gaines is the pastor at Bellevue in Memphis.  He shucked the corn.  His message was from Revelation 3 and the church at Sardis about a dying church that thought it was alive.  It was a powerful reminder of our accountability to the Lord Jesus as church leaders.  Ravi Zaharias is probably one of the smartest men I have ever heard.  He is a brilliant apologist.  His message was an overview of the life of Joseph in Genesis.  He reminded us of the need to be firm in the midst of temptations and have peace in the midst of our pain.  God has given Zacharias a powerful platform to defend the faith in some of the most challenging places on earth.  The evening was closed by Tony Evans.  However, my party and I were ready to get home and get something to eat so I missed it.

This morning, I got to hear from Matt Chandler and C.J. Mahaney.  I am extremely grateful to God for raising up these two men and the impact they have had on me in recent years.  Matt did a powerful job reminding us of the dangers of boiling our preaching down to sin management and neglecting the power of the gospel.  C.J. preached an affirming message from 1 Peter 5 reminding us that our task is to engage in the work of ministry with joy, eagerness, and gladness and to try to avoid the ministry crushers that we face every day.

Break for lunch now...very unhealthy Chili Cheese Dog and Fries.  No wonder I weigh 235 lbs.

Great thoughts from Rick Burgess

I am extremely thankful for Rick Burgess and Bubba Bussey and the stand they take for Christ on their public radio show.  These guys are real.  I am also thankful for Rick's stance this morning on this proclamation by President Obama.  Rick does a great job presenting the gospel without belittling anyone for their lifestyle.  I pray God will bring up more men with the boldness and passion of men like these.

Radical (A Book Review)

I just finished the book Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream by David Platt.  I have had the privilege of being familiar with David Platt's ministry for several years now when I recently served in the same are as him.  He is the pastor of The Church of Brook Hills in Birmingham.  TCABH is a large, contemporary congregation in an affluent area and had a growing ministry before Dr. Platt's arrival as Senior Pastor.  However, Platt has turned this church upside-down for the gospel.  I have several friends who have been active and affiliated with TCABH for several years that speak personally of the dramatic and powerful challenges that Dr. Platt has issued.

David Platt is a guy who fully practices what he preaches.  Before coming to Brook Hills, Platt was personally walking a "radical" faith and being used of God to reach the nations.  Platt has been on many mission endeavors to some of the riskiest areas of the world.  His successful program Secret Church was borne out of his experiences with the underground church in China.  He writes often in the book about experiences in Indonesia, Africa, and other remote places.  In addition, Platt and his wife have adopted children to further exhibit the gospel to the world. 

I was excited to hear that Platt was going to be publishing a book and not surprised at all by its title or content.  I was challenged by some friends to listen to some of the sermons from last year and earlier this year that this book was bourne out of.  Platt's preaching style is honest, passionate, rooted in Scripture, deeply theological and missional.  His writing mirrors his preaching.  Radical is a piercing book.  It forces the reader to confront the idolatry, materialism, and shallow gospel that has plagued the American brand of Christianity for far too long.  Put simply, the church most exemplified in America has become fat and lazy.  We have fed too long on a diet of shallow, sugar-coated sermons about having our best life now and have actually grown to love and excuse our wasteful extravagence with pious christianeze.  Platt's book is another is a growing line of books that call the church back to biblical discipleship where Christ is valued above any treasure or earthly relationship.  I am thankful for books like Francis Chan's Crazy Love, John MacArthur's The Gospel According to Jesus and The Jesus You Can't Ignore, John Piper's God is the Gospel and Let the Nations Be Glad, and John Stott's The Living Church.  Platt's book will challenge you, disturb you, and ultimately break you.  One thing for sure is that you will not leave just saying "That was a good book" but doing nothing about it.

The best thing about Radical is that is not just a theoretical book.  It is a book bourne out of the hard preaching and life-changing ministry occuring at Platt's church.  It is filled with stories of members of this church who have seen and experienced God calling them to a radically new level of obedience and faith.  Platt has issued The Radical Experiment to his church in 2010 and thousands have embraced and are following it.  TCABH will send out hundreds of people this year to mission endeavors around the globe.  Several families of the church are selling their affluent houses and moving into the city of Birmingham to impact the city.  This is more than a book, it is a clarion call to a deeper discipleship and obedience to impact the nations for Christ.  This book will be required reading at my church soon.  I urge you to pick up a copy of Radical soon.  Better still, don't pick up a copy unless you are ready to have your world shaken and forced to an immediate decision of whether you truly will follow Jesus or not.