Multiply Disciples

David Platt and Francis Chan have released some new material for discipleship that appears to be really good.  It's an organic movement designed to give some material to regular people to study the word of God together and replicate discipleship.  Check out the website and some of the material.  I'm looking for some ways to plug this material in our context at SSBC.

What Is the Multiply Material? from Multiply on Vimeo.

Book Review - Radical Together by David Platt

I was extremely excited a few weeks ago to receive an invitation to review David Platt's new book Radical Together.  I was profoundly challenged by his first book Radical and the challenges it presented.  I recommended Radical to several people in my church who were deeply moved by it.  Four families were so moved by it that the men helped form our first mission team to an unreached people group in West Africa.

Platt's new book is taking the message of Radical to a new level.  He says that his purpose for writing this edition is "to consider what happens-or what can happen-when we apply the revolutionary claims and commands of Christ to our communities of faith."  This book may actually be more important than its predecessor.  One or two radical believers in a church are not much of a danger to the kingdom of darkness.  An entire church of believers that are centered around joining together to take the word of God and the glory of God to every person on the planet is a serious threat.  Platt's book inspires church leaders and radical Christians to do just that.

This book may be one of the most important books written and will hopefully shape the landscape of church culture.  In previous years, much of what was written on church leadership focused on how to develop and prepare your church for growth.  Success was measured by attendance figures and auditoriums.  It played right into the hands of a baby-boomer culture where "bigger is better" and marginal Christians wanted a church with all the bells and whistles.  Platt is tapping into the heart of the next generation.  No longer is the measure of success for a church going to be its seating capacity, but its sending capacity.  While Platt pastors a mega-church, he appears genuine that he is more concerned with his members being obedient to the Great Commission in his local context and globally to unreached people groups than he is that they enjoy the perks of a large auditorium and the latest high-tech audio/visual gadgetry.

Radical Together is deeply theological while at the same time very readable.  Platt is a master of biblical exposition and drawing its implications into understandable principles.  He also shows his mastery of language by creating dozens of memorable statements that sound much like what he shares in his sermons.  The reader is drawn into a biblical gospel that measured more by self-denial than self-fulfillment.  He is inspired to become a devoted student of God's word and a disciple-maker in his culture.  Platt also makes no bones that building a biblical church is hard work that requires us to be radically faithful to God's commands in Scripture.  This book will shape the ecclesiology of hundreds of thousands of average church members for the better in the months and years to come.  I hope and pray that every member of my church will pick up and read Radical Together this year and begin a dialogue of what we are going to do to make disciples wherever we are and wherever God calls us to go.

This book was provided for review free of charge by Waterbrook Multinomah Publishers.  

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. 

State of the Gospel in the South

This is a short video of David Platt on his view of the state of the gospel in the South. This is a promo of an conference next week in Durham, S.C. I really wish I was going here, but schedule would not allow.

Advance 2010 - What is the state of the church today? from Vintage21 Church on Vimeo.