Will We Die for Our Religion or for Our Devotion?

You’ve probably never heard of David Platt. I hadn’t either until our son Nick told me about this amazing pastor at this amazing church he attends in Birmingham called the Church at Brook Hills. After listening to several podcast sermons, I got a good idea why Nick likes the church so much. And now Christianity Today Online has published an interview with David Platt called The Word Does the Work. It turns out that though he is only 30 years old, he preaches to a congregation of several thousand every Sunday. Nick has attended a very unique program at Brook Hills called Secret Church that is essentially a 6-7 hour service with preaching interspersed with prayer for the persecuted church. Secret Church has become so popular that 2500 people pay $5 for a ticket to attend the service.

In June David Platt preached at the Southern Baptist Pastors Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. In this 35 minute sermon he asks one piercing question–"Will we die for our religion or for our devotion?” I found myself deeply challenged, especially by the end of his message where he says something like, “God doesn’t need us. We could all disappear, and he would still get glory for himself. The whole Southern Baptist Convention could blow away like dust, and he would still get glory for himself." 

This is great preaching by one of the outstanding young pastors of America. I think we’ll hear more from David Platt in the days to come.