Radical by David Platt

[TimLA]

To the people that are pointing that the book is not radical that he is pointing out the obvious, the problem is that the obvious is no longer obvious. We do live in a country where we have gone way beyond being comfortable. The poor people in this country live like kings compared to much of the world.

To the people who say that he is worried about the world but not the lost here at home. He spent a good bit of time in that book talking about the ministry he started in the French Quarter while living in New Orleans. I came away with the impression that we were to be regularly serving our local community. He did call for mission trips but that would be a few weeks a years? He was not calling for us to rest the rest of the year.

I was at the Multiply Conference at Platt’s Church in Birmingham. He spoke and Chan spoke. Chan started the evening on his face in tears begging for God to forgive him for not furthering the cause of Christ as he should. He admitted to being afraid, timid and just lazy. I am a skeptic and I can tell you I believe that he was 100% sincere. There is a lot more to Chan’s story then downsizing his house. I am a bit of a fan so I may be bias but I think he and Platt are sincere and have a heart for spreading the Gospel.

I personally feel that they were trying to point out that there are people who live in 5000 Square foot houses for a family of 3, have 2 luxury cars, spend tens of thousands of dollars to take multiple vacations a year, spend more money on one outfit then families all over the world have to live on for a month and yet these same people confess Christ as their Lord and do little or nothing to reach the lost in their communities or abroad. The excess in itself is not what he is calling out. He is pointing out that they have the means to reach many for Christ but yet their reach only extends as far as their ten thousand dollar watch.

As a person who does not have the means to do much of what he was talking about, I did not feel attacked. I did make me think more about how I spend what resources that I do have but what is wrong with that? I really enjoyed the book. I passed it to my mother. She enjoyed it and will pass it to someone else. Like I said before, I regularly read and listen to both Chan and Platt so I may be bias but I truly feel as if they are trying to encourage the Church to purse the Great Commission both near and far. I also highly recommend “Multiply” by Chan.