David Platt Vows to Continue Preaching Ministry While President of SBC's International Mission Board
Even in his new role as the International Mission Board President for the Southern Baptist Convention, David Platt vowed to continue his preaching ministry by means of a new podcast he launched Monday.
Although his new role will take a lot of his time and attention, Platt said, "I don't have any desire to stop preaching." The Alabama pastor told listeners that he loves studying and teaching the Bible and wants to continue to encourage others through God's word.
Platt plans to continue his preaching ministry with a new podcast called Radical Together. He made it clear in his first broadcast that the focus of his talks will be missionary work and why it is for the entire church, not just for a select few people.
"I want to be a part of a church that together sees the concept of unreached people as totally intolerable to us," expressed Platt.
The International Mission Board is an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest evangelical denomination, claiming more than 40,000 churches with nearly 16 million members. The IMB is the largest missions agency of its kind, according to officials.
Platt said his transition from senior pastor of The Church at Brook Hills to IMB leader "has been challenging on a number of levels." He admitted that one of those challenges is his preaching and teaching role at Brook Hills. Platt is still on staff at the Birmingham church, however he is no longer preaching on a weekly basis.
He described "In addition to simply missing shepherding the brothers and sisters called The Church at Brook Hills whom I love, I knew that one of the greatest challenges would be stepping out of a regular pattern of pastoral preaching."
Since taking over from past IMB president Tom Eliff, Platt has addressed trustees, held a press conference with Baptist media representatives, met with mission workers working in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe at a strategy conference held overseas and spoke at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission's Tennessee conference last month.
For now Platt said his podcast will occur every other week and slowly increase in frequency. His free podcast can be found on iTunes. Audio files from the podcast will be archived on his Radical.net webpage.