(upbeat music) Today we talk with David Platt, who turns 40 years old in just a couple of weeks. And no one knows how to pack life into a few short years, like David Platt packs ministry into a few years. I just went back and looked at the last 12 years of his ministry, it's remarkable.

In 2006, at the age of 26, he became the lead pastor of the church at Brook Hills, named the youngest megachurch pastor in America at the time. There he launched Secret Church, which is an intensive Bible study that has become popular around the globe. In 2010, he published the New York Times bestseller, "Radical, Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream." He launched the online resource site radical.net about 10 years ago.

And in 2013, he helped launch the first Cross Conference, a very strategic missions conference. In 2014, after some significant experiences on the mission field, and seeing the desperation of the globally lost, he returned to the States and felt led to leave pastoral ministry to become the president of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board, a massive missionary ascending organization.

He moved to Virginia, and from what I hear, he brought significant change, not least of which was much needed financial reforms. Then in February of 2017, he returned to preaching, this time at McLean Bible Church, a DC area megachurch, officially becoming the church's teaching pastor in September of last year.

Initially, he aimed to do both, to preach and to lead the IMB, but early this year in February, he said it wasn't gonna work, and he intended to resign from the IMB once the SBC could find his replacement. We recently reached out to David to hear his heart for local churches and how he views the local church as home base in the advance of global missions.

It's a pattern he sees in the mission of Paul. - He's with those elders from the church at Ephesus, a love for the local church, a desire to preach the whole counsel of God in the local church, and that's coupled with a zeal, an ambition to see Christ preach where he's not been named.

And so I just came to the conclusion, okay, if I'm gonna preach as pastor in a local church and build up a local church in that way, then I need to find a different way to serve for the cause of global missions. So that's when I asked the trustees of the IMB to begin searching for a new president.

I'm still serving in both these roles now. Lord willing, we'll do so until a new president is found, at which time I wanna be supportive of that leader, the IMB, and then I'll continue serving as teaching pastor at McLean in DC, just shepherding that church to glorify God by making disciples and multiplying churches among the nations.

Okay, so I wanna do that faithfully in this local church and alongside the other elders and pastors there. And then I'm just exhilarated as I think about how through writing, preaching, leading radical the ministry, which is intended to serve other churches on mission and other avenues the Lord might open up.

I wanna leverage my life as a pastor for the spread of God's glory among the nations. I actually have a conviction. I've said this throughout my time in the IMB that pastors of local churches possess responsibility for global missions. And George Pentecost said 100 years ago to the pastor belongs the privilege and responsibility of the missionary problem.

And basically what he was saying is mission organizations can and should do what they will to organize, but facilitate mission in different ways. But it's the responsibility and the privilege of every pastor to fan a flame for God's global glory in the local church. And I just think when pastors are shepherding local churches for God's global glory, it changes everything.

And I was in Psalm 96 this morning. This is not just for missionaries. Like declare His glory among the nations as marvelous deeds among all the peoples and praying for the Eritrean Tigray people, like over a million of them, 0.05% know and believe the gospel. Most have never heard.

Like we as pastors must shepherd churches to change that. So I wanna do that personally and then encourage churches to be a part of changing that reality. - Yeah, that's so good. So you turn 40 years old in a couple of weeks. Congratulations on that. Offer us some midlife reflections on being roughly halfway home, Lord willing.

As you look back, what would you say are your biggest regrets? And as you look forward, what would you say are your biggest future hopes ahead? - Wow, that's a sobering question. You know, when I think about it, one, I don't presume, obviously, I know you know this, but I'm halfway home.

Like I've made it this far by God's grace. I don't presume upon tomorrow. So I wanna make the most of today. And that's it. I have, especially in light of just some transition ministry-wise that you referenced, I found myself praying just in a fresh way that I praise God.

When I look back at the last 40 years, like what a picture of grace in my life. Like I would not be having this conversation with you right now if the Lord has not been so gracious when he asked about my regrets and my bigotry. Regret is just my pride, my seemingly relentless focus on myself.

I'm just the most prideful person I know. And I shudder to think where I would be without God saving me from myself time and time and time again. So I find myself looking to the future and it's like, Lord, please keep saving me from myself. So I've prayed though in that, that all that by God's grace I've had an opportunity to be a part of in these past years would only be a precursor of what is to come.

Like when I think about my dreams, looking toward the future, sometimes people ask like, are you less radical than you were writing about however many years ago? I wanna be more radical. It's interesting, a little background behind even the name of that, the title of that book, it came from a conversation I was having with Brother Andrew.

So God smuggler, smuggling Bibles and all of his life going into hard places around the world. I was on a phone call with him one day when I was in the process of writing this book and I asked him, so I can't remember how old he was at that point, but pretty advanced in years.

And I asked him, I said, Brother Andrew, if you had to do it all over again, what would you do? And what would you change? And he said, without hesitation, he said, I'd be more radical. He said, not radical for the sake of being radical, but radical for the sake of the gospel.

And I think like that's my art. Like I don't wanna be radical for the sake of being radical, whatever that means. Like I want to be absolutely committed for the sake of the gospel to making Christ and his glory known in the world. So I wanna love God with all my heart, my soul, my mind, my strength in the days to come.

I think I love him more today than I ever have. And I just want that to continue to be the case. Obviously I wanna love my family well. I look at my wife and my kids. I wanna, I'm in Deuteronomy right now, in my time with the Lord. I just wanna pass the word and works of God down to the next generation and their kids.

I wanna love the church well. I am so thankful for the stewardship. It's overwhelming that just the stewardship of pastoral ministry. I wanna love, lead this church well and leverage my life for the spread of the gospel to the nations and all of that. Like I would say a big theme in my prayer time recently has been, it's based on Psalm 90, to just to number our days and make in a heart of wisdom.

Like I have just found myself leading in this next stage of life ministry for wisdom and courage. So those two things in particular, I don't want one of those without the other. I don't wanna be courageous and foolish like that. That's not good. I also don't wanna be wise and timid.

I don't wanna be wise and courageous. I wanna have a wisdom to discern the will of God and I wanna have courage to walk it. I wanna do all that God puts on my heart to do. As I look at next stage, I just wanna do all that he puts on my heart to do, just praying in a Psalm 90 17 kind of way for his favor and the establishment of the work of my hands.

So, and I'm pretty exhilarated about shepherding, on one hand shepherding local church, but love the Lord and make disciples there in DC and from DC to the end of the earth. And then looking to leverage opportunities to be a part of, I just see a world of urgent, spiritual and physical need, unreached and on top of physical need.

And I wanna see the church with the gospel, glorifying Christ and all that and leveraging my life toward that end. - Amen, that is just such a constant theme in your life and ministry over these very fruitful years. Thank you for that. Speaking of looking back, what advice does 40 year old David Platt have for 20 year old David Platt?

What would you say? - I would say, so I think three words come to mind. One is surrender. Just lay your life before the Lord every day, deny yourself, like, Lord, save me from myself, save me from my dreams, plans, but I wanna do whatever you want me to do.

I wanna go wherever you want me to go. I just think, I was actually at the Cross Conference one night in our worship and this Matt Boswell, he's leading musical worship. And he just paused at one point and he said, just think back on God's faithfulness in your life for a minute and just thank him, praise him.

And I just was overwhelmed with a point of tears because I'm sitting surrounded by all these college students and I'm thinking 20 years ago, I never could have imagined some of the things the Lord has done, how he's led. And I just wanna be open to however he wants to lead my life.

So surrender, second word, abide. Like, I think the key in it all is abiding in him, in his word, in prayer. Like, I've not regretted in the last 20, 40 years for that matter, anytime spending the word, anytime spending prayer, fasting, just seeking the Lord and walking in obedience to his commands.

I just, I don't know what all the coming years that the Lord gives them to me hold, but I'm trusting that if I'm surrendered to him, totally just my life before him and abiding in him, then the third word that comes to my mind is rest. Like, I can rest that he will lead, he will guide, he will direct my life for his purposes.

And in the end, I wanna finish faithful. I think 1 Corinthians 4, one and two, what is required of us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God that we be found faithful. That is my prayer. So my encouragement would be to my 20 something self or other 20 something, or anybody for that matter, like surrender to the Lord, abide in him and rest, just trust him as he leads and guides and directs and Lord willing, our lives will be spent for his purposes.

- Amen, so good. Thank you for taking time to talk with us today, brother. I really appreciate it. - Well, I just know I am incredibly thankful. You're not asking me to say this at all, but I would just say, I look back at my life and there's no question that the ministry of Pastor John, desiring God has had a huge and formative effect on my own mind, my own heart, my own relationship with the Lord in ways that I am indebted to God for his grace and then through you all.

So yeah, just thank you for the impact you've had on me and countless others like me. - Thank you for the accommodation and the encouragement. I appreciate it. Thanks, David. - Thanks Tony, see ya. - All right, goodbye. That was David Platt from his office. I'm your host, Tony Ranke.

The Ask Pastor John podcast will return on Monday with Pastor John. We'll see you then. Have a great weekend. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)