Platt - Unleashing a Radical People: Six Truths That Change How Churches Change the World

Response toRadicalandRadical Together

I love this book! Please read it. God is using David Platt to lead his church into much-needed reform. Radical Together is filled with tremendous insight from a man who loves Christs church. I dont know of a church leader that I trust more.

F RANCIS C HAN , best-selling author of Crazy Love

I have the privilege of knowing David Platt, and I assure you that his life and ministry commend what he has written here. Read Radical Together. Like the right medicine, it may be more helpful than comfortable. In fact, my prayer is that it may be an explosion, shifting many churches from centering wrongly on ourselves to centering rightly on Christ and his agenda for usand for his world.

M ARK D EVER , senior pastor, Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington DC

Radical caused many Christians to be shaken and to reevaluate their lives. Radical Together will do the same for our churches. Radical Together is such a clarion call for churches across the world to follow the clear teachings of the Word that I began to pray that this book would indeed move thousands of churches to become biblically radical. Many churches and Christians will never be the same again after reading the book and following its biblical precepts.

T HOM S. R AINER , president and CEO, LifeWay Christian Resources, and coauthor of The Millennials and Simple Church

Platts arguments emerge at a post-excess moment, when attitudes toward material life are up for grabs. His book has struck a chord.

D AVID B ROOKS , The New York Times

Full of spiritual pronouncements readers of any religion can appreciate Radical caters mostly to Christians, as a fervent manual to the faithful. If youre stuck in the American dream of self-advancement, self-esteem, and self-sufficiency, as Platt describes it, then the book could be a good fit for you, too.

S PENCER B AILEY , TheDailyBeast.com

Whats significant about Platts perspective is that it is coming from a solidly conservative voice in the evangelical mainstream.

J ONATHAN M ERRITT , The Huffington Post

This book is a challenge for Christians to wake up, trade in their false American dreams, and live a Christ-centered life.

J AY P ERONI , CFP, Crosswalk.com

Davids honesty and wide range of experiences make him an accessible and engaging author There is much to like about Radical. I applaud Davids call for serious discipleship.

K EVIN D E Y OUNG , The Gospel Coalition

[Platt is] biblical, straightforward, brutally honest, and writes a powerful narrative as he sets out to discover what Jesus really taught to first century followers.

M ATTHEW R OBBINS , TheChristianManifesto.com

David Platt challenges Christians to wake up, trade in false values rooted in the American dream, and embrace the notion that each of us is blessed by God for a global purposeto make Christs glory known to all the nations! This is a must-read for every believer!

W ESS S TAFFORD , president and CEO, Compassion International

R ADICAL T OGETHER
P UBLISHED BY M ULTNOMAH B OOKS
12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica Inc.(tm) Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are taken from the King James Version.

Details in some anecdotes and stories have been changed to protect the identities of the persons involved.

eISBN: 978-1-60142-373-3

Copyright 2011 by David Platt

Published in association with Yates & Yates, LLP, Attorneys and Counselors, Orange, California.

The authors royalties from this book will go toward promoting the glory of Christ in all nations.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.

M ULTNOMAH and its mountain colophon are registered trademarks of Random House Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Platt, David.
Radical together : unleashing the people of God for the purpose of God / David Platt.
p. cm.
1. Church. I. Title.
BV600.3.P63 2011
250dc22
2011001781

v3.1_r1

To the Church at Brook Hills,
whom I love and long for, my joy and crown.
Philippians 4:1

High atop the Andes Mountains, the rays of the sun strike ice, and a single drop of water forms. It begins to trace a hesitant course downward, gradually joining with other drops of water to become a steady stream. The stream gains speed and strength. Thousands of feet below and hundreds of miles later, what were once single drops have converged to become the mightiest river on earth: the Amazon. Flowing into the Atlantic Ocean at a rate of more than seven million cubic feet per second, the Amazon is more powerful than the next ten largest rivers in the world combined.

In my first book, Radical, I explored how the biblical gospel affects individual Christian lives. Simply put, in a world of urgent spiritual and physical need, gospel-believing, God-exalting men and women do not have time to waste their lives pursuing a Christian spin on the American dream. Using the imagery above, I tried to picture what happens when the truth of Christ penetrates our hearts, melts our assumptions, and propels us on a journey of abandonment to God.

But you and I are not intended to plunge down the mountain of radical obedience alone. Thats one of the reasons I love this imagery of the Amazon. The force of a single drop of water descending the Andes is minuscule. Similarly, as long as individual Christians journey aloneno matter how radical they aretheir effect will be minimal. But as men and women who are surrendered to the person of Christ join together in churches that are committed to the purpose of Christ, then nothing can stop the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth.

In Radical Together, I want to consider what happensor can happenwhen we apply the revolutionary claims and commands of Christ to our communities of faith. I want to contemplate the force of a people who come together to enjoy Gods grace in the church while they extend Gods glory in the world. And I want to propose that a movement of such people in such churches has the potential to permeate nations with the praise of God.