David Joseph Platt is an American

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

pastor. He was senior pastor at the Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama, from 2006 to 2014. At the time he was the youngest

megachurch A megachurch is a church with an unusually large membership that also offers a variety of educational and social activities, usually Protestant or Evangelical. The Hartford Institute for Religion Research defines a megachurch as any Protestant C ...

pastor in the United States. From 2014 to 2017, Platt was president of the International Mission Board. He became pastor-teacher at

McLean Bible Church McLean Bible Church is an evangelical, multi-site megachurch with several locations in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Its largest campus is located in Tysons Corner, Virginia with other sites in Leesburg, Prince William County, Arlington ...

in 2017. He is the author of the 2010 New York Times Best Seller '' Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream.'' Other publications include ''Radical Together'' (2011), ''Follow Me: A Call to Die. A Call to Live.'' (2013), and ''A Compassionate Call to Counter Culture in a World of Poverty, Same-Sex Marriage, Racism, Sex Slavery, Immigration, Abortion, Persecution, Orphans and Pornography'' (2015)''.''

Early life and education

Platt studied at

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

in journalism and earned a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

. He also earned a M.Div, Th.M, and PhD from

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS) is a Baptist theological institute in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Missions and evangelism are core focuses of the seminary. NOBTS offers doctoral ...

Ministry

He served at

as Dean of Chapel and Assistant Professor of Expository Preaching and Apologetics. He was serving at Edgewater Baptist Church in New Orleans when the parsonage where he lived flooded during Hurricane Katrina. In 2006, Platt was introduced as the new senior pastor of The Church at Brook Hills in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

. At age 27, he became the youngest megachurch pastor in the United States. In 2014, Platt was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention's

International Mission Board The International Mission Board (or IMB, formerly the Foreign Mission Board) is a Christian missionary society affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The headquarters is in Richmond, Virginia, United States. History Thousand ...

. The

is one of the largest missionary sending organizations in the world. In February 2017, Platt began serving as interim teaching pastor at

in Vienna, Virginia. During this time he continued in his primary role as president of the

. In September of that year, Platt was introduced as pastor-teacher of McLean Bible Church. In February 2018, he announced his resignation from the IMB on the hiring of his successor.

Works

*''Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream'' (2010) *''Radical Together: Unleashing The People of God for the Purpose of God'' (2011) *Follow Me: A Call to Die. A Call to Live. (2013) *A Compassionate Call to Counter Culture in a World of Poverty, Same-Sex Marriage, Racism, Sex Slavery, Immigration, Abortion, Persecution, Orphans and Pornography (2015) *''Something Needs to Change: A Call to Make Your Life Count in a World of Urgent Need'' (2019) *''Gospel Threads'' *''God's Love Compels Us'' *''Risk is Right'' *''Counter Culture'' *''Multiply'' *''He Came'' *''To Us a Son is Given'' *''Mission Precision'' *''1 John: Love Made Known Bible Study'' *''Christ-Centered Exposition'' series, ''Exalting Jesus in Galatians, Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus, Exalting Jesus in Matthew, Exalting Jesus in James, Exalting Jesus in Psalms, Volume 2: 51-100'' *''Before You Vote: Seven Questions Every Christian Should Ask'' (2020)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Platt, David Baptist ministers from the United States Living people New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary alumni Southern Baptist ministers University of Georgia alumni Clergy from Atlanta 1978 births