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Dr. David Platt rounds out Missions Emphasis Week

Bestselling author and pastor Dr. David Platt commissioned Liberty University students at Friday’s convocation to present their lives as “blank checks” and to surrender their gifts and talents to be used in ways that will advance the kingdom of God. Platt was the final speaker for Liberty’s Missions Emphasis Week.

Platt is the pastor of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Ala., and author of the bestselling book “Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream,” which challenges readers to consider how today’s Christians have manipulated a God-centered gospel to fit our human-centered preferences.

Platt signs copies of his book, ‘Radical,’ following convocation.

Platt began his message with several statistics about spiritual and physical needs around the world. There are currently more than 4.5 billion unsaved people in the world, he said, and today alone, 26,000 children will die of either starvation or preventable diseases. If that is true, he said, Christians have no time to “play games” in the church or in their own lives — humans have a master who demands radical sacrifice and a mission that warrants radical urgency.

“I want to call you to abandon your plans and your dreams, your ideas, your possessions, all of your hopes of living out a nice, comfortable, middle class American Christianity — I want to call you to abandon it all to make the glory of Christ known among every nation in the world,” said Platt. “I want to show you that there is no better way you can spend your life than making his worth known among all people.”

Platt read a parable from Matthew 13:44 as an example: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”

“Inside he knows that he has found something that is worth losing everything for,” said Platt. “… We have found someone who is worth losing everything for, He is that good, He is that satisfying, He is that wonderful and He is that worthy.”

Platt earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Arts in journalism (A.B.J.) from the University of Georgia. He earned his Master of Divinity, Master of Theology, and Doctor of Philosophy from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He has been married to his wife, Heather, since 1999. They have two sons, Caleb and Joshua.

Liberty holds Missions Emphasis Week each semester to give students an opportunity to hear the stories and testimonies of missionaries and to consider God’s will for their own lives as it applies to missions. This year’s theme was “Ethnos,” a Greek word meaning “nation, people group or tribe.”

In additional to the featured convocation speakers, more than 100 representatives from 60 missionary organizations set up displays in Arthur S. Demoss Learning Center. Other events included interactive seminars, prayer meetings and a food festival.

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