I expected to see a burly man with blazing eyes barreling toward me down the hotel hallway. Instead, a blond Southerner in blue jeans greeted me with the easy warmth of a middle-school Sunday school teacher.
"Thanks so much for your time," gushed a fellow interviewer, who like me was trying to snag 20 minutes with the Alabama preacher. "After reading Radical, my wife and I sold our home. This year we left for Thailand to preach the gospel." A second interviewer repeated the theme: Reading Radical meant good-bye to the suburbs and hello to the mission field. A third proudly handed the strikingly young pastor a button inspired by his book. It boasted: I rebelled against the American dream.
As I quickly learned at this year's Urbana conference, where 16,000 totally-on-fire-for-Jesus college students descended on St. Louis to worship and discern God's call on their lives, David Platt has attracted quite the fan base.
The irony of this fandom—evidenced by best-selling books and speaking engagements and Radical testimonies like the ones above—is multilayered. For one, Platt regularly lambasts the very consumer Christianity that allows believers nationwide to hear his teaching, via book sales in the millions. And then there's his teaching itself. Here's a smattering:
- "Your life is free to be radical when you see death as reward" (Radical).
- "We have reduced Jesus to a poor, puny savior who is just begging for us to accept him into our hearts" (Urbana talk).
- "I'm convinced there are scores of people who culturally identify themselves as Christians who are not followers of Christ" (to me).
It's ironic, at least striking, that in a time when surveys and reports spell the demise of the American church for not being relevant, tolerant, and culturally savvy, Platt, Francis Chan, Kyle Idleman, and other "extreme discipleship" pastors are gaining such a hearing while challenging the very idea of cultural savvy. But why?
That's the question driving this month's cover story (page 20), an in-depth look at how the radical craze is profoundly shaping suburban Christianity. After Urbana, I wondered if following Jesus could mean only one vocational path: overseas evangelism. But Matthew Lee Anderson's wisdom helped me, and will likely help you, gain a robust perspective on the nature of being a disciple.
We at Christianity Today are deeply impressed with the new radicals, partly because we share a slice of their core identity: We represent a community of believers that seeks to love God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength. In this month's editorial (page 45), editor Mark Galli and executive editor Andy Crouch lay out the fundamentals driving this storied, crucial publication—and why we cannot imagine a more exciting time than right now to be totally on fire for Jesus.
Next issue: Philip Yancey casts Newtown in the light of Easter; Rick Warren takes Purpose Driven Life to the moon; and April Burbank reports on a coffee roasting startup brewing hope for ex-felons.
