The Rev. David Platt, former pastor of a Birmingham megachurch, announced Monday that he will be leaving as president of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Platt announced to staff on Feb. 12 that he has asked trustees of the mission board to search for his successor. He will stay in office until a new president is selected.
Platt was previously senior pastor of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham for eight years. At 28, he became one of the youngest megachurch pastors in America when he took over as pastor of the 4,300-member Brook Hills congregation. He announced his resignation from Brook Hills on Aug. 27, 2014 to become president of the International Mission Board.
Platt has written several bestselling books, including "Radical," "Radical Together," "Follow Me," and "Counter Culture." He is the founder of Radical, a ministry devoted to promoting discipleship.
Platt last year accepted a teaching pastor role at McLean Bible Church in Northern Virginia while continuing as IMB president.
"I have come to the realization that it is not viable long-term for me to lead as president of the IMB while serving as teaching pastor in a church," Platt wrote in a letter announcing his decision. "This realization has been sobering, for I don't believe I can choose between preaching and leading in the local church, and mobilizing and shepherding people in global missions. Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that if I am going to serve in this way in the local church, then I need to serve in different ways for the cause of global missions."
"I love this IMB family, and I want to encourage you continually with God's Word, I want to mobilize limitless missionaries to join you, and I want to work with you overseas in any ways I can help you," Platt said. "In short, I want to do anything I can to see missions succeed across and beyond IMB and the SBC for the glory of God."
Platt encouraged the more than 3,500 Southern Baptists missionaries around the world to remain steadfast.
"You know better than anyone else: the nations need the gospel," he wrote.
"I am thankful that David will continue to lead until a new president is elected," said International Mission Board trustee chairman Dr. Rick Dunbar, a member of First Baptist Church Madison, Mississippi. "He wants to continue IMB's momentum and progress in reaching this lost world and making us a more effective organization to do that."
The IMB board of trustees will meet Feb. 28-March 1 near Richmond, Va. The meeting will include the appointment of new Southern Baptist missionaries.
"We are sad, but also feel confident in the future as we move forward," Dunbar said. "We trust that David's gifts of preaching, teaching and writing will continue to bless the work of the IMB for many years to come, and we look forward to a long-term relationship."
A Letter from David Platt
Note: David Platt sent this letter to IMB trustees, field personnel, and staff on Monday, Feb. 12, 2018.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Language is insufficient to express all that is on my heart and mind as I write these words, but I want to let you know that I have asked trustees to begin a search for a new president of the IMB. The paragraphs below are my best attempt to explain why and what that means.
I am more passionate today than I have ever been about getting the gospel to the nations, and I want to spend what little time I have left on this earth with urgency toward that end. This passion is what drove me to become IMB president, and I have sought to honor Him and you in this role over the last four years. Along the way, as I have shared with you, I have been burdened to continue preaching and leading in the local church amidst the lack of biblical literacy and missional urgency in the church and culture around me. That is why I began volunteering as Teaching Pastor in a church alongside my leadership in the IMB.
However, through concentrated prayer and fasting alongside counsel from various leaders across the SBC over recent months, I have come to the realization that it is not viable long-term for me to lead as president of the IMB while serving as Teaching Pastor in a church. This realization has been sobering, for I don't believe I can choose between preaching and leading in the local church, and mobilizing and shepherding people in global missions. Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that if I am going to serve in this way in the local church, then I need to serve in different ways for the cause of global missions.
This is why I have asked trustees to begin a search for a new president. To be clear, I am not resigning now, but I will resign upon the election of a new president. Until that new president is found, I am committed to serving you faithfully in my current role. Trustee leaders have communicated a desire for me to serve with the IMB in the future in some capacity, and I am certainly willing to do so if the Lord so leads. I love this IMB family, and I want to encourage you continually with God's Word, I want to mobilize limitless missionaries to join you, and I want to work with you overseas in any ways I can help you. In short, I want to do anything I can to see missions succeed across and beyond the IMB and the SBC for the glory of God.
So what does this mean for now? While this search begins for a new president, trustee leaders have asked me to continue implementing the initiatives that our leaders here and around the world have put in place aimed toward fulfilling our mission as the IMB. In other words, we will keep moving forward together in all the ways we are currently moving forward. By God's grace over recent years, we have come to a stable, healthy financial position, we have clarified our mission, and we have recalibrated our internal systems and structures around that mission. We have set the stage for a limitless mission force that is focused on the missionary task with urgent motivation and strong biblical, theological, ecclesiological, and missiological foundations. We have sought to create collaborative processes in the IMB such that what we do doesn't revolve around one leader, but around all of us working together. Consequently, our vision for the future remains the same: we will continue partnering with churches to empower limitless missionary teams who are evangelizing, discipling, planting and multiplying healthy churches, and training leaders among unreached peoples and places for the glory of God. Specifically, I want to encourage you to remain steadfast in your devotion to the missionary task wherever God has placed you. You know better than anyone else: the nations need the gospel. Please, please, please don't let this distract you from getting the gospel to them.
As I spent time with the Lord this morning, I was reminded that my life, along with yours, is His to spend for His glory however, wherever, and whenever He wants. I know that you are serving where you are because you believe this same truth. So this morning my prayer for your life and mine was the same--that one day, Lord willing, we will kneel before His throne together with every tribe, tongue, and nation, and He will say to each of us, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
Yours in Christ,
David