When a young pastor challenged his megachurch to abandon all for Jesus, few expected such a radical response
when in 2006, at the age of 28, he was appointed to lead The Church at
Brook Hills in Birmingham, Ala.
Yet just as remarkable is how his church of more than 4,000 responded
to his challenge over a series of weekend services to take Jesus’ words
at face value and abandon all for Him.
The result? Families (including Platt’s) downsized their living
spaces, simplified their lifestyle and gave away profits to the poor.
Business owners sold their companies to aid global and local mission
work. Dormant believers became activated to launch ministries. And the
church radically made over its budget to do more with less so it could
invest more in local and global ministries.
This year, Brook Hills embarked on a one-year commitment called “The
Radical Experiment” which includes dozens of short-term mission trips
around the world to allow people a different context of service. “If
we’re not careful, if I’m not careful, we can start to think the world
looks like Birmingham,” Platt says.
