David Platt, pastor of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Ala., has been named the new president of the International Mission Board (IMB).
“As of today, I have accepted a position as president of the International Mission Board, and about a month from now, I will no longer be the Senior Pastor of the Church at Brook Hills,” Platt wrote on his church’s website.
“We talk all the time about laying down a blank check with our lives before God, with no strings attached, willing to go wherever He leads, give whatever He asks, and do whatever He commands in order to make His glory known among the nations of the earth, particularly among people who have never heard the gospel. Over these past months, God has made it abundantly clear to both Heather and me that He is filling in that blank check in our lives and family with a different assignment. Along the way, God has used the elders of our church to affirm His call, and today He used the leadership of the IMB to confirm it,” he wrote.
Platt, 36, has two Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of Georgia, and a Master of Divinity, Master of Theology and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He has previously served at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary as Dean of Chapel and Assistant Professor of Expository Preaching and Apologetics, and as Staff Evangelist at Edgewater Baptist Church in New Orleans. He is the author of several books, Radical – Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream, Radical Together – Unleashing the People of God for the Purpose of God, and Follow Me: A Call to Die, A Call to Live. David recently founded Radical, a resource ministry, dedicated to serving the church by making disciples of all nations.
Tom Elliff, who has served as IMB president since 2011, announced his plans to retire from the agency this February saying he would stay on until a successor was found.
A 15-member search committee was named and chaired by David Uth, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Orlando, Fla.
The church released a statement Aug. 27 — “As The Church at Brook Hills, everything we do is ultimately for the sake of God’s glory among all nations. While we are saddened that David Platt will no longer be our senior pastor, we wholeheartedly support his decision to serve as president of the IMB. We know of no one with greater passion and zeal for seeing Christ preached where He has not yet been named.
Platt and his wife, Heather, have four children.
There was some initial confusion with the announcement process. An IMB news release announcing Platt as president went live around 8 a.m. CST, but it was premature and the vote was not yet complete. Several Southern Baptist Convention leaders tweeted the information, and several news outlets jumped on the release, even as the IMB release was removed from their site. Just before 11 a.m., Platt, the IMB and others confirmed the vote had officially been taken and he is the president.
