Jennie Allen on What Happens When You Say “Yes” to God

Austin Huang:
Welcome to Everyday Radical, a podcast where we help the everyday Christian follow Jesus and make him known everywhere. We pray that today’s episode encourages you to do just that. So let’s dive right in.

Jennie Allen:
I mean, this is so fun to be here with y’all because… I mean, David, we’ve been friends a long time.

David Platt:
I know.

Jennie Allen:
We’re getting close… So now it’s like 15 years, I don’t know. We’ve known each other a long time.

David Platt:
Yeah. I remember the first time you asked me to speak at IF and I was so intimidated.

Jennie Allen:
No, you weren’t.

David Platt:
What are you talking about? Of course I was. I had to do a lot on the-

Jennie Allen:
That’s crazy.

David Platt:
… women’s circuit.

Jennie Allen:
That’s true. I can see that.

David Platt:
And Heather was like, “You’re speaking today?”

Austin Huang:
That’s funny.

Jennie Allen:
So funny.

David Platt:
So anyway, thanks for letting me speak there a few years ago. I think that was the first time we met, you and Zach. We hung out a little bit backstage. We had a lunch before I was speaking at IF.

Jennie Allen:
Yeah, but we’ve had our moments since. I just feel like… I don’t know. You feel like my brother.

David Platt:
Well, that’s mutual. Yeah. Have walked through some really… I’m just thinking about Chris and I hanging out with you and Zach one night at your house in the living room. Yes. And you just speaking into my life prophetically. I think about you sitting down at a lunch-

Jennie Allen:
I have funny questions of that story.

David Platt:
… and having games and sharing over the overflow of that. And just like-

Jennie Allen:
Well, kids. We’ve-

David Platt:
Kindred spirits. Walking through the heart.

Jennie Allen:
Yeah, we walked through lots. I do. I count you one of my favorite people just to be with. I’m always wishing we had more time with you and other. I always feel like we never get to the end of everything we could dream about or talk about.

David Platt:
Yes.

Jennie Allen:
I support and believe in all the work you’re doing so deeply. It’s hard for me, guys. I wish he was on my podcast right now because I’m wanting to interview him because we’ve known each other-

David Platt:
Well, that’s not what this is. You’re actually doing most of the talking here, Jennie Allen. So we’re actually at IF…

Jennie Allen:
Yeah, IF is tonight.

David Platt:
Yes. So this will be airing later. But I mean, yeah, what have you seen God do at IF over…

Jennie Allen:
Okay. Well, we-

David Platt:
Because that started… How many years ago? When did that start?

Jennie Allen:
12 years ago now.

David Platt:
Wow.

Jennie Allen:
We celebrated 10 years in 2024. And then in 2025, we did Gather in place of IF, and the people cried out and we were like, “Let’s give them back IF.”

David Platt:
Oh, there was-

Jennie Allen:
And not just that-

David Platt:
I mean, they loved Gather.

Jennie Allen:
Oh, they love Gather.

David Platt:
But they missed if.

Jennie Allen:
But what I learned from that, I mean, it really actually moved me to see it go away for a minute because I saw how they use it because it was part of their calendar, their church calendar, and it was their women’s event. I mean, picture a church that has two to three people on staff. They probably don’t have anybody ministering to women. Even big churches, it was part of their yearly calendar.

Austin Huang:
For a decade.

Jennie Allen:
And so thousands of women hosts… That’s the magic of IF, it’s happening live around the world tonight. And I think we’re almost up to 3,000 events. So it’s a family. And we also are… Who’s in the room, even though there’ll be, I don’t know, 3,600, I think, in the room, is a tiny portion of who’s in the world watching. And so that’s always been the magic of IF. And the magic of just being one team on mission around the world. I mean, we have 33 countries with groups. We’ll have others tuning in, but 33 with groups and every state, it’s really special.

David Platt:
So for people who don’t know what IF is, why’d you start it? What was the original vision and then how did that morph?

Jennie Allen:
It’ll go into kind of my bigger story, which is, I mean, I’m a stay-at-home mom. I have three kids. I don’t have an online presence. I was not an influencer. I heard the words on my 30th birthday from the Lord. I felt this call, “Disciple a generation.” And I know that sounds crazy. And it did to me. And I remember that whole day, feeling like my bones were heavy. I didn’t know what to do with something like that. I didn’t have an aspiration to do anything. There wasn’t anywhere for that to come from.

David Platt:
So you said-

Jennie Allen:
I had nothing.

David Platt:
You weren’t doing any ministry. You didn’t have a blog. You weren’t even like… Wow. Yeah. Nothing.

Jennie Allen:
At that point-

Austin Huang:
That is insane.

David Platt:
Yes.

Jennie Allen:
I was raising three babies. That was me. And my husband was a pastor. And I don’t even think I taught my local Bible… Well, I always taught a Bible study of seven people in my living room since I was saved. I was 17. And there was no model for that in my life. I just immediately, my instinct at the knowledge of God was to tell people about God. So I started teaching my Bible at 17.

David Platt:
Back up, did you grow up in church?

Jennie Allen:
I did. And my parents loved God and I prayed a prayer to not go to hell in first grade, but unless I massively changed my theology and believe that there’s a second in dwelling of the Holy Spirit, I don’t think I was saved until 17 because I never saw my sin. I had no gifts. I had no passion for ministry, but the night I saw my sin, which is so interesting, I actually just made this connection on someone else’s podcast yesterday or day before yesterday, because he said, “What brought you to Jesus?” And I was like, “Seeing my sin.” And it’s so crazy, because what I do now, I feel like John the Baptist, I’m literally doing repentance.
And so to think that that’s when I was brought into a knowledge of the gospel, where I needed it. It wasn’t just, “I’m a Christian.” But the night I got saved, I cried for hours and hours over my sin. And I was just so grateful for a savior. And I just never got over it. Tonight when I speak at IF, it’s the same girl. I’m the same girl that can’t get over it. I’m not over it. And that really is my story. It’s just, I can’t believe it’s this good.

David Platt:
Yes. All right. So fast-forward to 30, you disciple a generation. Okay, what do I do with that?

Jennie Allen:
Yeah. I felt called into ministry at 18, one night in my parents’ house, and I didn’t know what to do with that. I mean, at that age, you got to think, Beth Moore is not on the scene. By the way, I sound older than I am. Dave and I are the same age. I sound like an 80-year-old because of my voice right now, but I’m not that old, but still, Beth would come on the scene in the next year or two, but I didn’t have role models. I didn’t grow up on the side of the church where women were using public gifts. The only examples I had were the memoirs I read of Elisabeth Elliot, Amy Carmichael. So with a calling in a ministry, I absolutely assumed that was a calling to the mission field. There was no role for me in the church in the US.
There weren’t female writers and speakers like there are now. I had no context for that. So I assumed I would go on the mission field until I married my husband who didn’t feel that calling. And so we put that on hold and had a bunch of babies. So now fast-forward, I’m 30, I feel the Lord say that to me. And my friends, thankfully, that day just said, “Jenny, if that did come from God…” When do you know something comes from God or not when it happens? That’s when you-

Austin Huang:
Stands at the top.

David Platt:
Yes, yes, yes.

Jennie Allen:
Now I’m doing my thing.

David Platt:
It’s written in the Word or if it happens and he’s sovereign.

Jennie Allen:
Yeah, it happens… And so they were like, “Jenny, if this is from God, then he’s going to make it happen. How would you even do that?” I was like, “No means, no means whatsoever.” It’s really crazy to think about that now. And I’m telling you, I look way more ambitious than I am. I mean, you didn’t do it, but if you read my storyline, all the things I’ve created and the books I’ve written in there, all that, if you read it all, it’s like, “Man, I don’t even like that girl. That girl is crazy. Why would she do all that?” But I really haven’t been that. It’s just been that I have said yes. Anything that’s come, I’ve said yes. And so the next thing that came after 30 was, I was leading… In my living room since I was 17, I’d always taught a Bible study.
I didn’t want it to be too big because… Well, this is actually going to bring our story together, before I knew you. I didn’t want it to be too big because I liked people to like me. I was a people pleaser. I didn’t want to open it up. So for 15 years, I taught my Bible in my living room and discipled a handful of people.

David Platt:
Wow.

Jennie Allen:
Katie Davis, her blog came on the scene. If you don’t know who that is, her blog was called Kisses from Katie. She has a book out, I think in that same name.

David Platt:
Yes.

Jennie Allen:
That shares a lot of her blog, but she was this younger girl at the time that just gave everything, adopted kids off the streets in Uganda. And I was so moved by her faith. I was like, “I need to surrender to God more.” And so after reading her blog one night, it was 1… No, the night I found her blog, it was 1:00 AM. I go on my bathroom floor because I had my computer open and it was bugging Zach. So I’m on my bathroom floor. It’s 1:00 AM. I’m reading it and weeping and I’m convicted and I will never forget it, I laid on my cold bathroom floor and I said, “Lord, I will do anything.”

David Platt:
Wow.

Jennie Allen:
“Anything.”

David Platt:
Wow.

Jennie Allen:
And then I told my husband about it the next day, he read it and we started praying every night, “We will do anything.” And we meant it and we would’ve moved countries, we would’ve sold everything. It was sincere and he started to speak. And we started to know what to do. And the first thing I knew was I was supposed to open up my Bible study to more people and quit being so controlling, because I was very controlling about it. And so I was like, “Okay.” And I opened my Bible study and we were church planting at the time. And the Bible study in this little cafeteria, this dirty old school that should have been taken better care of, it’s a public school. And we had more people than we had at our church. I think we had 250 people sign up for this Bible study. And I still don’t understand that. I still don’t know how that happened.

Austin Huang:
For a Bible study?

Jennie Allen:
Yes. Then the next thing that happened was you’re supposed to fill… We had an extra twin bed in my son’s room and he was like, “You’re going to fill that bed.” And I was like… Foster, adopt, we didn’t know. He would lead us in the future on that. We knew, but we committed, “We’ll fill the bed. Wherever you lead, we’ll fill the bed.” And all these things started happening. But again, this is… Let me think. It would be, right after that was my 30th birthday. Do you see what I’m saying?

David Platt:
Yeah.

Jennie Allen:
So all of this is… No, no, no. Sorry, cut. Edit. No, that happened when I was 30. This was all happening a few years later.

David Platt:
Okay.

Jennie Allen:
Okay. So now, the Bible study starts getting printed and sent. I was writing multiple and leading now this 250, whatever. I might be stretching that. That felt like a thousand.

David Platt:
Yeah, it was massive.
Sure. It was more than 7 in your living room.

Jennie Allen:
And the room was full and it was a pretty big room. So when I think of that room, they started telling their friends and I had to start printing these studies and it costs more to print them. So I went to a writer’s retreat just to see, could I get these published because I’m having to print these and send them to other churches? And so I walked out of that with an agent, with meetings with Lifeway, Thomas Nelson, zero followers. That doesn’t happen, even back then. You had to have a blog, you had to have an account. And so that opened that door. But I knew all along that this wasn’t about my ministry. It wasn’t about what I would do. “Disciple a generation” felt so big that I pictured something like IF:Gathering.
And so I just started inviting friends as my publishing started to grow and open doors for me to speak at Women of Faith at the time. Nobody knows what that is anymore. Women of Faith, Catalyst. I was on Catalyst in the first year. I remember Lysa TerKeurst sit down next to me and was like, “Who are you, girl, and how’d you get here?” And I was like, “I don’t know.” I was like, “Good question.” Isn’t wasn’t rude. She was cute. Everybody else, everybody knew. I was like, “I don’t know how I got here.” And so it just really was kind of this reluctant… God pushing me, like, “This is what you’re going to do.” And I mean, Zach was so supportive of everything, my husband. And so I don’t know, you got the long version there.

Austin Huang:
No. That’s great.

David Platt:
So good.

Jennie Allen:
IF:Gathering just came out of friendship then from meeting all these people and just saying, “Would you want to do something together? I think we need to work together for the gospel,” which is… And then we tried technology that had never been done. We really were cutting edge of the virtual conference world-

David Platt:
Oh, yeah.

Jennie Allen:
… I guess. And back 12 years ago, people didn’t host live events everywhere. And so that kind of served us well. Women are powerful. They just gathered their people.

Austin Huang:
Yeah.

David Platt:
Yeah.

Austin Huang:
It’s true.

David Platt:
The number of stories we… Yeah, just I love… Thanks for the little longer version because the number of stories that they all start with a “yes” surrender moment. You don’t know all the steps that are coming after that, but that first step on the bathroom floor, just on your face-

Jennie Allen:
“We’ll do whatever you want.”

David Platt:
Yes.

Austin Huang:
And it’s awesome to see that you started with no followers, no influence, so to speak, and yet you have impacted our generation so deeply. I know my wife is a big fan of yours, and she’s read all of your books. And how has that shifted since you’ve got that word from the Lord, “Disciple a generation”? What have you seen come true from that? I’m sure that could go on for-

Jennie Allen:
Well, my analogy right now is that I feel like I live in Narnia, and I am Lucy.

Austin Huang:
Wow.

Jennie Allen:
And all I did was ever say, “Yes,” and I just keep saying it. And I’m on his back and we’re riding through Narnia and I’ve seen monsters and witches, and that’s real. I mean, the spiritual warfare thing is real. And I’ve seen beavers talk and I’ve seen things that just don’t make sense. I mean, anybody that gets to come with me, I wish… The same person can’t come with me everywhere. So I’m the only one that holds it in, I would say, my best guess is over 40 rooms I have seen what I would term revival. And let me term that, what I mean by that term.
I have seen mass response to repentance, salvations, commissioning to ministry, mass, in whatever size room. So in a prison in Las Vegas, 200 women, 130 stand up to receive Christ, 115 are baptized.

David Platt:
Wow.

Jennie Allen:
That was revival. You can’t tell me otherwise. You can’t look at their faces and tell me otherwise. I have seen that in 40 to 50 rooms… Well, more than that, because 2018, I saw it for the first time. I was at Texas A&M, an arena full of Gen Z was in the room for the first time. Nobody named Gen Z yet. It was just later I would look back and go, “They were in the room for the first time.” I knew it. Something had shifted.
And I did a call for repentance and in an arena, they yelled out their sin for an hour. I kept looking… who’s now my pastor, but was over Breakaway at the time. I kept looking at him. I didn’t know him well at the time at all. And he was like, “Keep going, keep going.” So we stayed there for an hour because every time I would lift the mic, more people would yell. And so that was the first time I saw it. Then Baylor called and they were like, “Will you come do what you did at A&M at Baylor?” And I was like, “I don’t even know what I did.” I wasn’t even planning to do repentance that night.

David Platt:
Yeah.

Jennie Allen:
And that one was actually one of my favorites I’ve ever seen. I mean, it took a life of its own. They came up to microphones and started saying, “Abortion no longer has power in me. Abortion no longer has power over Baylor’s campus. Suicidal thoughts no longer have power over me.” They took a life of their own. They started yelling in the mic. I’ve never seen that since. That lasted over an hour. That was insane. So that’s been happening since 2018. We were at Passion that year together, right?

David Platt:
Yeah.

Jennie Allen:
And did confession in that room and that’s over 60,000 students.

David Platt:
Unbelievable.

Jennie Allen:
I still have people walk up to me from that day saying, “I want you to know I confessed something I never said out loud and I’ve never touched it since.” And so I want to say, certainly people can look in at my life and my Instagram and say, “Gosh, that’s hype.” And I’ll go on and tell you more, but I’ve done it now long enough that now I hear the stories and I’m like, “You can say that the soils are varying and that some people go out and change that, some people don’t, but you can’t tell me that it hasn’t changed lives because I meet them and they’re called to ministry now.” They went from sex addicted to ministry.
Anyway, you can’t argue with me. You can argue about it, but not with me. And so I’ve just seen over and over again in rooms, God use old things. And so what I think God is doing… And then again, we haven’t even talked about Gather, but God is doing something right now, I believe it is awakening. And I’m going to be bold and y’all can edit it out if you disagree with me. Or David, you can just say, “I disagree with her,” but I’m going to be bold and say, I’ve been in too many rooms and I’ve seen it all over the earth. And you can’t make it up, that when we did Gather, which we’ll talk about in a minute, which was a global gathering of the church, we had to send crews around the world to tell stories. When we got the footage back from Germany, I was confused because it looked like Unite, which I’ve served with with my friend Tanya on 20 campuses.
The pictures were the same. The baptisms were the same. It was confusing to me. They were repenting, they were responding to the gospel and they were baptizing. That’s what I see as the three things that we’re doing everywhere and it’s working. So I’m sorry, I think there’s a unique thing happening and I think it surpasses revival. I think it’s the beginning of awakening. Now we can squelch it, we can divide and disobey our way out of it, but if we pray it… I’m careful to add any ifs, because I think it’s hit rooms that didn’t even want it. So I don’t even know anymore. I think the right moves are, we pray and we ask God for it.

David Platt:
Yes.

Jennie Allen:
But for the first time, three weeks ago, I saw it in a church. It has happened in churches before, but I saw it with my own eyes, where the whole room was responding to those same things, where repentance, coming forward, people were parking a mile and a half away to get to the room. I did an altar call in a church on a prayer night, Wednesday night, and 200 people walk forward. Then through the camera, I’m talking to the students in the other room because they’re in a separate overflow space. And I said, “If any of you want to come, come now,” well, it turns out they’re in an eight-minute delay. So the pastor comes up and is like, “Hey, Jennie, we got to wait eight minutes because they’re going to hear this in eight minutes.” And while we’re waiting, we’ve been filling up the baptismal. “If anyone wants to be baptized, come forward.” So now we’ve got 100 people that came forward to be baptized. We’ve got 200 people over here that just came forward to be saved.
And then we’ve got students in another room that come in crying eight minutes later. Me and the pastor are trying to navigate all of these different groups of people that are up at the front. We have to give them all different instructions. And they did repentance out loud in their church. You can’t tell me that it’s not real because I’m just not doing anything that different or special or different from five years ago. The room’s different. The harvest is different. And so it’s the beginning of something, for sure.

David Platt:
Yeah. Which I mean, I trust. Well, yeah, I hope we all pray for. We want God to do what only God can do. We want the… Yes. And we know biblically that repentance of sin just leads to… Yes.

Jennie Allen:
Desperation.

David Platt:
Yes.

Jennie Allen:
Desperation’s a powerful thing.

David Platt:
And the blessing of God. This is the one whom I esteem, who’s humble and contrite in spirit and trembles in my Word. Yes. Surrounding habits to praise of people who are serious about their sin.

Jennie Allen:
I just think the world’s getting so dark so fast that that desperation is growing.

Austin Huang:
And people on social media are seeing it. I mean, we talked about this the other day, but I’m just like, the non-believers in this world are coming to a realization that this world is so broken. And so they’re turning somewhere.

Jennie Allen:
They’re wanting.

Austin Huang:
And I’m discipling a guy right now. He’s not even a believer yet. And he’s just telling me all the easy softball answers to an evangelistic conversation. He’s like, “Man, I feel like I’ve just tried everything and there’s this hole in my heart that nothing fills.” I’m like, “That’s God. That is God.”

Jennie Allen:
Dude, that happens to me all the time.

Austin Huang:
It’s so awesome.

Jennie Allen:
It’s like this guy, this kid that’s seven foot tall walks up to me at one of these events and he’s like, “Jennie…” Tears running down his face, running.

Austin Huang:
He’s like a college student?

Jennie Allen:
Yeah, college student. Running down his face and he’s, “I just didn’t know God loved me.”

Austin Huang:
Wow. Yeah. It’s so simple.

Jennie Allen:
I’m like, “Oh, man.” That’s how I feel. I feel like we are literally doing the 101 and the 101 is blowing people’s hearts. Let’s be-

David Platt:
Because the 101 has power to blow peoples minds.

Jennie Allen:
101 is possible.

David Platt:
Yes.

Austin Huang:
Through Jesus Christ.

David Platt:
Yes.

Jennie Allen:
But they’re hungry for it and they want it and they’re sick of the world and they’ve had it and they’re done. And I’ll tell you to make your heart really extra happy. The other thing that is happening-

David Platt:
My heart’s already happy.

Jennie Allen:
And what I’m saying is, this is going to make you really happy. This is like your lane, is how many of them are called to the mission field.

David Platt:
Yeah. I pray all the time for missional awakening.

Jennie Allen:
It’s happening.

David Platt:
Like, “God open our hearts to see your great glory, the beauty of this gospel and why the nation’s need it in a way that…” I believe I can give the same mission talk. 100 times till I’m blue in the face, but until the Spirit opens hearts and eyes and there’s awakening along those lines, then it’s… Yeah, it’s not-

Jennie Allen:
Well, we got to get you in front of Gen Z more because they are open to it. And that’s what happened at SEU, was-

Austin Huang:
Yeah. Talk about that.

Jennie Allen:
Yeah. Yeah. So-

David Platt:
SEU.

Jennie Allen:
SEU, Southeastern University. This was, gosh, now two weeks ago, not long. It just only ended Friday. They had an incredible conference. I mean, it was unbelievable lineup and God did amazing things and I’m kind of coming in at the end, it’s the last day.

David Platt:
This is like just a normal conference they’ve had every year, spiritual awareness conference or whatever?

Jennie Allen:
Right.

David Platt:
Okay.

Jennie Allen:
They have it every year. And I’m coming in on the last day and I’m sitting, it’s 9:00 AM, where I can see the room kind of up… I can’t explain how this room was set up, it’s odd, but I could watch the room the whole time that day. And I can’t sing. I can’t move. I’m sitting in my chair and the only other time I felt this way, I feel like I weigh 150 pounds more than I do. And the only other time I’ve ever felt this way was when I visited Asbury in the first days. So I got to Asbury before anybody had heard about it. A friend invited me, said, “Something’s happening.” We went. When I walked in the room at Asbury, there were 150 people in the room. So early, early days, no news trucks, no lines, nothing.
The only other time I’ve ever felt that was at Asbury, physically, where you’re just like, “What is this? What is happening?” And so I asked the Lord, and of course I had my message ready and I was about to go give it. And I was like, “Lord, what is happening? What are you doing?” And this is what I felt, is that he was like, “There’s about to be an outpouring on this room and this outpouring is going to reach the ends of the earth.” And I was like, “What do you want me to do?” And he was like, “Commission them to reach the ends of the earth.” I was like, “I don’t…” Unlike you, David, that’s not my back pocket message. I have 10. That one is not in it.

David Platt:
Whatever. That’s it.

Jennie Allen:
I hear about it. I talk about it.
I have enough to-

David Platt:
You’re a Christian.

Jennie Allen:
I’m a Christian.

David Platt:
You care about the lost.

Jennie Allen:
With all my verses and points to pull up on my iPhone.

David Platt:
All right.

Jennie Allen:
Obviously I talk about commissioning, but omissions, I don’t give it every day. Okay, man. I’m sorry. I do care about the globe, as you know.

David Platt:
Yes, that’s what I’m saying.

Jennie Allen:
So I was like, “Okay, okay.” So I go up there, I give an evangelism message, a reach the ends of the earth message. And then at the end, I just said, “But you cannot set anyone else free till you’re free, so-”

Austin Huang:
So good.

Jennie Allen:
“… let’s repent.” And so done it a hundred thousand times. And I was like, “Right now, yell out your sin.” That wasn’t what the message was about. And they start yelling out their sin and then a girl in the back of the room, and this is who started Her All. I can’t wait to meet her. She’s in the back of the room and it pierces in a quiet moment, because it wasn’t quiet. There was a lot of people talking, you couldn’t hear it all. She yells out at the top of her lungs, “Abortion.” And I had a friend, Chichi and Grant were charging their phones, so they were in the back of the room at the time. And they were standing right behind her. And they said, Jennie, before she said it, she was heaving. We noticed her.

Austin Huang:
Oh my God.

Jennie Allen:
Because she was heaving crying. And after she yelled it, she collapsed to the floor.

Austin Huang:
Oh, wow.

Jennie Allen:
And this is a religious environment. And I’m just telling you, for women, I’ve watched that before, that is the hardest thing to say in a religious environment, the hardest thing. The room changed. Everybody’s words got real. There were people yelling out, “Sex addiction, suicidal thought, pornography,” everything. They were just yelling it all out. It was no holds bar. Everybody said it all. And the room changed. And people are wailing. You hear wailing over sin in the room. And so that goes way longer than I-

David Platt:
Yeah. That’s already overtime.

Jennie Allen:
So I’m looking at Jonathan and I’m going, he’s the pastor, and he’s like, “You’re good.” But I planned on doing a commissioning call because that was what the message, in my mind, lended itself to. And so I walk off and I’m with Jonathan and they’re singing now. And I’ve already gone back up, shared the gospel clearly, asked people to respond to the gospel. I’ve done that part work. Then I sit down and I’m like, “Okay, well, I didn’t get to that.” And I told Jonathan, I was like, “The one thing I didn’t do that I wish we’d done is this.” So he goes back up and he says, “If you feel called to vocational ministry or to the mission field, will you come forward.” Two thirds of the room. I actually was proud of the people that didn’t walk forward, because I was like-

David Platt:
There was a lot of pressure at that point.

Jennie Allen:
And then I am like, “Do you know what you just did? Let me be clear what you’re committing to.” I was like, “Some of you are going to lose your lives. Some of you are going to want to quit when you’re 50 and you’ve been doing this. Let me just be clear what you just did if you mean this.” But I did feel confident because I felt like that’s what the Lord had said before, was like, “I’m going to do something unique in this room and it’s going to reach the ends of the earth.” So I did feel like there was a sincerity. And I actually asked the guy standing next to me who looked like a big old linebacker and he’s crying like a baby and all these boys crying get me every time. And he’s just standing next to me. I was like, “What did you come forward for? Why did you do this?” He said, “Because I felt called to the mission field.”
And I was like, “Do you know what that means?” And he was like, “Yes.” And you could tell he did. I mean, the guy’s weeping. And so right after repentance, we could analyze this all day, there’s this mass commissioning to the ends of the earth. And so then they’re singing afterwards. Now it’s middle of lunchtime, they’ve got class. They’re supposed to go to class. And so they cancel lunch and then they’re like, “What do we do next?” And they just start meeting and praying every hour. And just saying, “Lord, what do we do?” Because the hunger in the room, nobody wanted to leave. They went on to worship for 10 days and nights.

Austin Huang:
That’s crazy.

Jennie Allen:
It was similar to Asbury in that way. And I’ll just say this about it, because I posted about it and of course in the comments are emotionalism and all these things. Okay. I want you to imagine just us as adults, anybody listening that’s an adult, not looking at your phone for six hours and singing for six hours straight. And just imagine that and what you would feel after three hours, four hours.

Austin Huang:
Tired.

Jennie Allen:
I didn’t eat that day. I was in the room till 3:00 AM. Well, we switched rooms. We had to switch rooms because the rental was up or whatever the conference thing was. We had to go back to campus. But then we picked right back up. I was in the room from 9:00 AM to 3:00 AM. It felt like a few hours. None of us ate. You can’t explain it unless you’ve experienced it. And it was an outpouring of the Spirit to where you don’t know what time it is. You don’t want to leave. You don’t want to look at your phone. You don’t want to do anything but be in the presence of God.

David Platt:
You said 9:00 AM to 3:00 AM?

Jennie Allen:
I was in the room from 9:00 AM to 3:00 AM.

Austin Huang:
But they just kept-

David Platt:
And I think another follow-up question is, don’t you want to experience that? Don’t you want to experience uninterrupted hours in prayer and worship and repentance and surrender? This is the one thing we seek, to behold him and his beauty and inquire in his temple. This is Luke 10, the one thing that is necessary. Just be at my feet. This is the good portion. It won’t be taken away from you. So anyway.

Jennie Allen:
Yeah.

David Platt:
Yeah.

Jennie Allen:
It’s something. I get the people that want to go to the room, but I’m done with that. I’m like, “We’ve got to pray for it. Pray for more of the Spirit, but also know the cost.” That girl paid the cost. It was physical.

Austin Huang:
That’s right.

Jennie Allen:
It was brave.

David Platt:
Yeah.

Jennie Allen:
And I mean, I do believe, I think it was… And everyone I’ve talked to agrees that was the moment. I felt it earlier. Nobody else says they felt it before that moment. So I think God prepared me to lead that moment by allowing me to experience it early and to give purpose to the room for it. So I was clear with Pastor Jonathan. I was like, “Listen, Asbury may have been for the whole world. SEU is for them. And I believe they’ll persevere. Because they experience that, some of them will persevere in unthinkable circumstances 30 years from now that we can’t imagine.” So I really did feel like the commissioning was a part of it to where whatever happened for them in that room, they’ll take with them as they go into service to the Lord.

David Platt:
Yeah.

Austin Huang:
I think it’s just so cool because it’s those experiences that kickstart and light the flame for more people on that campus. We talked before off camera just about what’s happening in Austin, Texas specifically. And it’s just insane that the world sees Austin as this dark, secular place. It’s the hub for the entire world. But I felt like a couple of years ago when God burdened my heart for the loss in the city that he said it was going to become like a beacon of light to the rest of the state, nation, and world. And I believe that it’s happening and it’s not just our worship nights, like you’re saying, that’s the critique of everybody. It’s like, “Oh, it’s just emotionalism. It’s just hype.” But it’s not just that. We are seeing hunger to go and be sent out into the streets to share the gospel, repentance, giving up idolatry.
These are things that are… I love how… I think it’s Jonathan Pokluda put it. I was listening to his podcast a few months ago. It’s like, “Revival is awesome, but it needs to start with me.” If revival can start with me, if I can draw a circle around myself and say, “Lord, don’t let me leave this circle until revival starts within me,” then I think if everyone can do that, we’re going to see some crazy things happen.

Jennie Allen:
That’s right. And I think everybody wants to be in the room, but I do believe God wants to be in the room with us. But again, it’s like, “Where are we holding back? Where’s their division? Where’s their distraction? Where’s their disobedience?”

David Platt:
Yes, yes. Yeah. In the room we’re in, what’s keeping this from happening?

Austin Huang:
That’s true.

David Platt:
Yeah. What’s keeping God from moving in all the ways he wants to? I’ve just been meditating on, memorizing Ephesians 3, “To be filled with all the fullness of God.” I just want more of his fullness. I want to see more of his fullness. I want to experience more of his fullness, and not just me, I want to be a part of the people who are experiencing more and more and more of his fullness.

Jennie Allen:
I want to kind of go back to, because this definitely ties in to the conversation we had in the living room.

David Platt:
Yeah, yeah. Okay.

Jennie Allen:
Do you remember? Are you going to be able to remember?

David Platt:
That conversation?

Jennie Allen:
Yeah, because I remember.

David Platt:
Well, yeah. I mean, totally. I mean, I’ve got all kinds of notes from that conversation.

Jennie Allen:
Because I think it is really relevant.

David Platt:
Well, with God’s doing in the global church specifically?

Jennie Allen:
With 10,000 sent, 100. What was the number? Do you remember?

David Platt:
Yeah, for sure. Well, yeah. In fact, I was just preaching on this, this last week. But yeah, I’m convinced, and this is part of what we were talking about that night. We don’t need just hundreds or thousands more missionaries. We need hundreds of thousands and millions upon millions of Christians who are living for this pro of God’s work on the nations.

Jennie Allen:
That’s right.

David Platt:
And I think actually part of how that comes about is we need to far expand. I don’t want to say blow up, but far expand our horizons for what that looks like in practice in ways that are very different from the traditional methods and approaches that I think are a significant part of the reason why three billion people have little to no knowledge of the gospel.

Jennie Allen:
So share kind of… Just go on that for a minute.

David Platt:
Okay. Well, I mean, basically… This is supposed to be our podcast asking you questions, but this definitely, definitely goes down.

Jennie Allen:
It’s relevant.

David Platt:
Yes, it’s totally relevant. So the reality is, I think we spend a good amount of… Put a lot of emphasis on, “Okay, who’s going to go to the nations?” And so there’s goers and there’s senders. And basically, you look at the data and 1 out of 42,000 Protestant Christians signs up to be a goer. That’s 0.002%. That is a tiny percentage. And by goer, what they usually think is, “Okay, I need to get specialized training. I need to become a missionary. I need to move to another country, leave my job. I need to learn another language or two languages or three. I need to learn another culture.” And most people are opting out of that or just saying, “I don’t think that’s…” And so the reality is, okay, so 0.002% are going, and then those who are senders, we spend, you look at the data about, ironically, 0.002% of our resources getting the gospel to the places in the world where it’s most needed.
So you put that together, that’s like traditional mission strategy. That’s what it’s led to. And I think, instead of a strategy to reach the nations, I think that looks like a strategy that’s demonic to keep the gospel from reaching the nations.

Austin Huang:
Geez.

David Platt:
That would be the strongest way to put it.

Austin Huang:
Wow.

David Platt:
And I don’t think the answer is double down on that strategy so that now we have… Or quadruple it. Now we’ve got 0.008% of us going and 0.008% of our resources are going to reach three billion people with the gospel. That’s not what’s needed. What’s needed is a whole reorientation in our minds and our hearts about what it means to be a Christian and it means to live for God’s glory among the nations.

Jennie Allen:
Everywhere, all the time.

David Platt:
Yes. Which starts right here in Dallas, among the nations here. Well, one, just reaching your neighbor with the gospel is a part of a global mission, making sure you’re reaching neighbors that don’t just look like you and think like you and talk like you and gather together in churches where everybody looks like you and thinks like you and talks like you, because we’re fooling ourselves. We think we’re going to make disciples of the nations through our churches, but we’re not even making disciples of the nations in our churches.

Jennie Allen:
Well, yeah. It’s like we care way more about immigration policy than we do the fact that there are people from all over the world in our neighborhoods that we can-

David Platt:
For whatever… Yes, God has sovereignly-

Jennie Allen:
The nations have come to us, regardless of whatever you believe on immigration, we’ve got it. So let’s see it as a moment to-

David Platt:
Exactly. If I’m in the Uber yesterday with an Afghan, God’s brought him three feet away from me to share the greatest news in the world.

Jennie Allen:
Ministry is real.

David Platt:
But all that to say, we live in such a different world than William Carey or Hudson Taylor we’re living in…

Jennie Allen:
Yeah, they wouldn’t believe it.

David Platt:
We can do air travel and go to any major city in the world today and have snacks along the way. This is amazing. And then technology, globalization in the marketplace, the opportunities that we have today. So there’s more unreached people today than ever before in history, and there’s more opportunities to reach than ever before in history. What a time to be alive. But it’s going to take all of us. It can’t just be a few people. So that’s where it’s like, how do we even reformat the way we’re calling people and calling each other to mission in a way that says, “No, this is for everybody”? And now it’s going to look different in everybody’s life, for sure. And some people are going to take jobs or some people are going to go on short-term trips or here or there. Or some people are going to leave jobs and go.
It’s going to look different, but we’re all a part of this thing and it’s going to take all of us. So that was the conversation. It’s morphed some since that night. But you and Zach just basically looking into my life just saying, “Well, steward your life to… Yeah, you’re a part of that.”

Jennie Allen:
I’m still being bossy, aren’t I?

David Platt:
Yeah, you did. You made it. Yeah.

Jennie Allen:
But I do feel like you are uniquely gifted and suited and Radical is postured to bring a global heart to the West.

David Platt:
Well, I hope-

Jennie Allen:
I think you’ve done that for me.

David Platt:
I hope, yes, I hope. And at the same time, so this gets into Gather because obviously the beauty is it’s not just the West.

Jennie Allen:
That’s right.

David Platt:
This is our-

Jennie Allen:
More missionaries are going out from South America by… I don’t know the percentage but lots.

David Platt:
I just got back from Brazil where five stadiums worth of people are-

Jennie Allen:
So insane.

David Platt:
… repenting and saying, “We want to go.” And that’s not to mention-

Jennie Allen:
33,000 said they wanted to go. I mean, it’s crazy.

David Platt:
It’s crazy. But that’s not to mention about gatherings. And we were talking… No, it was behind the camera here about Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, India, gatherings of brothers and sisters in those places packed out saying, “We want to be a part.” I mean, Bengali-speaking Muslims are one of the largest unreached people. It’s probably the largest unreached people group in the world, but to see a room full of 18 to 30 year old followers of Jesus in Bangladesh who… Now, it’s costly. I mean, yeah, when I got there, first sister I’m talking with that morning, she’s like, “Yeah, we have money set aside in our budgets for hospital bills where people get beaten and for funerals.” This is not easy, but this room packed full for days of people saying, “We want to be responsible for taking the gospel of the nations here.” And so yes, I want us to see ourselves as a part of this global family. Well, yes, we’ve got a significant part to play from the West, but we are just a part. So obviously you’ve seen that.

Jennie Allen:
And there’s the reality of how many individual Christians are just not even in the game, just not even in the game in their personal lives, in their neighborhoods, in their-

David Platt:
Yes. Well, that’s the 0.002%, what are we doing? This is for everybody. But the way I put it in our church family this last Sunday was just like, “Okay, it’s going to take all of us and it’s going to take a very different understanding of Christianity than most Christians have, because we’ve got us here.” But it’s not new. It’s like just the bookends of Matthew. “Follow me. I’m going to make you fishers of men. Now, go and make disciples of all the nations.” This is for all of us. This is what we’re made for.

Jennie Allen:
Yeah. Yeah. It’s good.

David Platt:
You obviously have a desire not just to focus on one part of the world, like Gather is focused on the whole world.

Jennie Allen:
Whole earth. We told stories from Antarctica. Yeah. Yeah, there’s, I think, seven churches in Antarctica. Learned that.

Austin Huang:
That’s amazing.

Jennie Allen:
Saw pictures of all of them. It’s pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah. It’s been fun. I mean, this was just another yes that we had no idea how to do. And we brought the world together. Well, seven million or more people, that was a conservative number, participated and watched. There were 86 languages we translate into. The Olympics hadn’t even done that at that point. 85 of them were accessed. We saw the global church sing. We went continent by continent. So we handed the baton to New Zealand. New Zealand handed… Where were you? You were in-

Austin Huang:
I was in-

Jennie Allen:
Where’d I make you go?

David Platt:
You sent me to Southeast Asia. I was in Malaysia.

Jennie Allen:
You were. I think you were morning here, so there was something between New Zealand. I lost… Well-

David Platt:
You gave me the 3 o’clock in the morning slot. I was just playing that’s not true.

Jennie Allen:
So we went for 25 hours and passed the baton all around. By the way, I mean, yeah, Asia was freaking unbelievable. And what it did, I don’t know how much of it you got to watch, but we went to Africa next. I mean, it just blew… London, it blew everybody’s mind at exactly what you’re saying, David, that the church is robust and healthy, and we have the team, and we came together over what we knew we agreed on. We didn’t ask people to agree on theology because we know that when… Can’t you imagine Jesus when he’s giving the Last Supper and the incredible message that he gave at the end, “This is it. This is what you need to know before I die.” And he’s like, “Be one as we are one. Father, Son, Spirit.”
Do you think he meant, in that moment, “Agree on all theological issues, every interpretation of every verse”? No way.

David Platt:
But we did come together on some theology.

Jennie Allen:
Hold on. Let me get there. What did he mean? How one is saved. Jesus. We did come together around the gospel.

David Platt:
Yes.

Jennie Allen:
We absolutely came together on some theological things. It was definitely more of a conservative side of the church. There’s no doubt. However, within the conservative side of the church, it’s very diverse. I mean, you have charismatics. We even had spiritual Catholics. There was a lot going on, a lot of people involved. What we came together on is mission and salvation. That was what we agreed on. And we were careful of what went out. I had somebody watching every single second for 25 hours, she didn’t sleep. And if there was anything, we were on a slight delay, if there was anything that was not biblically sound, we were like-

David Platt:
“Cut it out.”

Jennie Allen:
“You’re out.” So we control that content. You better believe it. But I just mean for a minute, the church agreed on, “We love Jesus and we have a job to do.”

Austin Huang:
So crazy.

Jennie Allen:
And the church is really big. When you think of that, the church is really big. And so what we do is silo off into every kind of camp. I mean, David knows this. I come from an insanely conservative side of the church. My theology is very buttoned up, even though I’ve talked about my craziest side, the whole podcast here. But I do believe that this is a moment for Spirit and truth. And I’m watching the church grow. The sides that are weaker on truth, I’m watching desire for that because the world is getting so confusing and chaotic. And I’m watching the truth side of the church go, “Maybe we need more Spirit.”

Austin Huang:
Spirit.

Jennie Allen:
And I just think the times call for both.

Austin Huang:
Yeah.

Jennie Allen:
All the times call for both, but really, it’s getting weirdly dark and AI and where we’re headed. I think the church has got to be clear. The church has got to be filled with the Spirit and the church has got to be anchored in truth. But in that moment in those days, yeah, it was every continent, it was all different types of churches, but man, it stayed pure and it was really beautiful.

David Platt:
So good.

Jennie Allen:
Yeah. And we’re going to do it again.

David Platt:
Yeah. So it’s coming, Gathering 27.

Jennie Allen:
You saw it. March, yeah. We’re going to try to do it every year, the first weekend of March every year, Gather.

Austin Huang:
Okay.

Jennie Allen:
And then we’ll have IF:Gathering the first week in October every…

Austin Huang:
Come on.

Jennie Allen:
… fall, which is a huge gift. But we figured out what happened after Gather is then everybody understood what it was. And so all these global pastors, instead of us saying, “Would you, could you…” They’re like, “Could we… Would you pick us?” Yeah. So it just changed. So it’s a little easier to get help and do this more often.

Austin Huang:
What’s your dream for that?

Jennie Allen:
So this came from a night that, again, I’m showing all my weird sides, my crazy sides on your podcast, David. I should show my DTS degree and all my Bible knowledge, but here I am. These are the stories, I feel like a reporter right now, on things of God that I’m getting to see. But I had a dream, vivid dream that Jesus was coming back in 10 years. This was in 2022. And when I woke up, I was like, “What should we do?” And it’s exactly, it was same heart. It was, “Mobilize the church.” It was, “If the 2.5 billion people that say they’re believers would share the gospel, we could get it to the end of the year. That wouldn’t be a problem.” So I was like, “Let’s just have a big meeting. Let’s just pull everybody together and make sure we’re all on the same page.”
But of course, the first one felt like a pilot. We didn’t know what we were doing. The technology had never been used. So now that we’re… In ’27, it will feel like, “Okay, everybody come together. Let’s make sure we’re on mission together. Let’s mobilize every individual in their place to be a missionary, to share the gospel.” And so that’s my prayer, is that the gospel gets to the ends of the earth. We’re going to share those stories of it happening, that will inspire people. But ultimately, our hope is everybody that participates, walks out and it’s like, “I can take one, I can take two.”

Austin Huang:
So good.

David Platt:
Yes. The church united around Jesus, salvation and mission and doing it together.

Jennie Allen:
Doing it together.

David Platt:
Encouraging each other as we do it together.

Jennie Allen:
I just think we’ve got to keep things simple right now, for the reasons we talked about earlier, the little seven-foot boy that was like, “Jennie, I just didn’t know God loved me.” And I was like, “Well, I’m really glad I got to tell you that.” Let’s just not forget.

Austin Huang:
Amen.

Jennie Allen:
If there’s pastors listening, if there’s leaders listening, don’t forget. There’s people walking in the door that have never gone to church. Why? Because the hunger is more than it’s ever been right now.

David Platt:
And I love even the seven-foot dude, that’s like Spirit and truth. It’s like the most beautiful truth in the world.

Jennie Allen:
Yeah.

David Platt:
God loves me so much, like Jesus.

Austin Huang:
So simple.

David Platt:
And yet, how many people hear that and there’s no effect, but he’s like weeping over it because the Spirit is opening his eyes and his heart to that reality. We want that all over the world and we want to live in that.

Jennie Allen:
He says, “I thought God was disappointed in me.” And I was like, “Dude, there’s no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Do you know Jesus?” And we have to give the answer. The answer has to be clear for people to receive it.

Austin Huang:
That is the perfect combination of Spirit and truth. It’s that the Spirit convicted… We’re talking about the seven-foot guy a lot, but he convicted him. He came forward and you got to remind him of the truth. And that’s the perfect co-mingling of what God said. “This is what my church is going to live and thrive on, Spirit and truth.”

Jennie Allen:
Don’t forget.

David Platt:
Yes. We haven’t even talked about The Lie You Don’t Know You Believe. All right, tell us about this.

Jennie Allen:
Yeah.

David Platt:
How many books is this for you?

Jennie Allen:
I think it’s number five.

David Platt:
Okay. Yeah, talk about that.

Jennie Allen:
I am a content girl. I can tell you my next three.

David Platt:
Really?

Jennie Allen:
I think in content.

Austin Huang:
That’s awesome.

David Platt:
You got three more in the hopper.

Austin Huang:
Wow.

David Platt:
Well, that makes me want to ask what those are, but we-

Jennie Allen:
Well, yeah, I really am excited about the next one, not today.

David Platt:
Okay.

Jennie Allen:
This one, this was, I’m on the road. I’m watching people come to Jesus. I’m looking at the church and going, “Where are you?” The harvest is plentiful and the labors are few. Come on, everybody in the game now. And this to me is the problem, is somewhere and likely and usually it is in childhood, a lie gets planted that you believe you are one of three things, which is what or all, which is psych 101. This is just common knowledge. I am helpless. I am worthless. I’m unlovable. Those are the three primary lies that humans believe about their identity.
And we can get into the theology of this, why this is a Christian book and not a self-help book. The lie under the lie of those things is that you could be in control, not helpless. You could be liked by everybody, that you finally would arrive at that, or that you could finally do something important enough or big enough or successful enough that you would finally matter and not be worthless. So that would be the world’s answers to that. And that’s a scarier lie that the enemy tells all of us, even as believers. And so we strive, we use all our energy to try to make sure that these things happen. But we know in John 8, scripture tells us that we will know the truth and the truth will set us free. But I really believe that the truth isn’t just a Bible verse, right? The truth is a person and the truth is a kingdom. And the more you practice living in that kingdom and the more you practice walking with that person, Jesus, that the way of living in the world feels silly. It just feels silly. And so this week, I’m launching a book and I mentioned to a girlfriend vulnerably, this was hard for me to say, that I was nervous. Several of my last books have hit big lists and been very successful. And I’m nervous about that coming up and if that’s going to happen. And she starts laughing really hard and she loves Jesus and is very missional.
And she said, “Well, if you keep hitting New York Times, people aren’t going to like you.” And I just started dying laughing. She was like, “It’s just getting annoying.” And what she did, it wasn’t about New York Times and it wasn’t about people not liking me, it was about, “This is a stupid game.”

David Platt:
Yes, yes. Why am I even in-

Jennie Allen:
This is a stupid game.

David Platt:
It’s not a game-

Jennie Allen:
Now there’s a real game.

David Platt:
… worth playing. Yes. Yep.

Jennie Allen:
I feel it in a room.

Austin Huang:
Yeah.

Jennie Allen:
I baptized a girl that had been an atheist, a woman who had been an atheist her entire life. And I saw her husband weeping saying, “I prayed for this for a decade, prayed for this for so long.” That’s a real game. And so I know that. When I’m saying that out loud and when I do care about it and I will and you better believe I’ll feel something if I do and if I don’t, but I know the game. I know the game I’m in. And the more I stay in that world, that kingdom, and live for that kingdom and pray for that kingdom and think about that kingdom and fight for the glory of God and that kingdom and the good of people and that kingdom, the less I really care.

Austin Huang:
Its so good.

Jennie Allen:
And I get worse over there, right? I don’t have to fight for it. I don’t have to hit it off.

David Platt:
Yes.

Jennie Allen:
Over there in that kingdom I get to be loved completely to the point of he died for me and he delights over me. And today, I’m going, I’m going to speak at IF:Gathering and that used to make me anxious. It’s a lot of people through the camera. It’s a lot of people. And I lead the thing and I’m hosting and I’m doing all these moments and I used to feel pressured by that. And now because I’ve lived more in this kingdom, I’m kind of like, “What are we doing tonight, God?” I’m prepared. It’s not that. It’s just, “I can’t wait. I can’t wait to see what you’re going to do.” And there’s so much freedom in that kingdom.

David Platt:
Yes.

Jennie Allen:
And I love riding with God. I love being on the back of a lion. I love seeing what he sees and doing what he wants to do. And I never would have dreamed up everything I’ve just shared on this podcast. None of it would I have pictured, none of it.

David Platt:
Yes.

Jennie Allen:
None of it. When that little girl is confessing and pouring out her heart on her bathroom floor, none of these things could I have dreamed or probably would have wanted to do. I probably would have been too people pleaser. I didn’t want to lead a Bible study of 200 people. So isn’t he fun? And I think I live now just with an ease and a joy that it’s just up to him.

Austin Huang:
Amen.

Jennie Allen:
And I say, “Sometimes I feel like he asked me to play in the NBA and I’m still just Jennie Allen from Texas, white girl, five four.” But I’m playing in the NBA and I’m dunking and I’m watching all this happen, but I’m very well aware of the discrepancy between Jennie Allen and white five four girl and NBA player. I’m very clear. And that gap to me is fun. That gap to me is like, “Let’s see, God, how you’re going to gather the whole global church on every continent. Let’s see, let that be fun.”

Austin Huang:
Oh, man.

David Platt:
So good. So its Jennie Allen, Lucy in Narnia. Riding on Aslan just experiencing all of it.

Jennie Allen:
Its fun. I will highly recommend it. Everyone should say yes to God.

David Platt:
Yes, that’s the thing. That’s the thing. Not every story… Yeah.

Austin Huang:
It’s an adventure.

David Platt:
Not every story is a Jennie Allen story. It’s not an Austin’s story. It’s not a me story. That’s the beauty.
He’s got rides for all of us. And yeah, in the middle of it, and we referenced it, we’ve talked about… I love the way you put it earlier just in our friendship, there’s been dreaming and there’s been just walking through dark days. And so it’s not…

Jennie Allen:
Yeah. I mean, again, I always say in Narnia, it’s like the beavers talk, but the witches and monsters are real. So there is a real game. And I think more than anything, the enemy, The Lie You Don’t Know You Believe is, it’s the oxygen you’re breathing. You don’t even know that pressure that you feel, you don’t have to feel it. You don’t even know that measuring up your entire life and trying to earn love, you don’t have to feel it. You don’t know. You don’t know you don’t have to play the game until you see it all. And then when you see it, it’s not that it never creeps back in, it’s that I name it really quickly. So when I feel myself feeling pressure, I know that that’s probably a good sign that I’ve shifted kingdoms. I’m back trying to please-

David Platt:
So good.

Jennie Allen:
And one thing I learned in this book, in this project, is the enemy’s more powerful than we give him credit for. That’s one thing I’m going to talk about tonight is just there’s his voice, his power on earth, it certainly has limits, but it’s functioning in an unrestrained way that one day it will not. Today, he has more power and he’s good at his job. He’s really good at his job. And so I think to know what it is that you’ve been believing, that you, at 5 years old, 10 years old, whatever age you were, kind of snuck in because something happened, something was said, never forgotten it, and it’s just grown. And it’s so funny, I’ll talk to people and they’ll bring out their evidence. “Let me show you.”

David Platt:
They have it.

Jennie Allen:
They have it. And of course, because the world’s broken and we are unloved at times and we don’t measure up at times and we are helpless against diagnosis and things. You can show the evidence. I’m just saying, God’s saying you just don’t have to live for that. That’s not the end.

Austin Huang:
I’m so inspired by that. I mean, just the truth of… We talked about this on another episode, something I felt like the Lord is saying, It’s like, “The devil himself doesn’t even believe the lies he says about you.”

Jennie Allen:
Yeah, that’s right.

Austin Huang:
So why should we? Why should we believe the lies that he is saying?

Jennie Allen:
He knows what he’s doing.

Austin Huang:
He knows what he’s doing. He’s the father of lies, he’s the deceiver, the accuser. But we have one who is way more powerful, who stands in the gap, who intercedes for us on our behalf, Jesus. Man, Jennie, we could sit here for hours-

David Platt:
Totally. And make sure to emphasize The Lie You Don’t Know You Believe.

Austin Huang:
Go and get it.

David Platt:
Find it, fight it, and live free. And I love that, yes, this book’s coming out right now. It’ll be out by the time this is… But your zeal to talk about… “Yes, you want to talk about what’s written in here, but I want to talk about what God’s doing around the world. I want to talk about riding on the back of Aslan.” So we honor you. Praise God for his grace in your life. And you and Zach in the journey, in the yes that’s led to a thousand other steps since then. Honor God’s grace in your team, some of whom are sitting behind this camera right now and all that they do. Yeah. And just treasure friendship, partnership together in the gospel.

Jennie Allen:
Me too. Love you, guys. I’m grateful. Great to meet you, Austin.

Austin Huang:
You too.

David Platt:
Would you pray-

Jennie Allen:
I’d love to.

David Platt:
… for everybody that’s listening to this right now and just for the fruit of the Spirit to lead in God, whatever he wants to do from this conversation.

Jennie Allen:
Holy Spirit, we thank you that you are on the move.

Austin Huang:
Thank you, Jesus.

Jennie Allen:
We thank you that many are receiving the gospel.

Austin Huang:
Yes.

Jennie Allen:
And we pray that we wouldn’t miss the good works that you prepared in advance for us to do.

David Platt:
Yeah. Yes, God.

Jennie Allen:
God, I imagine that y’all are in heaven, angels and Trinity just cheering right now, leaning forward the cloud of witnesses, just leaning forward saying, “Come on, team. Come on, team 2026. Bring it home.” And I don’t know when you’re coming. I just know that we want to live as if it’s tomorrow. We want to give everything we’ve got for your kingdom. And so for every person listening that feels like they’ve held back or reserved something for some reason. And a lot of times that’s a lie that we believed. It’s like, “I just don’t think I would have a part. I just don’t think God could use me. I don’t think you have anything special for me or I’m in this horrible marriage or I’m in this difficult season with my kids.” Whatever it is, Lord, I just pray that you would give them vision today.
Even as they’re driving, as they’re walking. God, I pray for a vision from you, God, to just… What neighbor should they call? What little part of their life that they’re already in that they’d never seen as a mission field, could they see as a mission field? God, I just pray for every person, God, we would just lay everything we got. And I pray that again for myself. Where, God, do you have good works that I just have missed because I’m looking to the left when there’s something to the right? Show us. We don’t have to feel stressed by that. God, we don’t have to feel anxious about that. We get to just rest that your Spirit can lead us if we are surrendered.

David Platt:
Yeah, God.

Jennie Allen:
And so I pray for more surrender for the church.

David Platt:
Yes.

Austin Huang:
Yes.

Jennie Allen:
God, I pray that every person that can hear our voice, God, would get on their knees today like I did on the bathroom floor and just say, “I’m in. I will do whatever you want me to do. I will sell whatever you want me to sell. I will go wherever you want me to go and I will talk to whatever neighbor you want me to talk to,” because God, let’s be real, a lot of times that’s where the life change happens. It’s where you’ve set us. So God, would you make our hearts right? I pray even for a repentance right now, I pray that the church even today, as they’re listening, God, would just say the thing they’re scared to say. God, they would text it to a friend. They would say it out loud to their spouse. They would say the thing they’re afraid to say, God, because the power, the darkness, binds us in isolation and silence. So I pray today that things that need to be named would be named.

Austin Huang:
Yes, God.

Jennie Allen:
God, we thank you that we get to co-labor with you. Thank you-

David Platt:
Yes, yes.

Jennie Allen:
… that you have invited us into your mission.

David Platt:
Amen.

Jennie Allen:
So fun. In his name, amen.

David Platt:
Amen.

Austin Huang:
Thanks so much for listening to this episode of Everyday Radical. We pray that it encouraged you in many ways. We do this every single week, so be sure to subscribe or follow to not miss the next episode. We’ll see you then.