This past week was the release of my new book, written with co-author Kate Motaung:

Influence: Building a Platform That Elevates Jesus (Not Me). 

This book is especially written for speakers, writers, and ministry leaders. If you know someone who serves in one of those ways, would you consider sharing this post with them? You can invite them to sign up for this 4-part Influence Blog Series and get FREE bonus materials!

Influence Quiz

If you haven’t done so yet, I invite you to TAKE THE INFLUENCE QUIZ. This post is a follow up on QUESTIONS 6 & 7 in the quiz:

6) To encourage platform growth, I believe it is right to:

• Ask for new opportunities to speak, lead, or write
• Ask to be recommended
• Pay for ads to promote my work
• Completely wait on God to open doors and grow my influence
• I’m not sure what is right, as a Christian

7) I believe that God:

• Wants me to be full-throttle strategic about marketing my message
• Wants me to completely trust Him (not myself) with my message’s reach
• I’m not sure what God wants me to do about strategy and marketing

The Wisdom of Proverbs 27:2

A woman once came up to talk with me after I spoke at an event. She wanted to let me know that she too was a speaker. “If you ever need to decline a request to speak, I am available! I have my messages ready to go! Just call me!” I don’t believe I kept her card.

Another time, I led a workshop at a conference and a woman came up afterward to encourage me and share several ways she had been impacted by what I said. Then later, in the food line, I heard someone saying to this same woman, “Your book changed my life! I bought it after hearing you speak…”

Overhearing this interchange, I was so surprised that the woman had not found a way to work into our conversation any information about her own speaking and writing success. The fact that she hadn’t caused me to admire her even more than I already did.

Notice the wisdom of Proverbs 27:2 which says, “Let another man praise you and not your own mouth.” But interestingly, the world seems to offer just the opposite “wisdom”.

The World’s Strategy Vs. God’s

“If you’re not letting people know who you are and what you’re good at, who will?” says the world. And often we—as Christians—cave in. We are pushy and rude. We clamor for attention. We market ourselves as if God wasn’t even part of our marketing team. Certainly not as if he were running it.

Friends, our God is amazingly strategic. He has plans to use you and I both in powerful ways, though we are probably nothing alike. We might have completely different personalities, backgrounds, experiences, and giftings—but this is exactly according to God’s plans. God knows that some will be drawn to the light through your message in a way that they’ll never be impacted by mine. And vice versa.

God strategically places each of us on our own unique platforms, and tells us to shine the one true Light and share the same truth in our own diverse, unique ways. How ridiculous, then, when we try to talk over each other or push each other out of the way.

God forgive us for adopting the world’s pushy, self-focused strategies. May we all be like Jesus who shined into the darkness but was not overcome by it (John 1:5).

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Continuing the Conversation

If you’d like to keep talking about this topic of platform-building as Christians, we hope you’ll consider our new book, Influence: Building a Platform That Elevates Jesus (Not Me) either to read on your own or with your writers/ speakers / leadership group.

Check out correlating resources and podcast interviews here.

Receive this 4-part Influence Blog series here.

I’m giving away a FREE COPY! To enter to win:

• Share this post
• Sign up for this 4-part Influence Blog Series
• Comment in response to the above questions from “Influence QUIZ”.