It costs about a million dollars to drill an oil well in Pennsylvania. Part of this cost is the drilling platform. With the platform in place, you can create amazing pressure that will split a seam deep in the earth and the valuable fuel will be released. It costs about $50 per barrel to get this oil and gas out of the ground. With the price of oil where it is today, the platforms stand as ghosts against the grey winter sky.
There are 15 viable platforms for social media and new ones are being created each and every day. The communication industry has grown so rapidly that the IPOs stack up in line to gain investor dollars. These communication systems are only as good as the platform they are on. Platforms for visibility, viability, and profitability are an essential in business development.
Each message is looking for the best possible platform. In the year 2000, we at SEAPC looked for platforms for relevance for our Christian message. In those days we realized that to be relevant in the global community we had to do more than speak once a week to a basically captive 90-percent Christian audience.
Our board members sought the Lord and began to study viable nonprofits to discover the positive and negatives of some of the largest international organizations. Through prayer, we discovered the State of the World Congress, which produced a report identifying the three greatest challenges of the first 100 years of the new millennium.
They were health, education, and parenting. To these we added micro-economic development. These have become the four platforms upon which we demonstrate the love of Jesus in practical ways. We heal the sick, educate the unlearned, care for orphaned and abandoned children, and help local entrepreneurs understand the Judeo-Christian ethic that will bring them prosperity instead of poverty.
The corners of this platform are evangelism, discipleship, leadership development, and church planting. “Fu,” the Chinese symbol shown here, is the picture God has given us for platforms. The sign on the left is “God” and the sign on the right has one voice speaking from heaven to the field. The field is in four sections. As we celebrate Chinese New Year, you will see this symbol in your favorite restaurant. It is the Chinese character for prosperity.
The first mention of a platform in the Bible is found in Nehemiah chapter 8. The Book of the Law has been discovered during the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Nehemiah orders a platform to be built, and Ezra and the elders read from the platform to the people. As they hear God’s word they begin to weep, but Ezra gave them the instruction in Nehemiah 8:10,
“Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
The South East Asia Prayer Center now has a global platform from which we can proclaim the Word of the Lord to the nations and deliver the portions believers have sent for those for whom nothing is prepared. On each page of these monthly magazines you will hear of the success we are enjoying on these platforms. If you would like to send a portion, or would like to come and perform your God given talent as part of a short term team, or as a special assignment, let us know. You are more than welcome to participate on the platforms.
