About Rod D. Martin
Praise for Rod D. Martin
Book Rod to Speak
Politics & Economics
Technology & Markets
Faith & Culture
by Ronnie Floyd
January 20, 2015
This is the State of the Union season, where our President will address the nation, Governors will address their respective states, and Mayors will address their respective cities. They will unveil their dreams for today and hopes for tomorrow.
Questions Worth Asking
Who is addressing the spiritual state of our nation? Are we really trusting only in governmental powers and processes to heal our land?
I love America and believe each citizen needs to be involved in charting the future of our nation. The Church has compartmentalized its faith from influencing our nation far too long, just as most of America’s leaders compartmentalize their faith from their politics. Today, our nation has become a product of this sad reality.
We need to return to the conviction that a faith worth believing is a faith worth dying for. Our faith cannot be checked at the door like a piece of luggage at an airport.
The Time is Now
The time is now for the Church to rise up and address the spiritual state of our nation. With compassion, we need to tell it like it is. With hope, we need to share it like we believe it. With fervency, we need to pray like God alone is our hope.
The time is now for our nation to recognize that we cannot fix ourselves. The signs of our brokenness are glistening in our dark world.
From the blatant destruction of the family, killing the unborn child, continuing racial tension, rebelling authority, the ongoing reality of poverty, the rising threat of our security, clear attacks against religious liberty, and of all things, the arrogance to believe the highest court in our land can rule on what the Bible says is genuine marriage, testifies just how broken we really are.
Where Do We Go From Here?
I am just one man and one pastor of a local church. I refuse to be silent and see our nation continue to struggle. Therefore, I humbly submit four actions that will change the spiritual state of our nation.
1. We need to repent.
Repentance occurs when we have a change of mind. This change of mind changes our behavior.
As a nation, we need to personally and collectively repent of our sins. We need to ask God for His free gift of forgiveness for the sins we have committed, resulting in change from that point forward.
2. We need to return to God.
America is a nation that was built on a deep belief in God. It was a desire for religious liberty that served as the catalyst for the beginning of our nation. While we have gone through ups and downs in our history, God has been very merciful and gracious toward us.
It is time to return to God. It is time that we stop making every issue about ourselves, posturing to insure we get our way. God’s way is the only way. There is no other. Anything less than God’s way diminishes our happiness, our fulfillment, and even our liberty.
3. We need the church to wake up.
Churches all over our nation need to wake up from the slumber we find ourselves in as a whole. We need pastors to return to their spiritual calling, be rekindled by the fire of God, and declare the hope we have in the Lord. As a pastor goes, so goes the church.
As the Church in America goes, so goes our nation. The evidence is overwhelming of just how broken we are as a nation. This is the greatest hour for the Church to rise up and be the Church. Never more has America needed the Church to lead forward, serving and influencing our communities with compassion and hope.
4. We need spiritual awakening.
In our history, there have been seasons of spiritual awakening that have influenced the spiritual state of our nation dramatically. Lives were changed and sub-cultures became different. Spiritual awakening is our greatest need in America today. This is why I have written a free e-book entitled Pleading With Southern Baptists that calls us to spiritual awakening.
There are many who have probably never even thought about this need. Others may feel we have gone too far. But I want to assure you; God can do more in a moment than we can ever do in a lifetime.
Wherever you are in life, would you just stop for one moment and pray something like this, “God, would you please bring spiritual awakening to America? It is our greatest need.”
America’s greatest need is the next great move of God. This is our hope.
Rod is one of our nation’s leading minds. He’s smart, original, and very committed—a combination that one rarely finds.
Rod Martin is a Reaganite-Thatcherite conservative…[and] a man who has spent much of his life ministering to and working for the benefit of others. I know Rod as an advocate for freedom, a leader who understands the real changes we need in Washington, and who has the drive and ability to make those changes happen.
Rod Martin is the kind of dynamic leader who has the knowledge, ability and experience to lead us successfully into the 21st Century. His vision for America is compelling.
Rod Martin literally wrote the book on excellence. Humble yet brilliant, a man of love and compassion, with penetrating clarity he illuminates the world around us, and we are both stirred and enlightened.
Rod Martin is a born leader and an outstanding political mind. Anyone who takes him on is going to have a serious fight on their hands.
Rod Martin is a man of uncommon vision and character. Ever since I first worked alongside Rod in the early days of PayPal, I’ve been struck by his powerful vision for the future. Rod understands the intersection of technology, politics and culture in a way that few others do.
Rod Martin wears with uncommon grace an uncanny ability to link his vigorous faith to the practical challenges of both the business world and the political arena. Yet the respect he shows for others carries a warmth and modesty that are both too rare among those who are strong advocates of feisty positions.
America badly needs more leaders who really get the future. We need more Rod Martins.
Rod Martin is a modern day philosopher-statesman. He is a capitalist intellectual, a conservative iconoclast, a gentle adversary and a kind prophet. He inspires us towards a fresh national vision built upon the original founding principles.
Rod Martin is not only effective and efficient, but he is also perceptive, wise and gracious. He gets things done. He is a great friend and a great ally.
Rod is one of the sharpest, most gracious men I know, and one of the most gifted political thinkers today. His ability to analyze issues and communicate thoughtful insights on them have earned him the respect of people across the political spectrum.
I am proud to have been Rod Martin’s friend for a quarter century, and I can tell you that he is one of the finest men and most outstanding leaders in our church and in our country today. He has a knack for turning everything he touches to success.
Rod Martin is a cornucopian entrepreneur and eutropic thinker whose influence radiates through an array of companies, institutions, movements and churches. A renaissance American, he is also a prolific friend of freedom and faith around the globe.
If Rod Martin represents the next generation of leaders, America has nothing to worry about.
A leader and a servant, in public life and in private, Rod Martin strides at the top of his profession, and has nowhere to go but up. He is in the truest sense of the word ‘outstanding’.
Rod Martin is undoubtedly one of the most accomplished thought leaders today. He is a wonderful mentor, a humble role model, and a deep inspiration for the next generation of scientific innovators and entrepreneurs.
Rod’s achievements pale beside his character and his brilliance. He sees what others can’t. He leads when others won’t.
Rod Martin is one of America’s finest young minds.
The future of technology is the future of America. Rod Martin sees that future clearly, and also sees how to shape it for the betterment of all. He is firmly rooted in the traditions of faith and patriotism that have made America great. That’s why he has made, and will make, so many outstanding contributions in so many areas.
