Our Last Great Hope

Pastor Ronnie Floyd is rabidly passionate about the Great Commission (in a good way). He's something of an expert on the subject: In addition to considering it his own personal mission statement and that of the large church he leads in Arkansas, Floyd spent a year doing intensive research on the GC for the Southern Baptist Convention's Great Commission Task Force. In an effort to share his passion and broad knowledge with others, he has distilled all the essentials into a single enthusiastic call to action entitled Our Last Great Hope.

Floyd writes with unbridled energy and an unselfish spirit; he wants everyone to share the same thrilling move-of-God adventure he's on. I was surprised and impressed by the insights he drew from verses so over-quoted as to be rote and ignorable in other contexts. I also gave high marks for his courage to tackle notoriously touchy subjects like money.


Having dealt with poorly run churches, however, I cringed at his suggestion that thousands of new churches need to planted. I struggled with his singularly outward perspective; training was in order on how to evangelize, but no mention was made of crucial issues often ripping apart the church such as building strong marriages or handling finances (beyond tithing).
Anyone interested in missions or church leadership would do well to read this book. Cynics will either be humbled or need to read it with a grain of salt.