Every day we encounter scores of people headed to an eternity without God. What will it take to wake us up to their desperate need for a Savior?
While the earth's time clock ticks away, well-meaning Christians go to church, pay their tithes, and pray for foreign missionaries—going through the motions of Christian life as millions face an eternity without God. If heaven is indeed for real, and only those who have put their faith in Christ will be given entrance, shouldn't we be making the most of every opportunity to share the Gospel, the last great hope for all the world?
Join pastor Ronnie Floyd as he challenges readers to face reality and begin a global movement to reach the lost. He says, "God is calling us to an awakening regarding his most urgent command found in Matthew 28:19 to go and make disciples of all nations. This Great Commission is the compelling charge given to us with divine authority by our Commander in Chief, Jesus Christ."
Our Last Great Hope will move us beyond casual and theoretical talk about the Great Commission and lead us into a Great Awakening.
“This book could revolutionize the way we think. . . . Read it and be inspired, changed, and equipped.”
—Bruce Wilkinson, best-selling author of The Prayer of Jabez
“Floyd challenges us to engage the next generation . . . a must-read.”
—Greg Surratt, lead pastor of Seacoast Church and author of IR-REV-REND
“This book inspires me to do extraordinary things through my most ordinary life. Our Last Great Hope should be your fi rst required read.”
—Leonard Sweet, best-selling author of Jesus Manifesto
“Our Last Great Hope pushes us beyond predictability and points us to a deep, intimate knowledge of why we are here.”
—Ed Young Jr., pastor of Fellowship Church and author of Outrageous, Contagious Joy
“I’ll be pulling this book off my shelf again and again.”
—Pete Wilson, author of Plan B and Empty Promises
“This book is an energizing wake-up call to today’s churches.”
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Dr. Ronnie Floyd, senior pastor of Cross Church, Northwest Arkansas, is the author of 19 books and the featured speaker of "Ronnie Floyd," a television program available on a CBS affiliate. In 2001 his church became a multi-campus ministry with messages broadcast live worldwide via the Internet. He is also a featured speaker at various national pastor's and church related conferences. Floyd and his wife, Jeana, have two sons and five grandchildren.
BIOGRAPHY DR. RONNIE W. FLOYD Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church of Springdale and The Church at Pinnacle Hills, AR
Born: Ronnie W. Floyd, November 11, 1955, Gonzales, Texas
Married: Jeana Floyd on December 31, 1976
Children: Josh and wife, Kate: Athletic Director and Head Football Coach at Shiloh Christian School in Northwest Arkansas. Nick and wife, Meredith: Associate Pastor-Preaching Assistant, First Baptist Church of Springdale and The Church at Pinnacle Hills
Grandchildren: Peyton Elliott, born to Josh and Kate on September 22, 2005, Reese Caroline, born to Nick and Meredith on May 24, 2007, Parker Thomas, born to Josh and Kate on August 8, 2007, Beckham Grant, born to Nick and Meredith on November 19, 2009 and Jack Bailey Floyd, born to Josh and Kate on June 8, 2010
Speaking:
Featured preacher on "Ronnie Floyd" television program, reaching into Northwest Arkansas through Family 45 and an ABC affiliate.
Sunday a.m. worship service is broadcast live worldwide via the Internet on www.fbcs.net or churchph.com
Southern Baptist Convention Sermon in New Orleans Super Dome - 1996
Featured speaker at state evangelism conferences, pastor's conferences, state conventions, national prayer and fasting conferences, and church growth conferences across the country
Promise Keepers "Stand in the Gap" in Washington, DC - 1998; preached to an estimated 1.2 million men
Promise Keepers Stadium Rally Speaker 1998 - 2001
700 Club-- 1996, 1997, 2000
Focus on the Family - 1996, 1997, 2000
Featured on front page of The New York Times, February 8, 1998.
First Baptist Church - Springdale was the featured "Church of the Week" on the 700 Club, on July 24, 2000
Participates and speaks at Global Pastors' Network Conferences
Impact 21; for owners of professional sports teams
Education:
Doctor of Ministry, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1983
Master of Divinity, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1980
Bachelor of Science, Howard Payne University, May, 1978
Honorary Doctorate in Sacred Theology, Southwest Baptist University, 1990
Chairman, Executive Committee, Southern Baptist Convention, June,1995 thru June, 1997 (Served as a member of this committee from 1988-1998)
Program and Structure Study Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention which restructured the entire Southern Baptist Convention
Search Committee for the President-CEO of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention
SBC Liason Committee of the Executive Committee with the Baptist General Convention of Virginia *Served as officer of Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention
Executive Board, Arkansas Baptist State Convention
Past President of the Pastors' Conference, Arkansas Baptist State Convention, 1989
Board of Trustees, GuideStone Financial Resources, June, 2001 - June, 2009, serving on Administrative Committee, Executive Compensation Committee, and Vision Committee
Board of Trustees, Liberty University, October, 2002 - present, serving as Chairman of the Liberty Theological Seminary Subcommittee Chairman, Great Commission Resurgence Task Force, Southern Baptist Convention, June 2009 - June 2010
Places of Ministry:
First Baptist Church - Cherokee, Texas (1976-1978)
First Baptist Church - Milford, Texas (1978-1981)
First Baptist Church - Palacios, Texas (1981-1984)
First Baptist Church - Nederland, Texas (1984-1986)
First Baptist Church - Springdale, Arkansas (1986-present)
Dr. Floyd's ministry as a local church pastor has been one of commitment to evangelism, discipleship, and the advancement of the gospel to America and around the world. In Dr. Floyd's almost 24 years of ministry in Springdale, the church's membership has grown from 3,700 to over 20,000 total members. The church has baptized over 16,000 persons in these almost 24 years. In August of 2001, the church began an additional location, The Church at Pinnacle Hills, which he pastors weekly in addition to the First Baptist Church of Springdale, Arkansas. Since the Pinnacle Hills location was added, the church has planted an additional 34 churches regionally, nationally, and internationally. Dr. Floyd also serves as the Host-Leader-Speaker of the "The Summit: The Business-Persons Luncheon of Northwest Arkansas," equipping an estimated 400-700 businesspersons weekly. In the present year, the ministry consists of one church meeting in many locations, with 16 sites, two campuses, and 15 church plants being invested in and launched globally.
"Our Last Great Hope: Awakening the Great Commission" by Dr. Ronnie Floyd is supposed to be a book about participating in the Great Commission. Evangelism is at the core of our mission as Christians, and Dr. Floyd put together this book as a result of his appointment as chairman of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force of the Southern Baptist Convention.
It's difficult to state how disappointed I was in "Our Last Great Hope." I took the time to skim through the various endorsements at the front, and with the hyperboles given by the dozens of scholars & pastors, I prepared myself to be challenged & inspired with participation in the Great Commission. I thought there would be some good in-depth doctrine about evangelism, or at the very least there would be some new ground-breaking ideas that would example how to share our faith.
Sadly, there was little to none of it. Out of the entire book, there were two very good thoughts: (1) The Great Commission is not either/or when it comes to the question of global vs. local outreach. It's both/and. Jesus didn't give us the opportunity to choose between the two. (2) If we want to shut the mouths of the critics of Christianity, the best way is to act boldly in the Spirit & do great things.
Obviously, none of that is new - but it's certainly a good reminder to the Body of Christ. The rest of the book was mostly filler - a bunch of too-often told stories that nearly every evangelical believer has heard from the pulpit of the local church.
In addition, Dr. Floyd does himself a disservice by putting so much focus upon himself. I lost count of the number of times he referenced how he was chosen to head up the Great Commission committee from the International Mission Board of the SBC. Between that, all the name-dropping, and the focus on his own church in Arkansas, the book simply loses its focus from the intent of the Great Commission: to draw people to Jesus Christ.
The teaching on tithing was a bit unexpected, but flatly driven by guilt & sadly too typical of the teaching that people expect of evangelical mega-churches. The thrust was: give to us (the local church) all the money you can afford & more without question or any personal responsibility. Dr. Floyd does make a good point in that money is needed in order to spread the gospel, but he misses a great opportunity to drive this home with guilt-laden, out-of-context teaching.
I was hoping for a great book that would inspire people to share the gospel & give them the tools with which to do it. Unfortunately, this wasn't it.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."
Jesus loved people more than anyone in history, and He spoke on hell more than any person in the Bible; additionally He confronted people with the truth even if the truth was unpleasant and tough (see Matthew 23, etc.). He motivated people by using love conjoined with speaking the truth. When the whole truth was proclaimed by Christ, discomfort was often the result. Frequently, the church world gets very livid when one presses the truths of scripture imperatives on them; unless of course God is softening their heart. We are not to shrink back in declaring the whole counsel of God, even if it is unpleasant and hurts people's feelings. And in "Our Last Great Hope" Pastor Ronnie Floyd supplies truth: truth that is potent, challenging, tough, and life changing.
In our world we repeatedly meet numerous people on their way to eternal judgment without salvation. Herein is a forceful but compassionate call to help awaken the church to follow Christ as Floyd stirs our hearts to witness and live for God's glory.
Chapters include:
- Face the Truth about Yourself - Awaken the Church - Accept the urgency - Transform our families - Capture our communities - Talk to Jesus - And more.
In this new volume Pastor Floyd calls and leads the reader in joining the essential work of God to reach the lost and build strong faithful local churches. One of the ways for the Christian to be part of something bigger than themselves is to join in the work of the worldwide evangelism starting in your home, congregation, town, and beyond. This book is passionate, caring, stirring, and needed.
Remember that all thirty thousand religions, except the Christian Faith, believe that your future good works will help you get to heaven, nirvana, freedom from the karmic cycle, or paradise. Yet our good deeds can never erase bad deeds. If I murder nine people; later I help feed ten thousand people at a shelter; I am still a murderer. All men need God's full pardon by His grace through Christ. All believers have the grand blessing to explain to the lost that the only solution for their sin and iniquity is the atonement of Christ. The atonement expiates the sins of the Christian and rinses his transgressions from his spiritual record. Then God graciously imputes Christ's righteousness to the believer's account. We enter heaven free from past sins, and clothed in the righteousness of Christ through faith alone and by grace alone.
In this inspiring readable volume the reader finds an acutely counter-cultural theme that goes against the stream of much of the modern Christian and secular culture. It is this: follow Christ; do what He commanded; and what He modeled.
Floyd calls us to live differently--living in a way that is markedly different from those around us. He wants to see Christians forgoing much of what we consider important that's against Biblical truth in order to focus on Jesus and His word. He wants us to get outside the realm of what is comfortable and focus instead on sweeping obedience.
The major themes that focus on Scripture serve to create an influential and intensely challenging book. There is a very obvious commitment here to teach Scriptural principles from the Bible and to invite the reader to follow hard after Christ.
One small critique: the author should have employed more historical examples and illustrations. That aside, I found that "Our Last Great Hope" is a paradigm-forming resource with a message that Christians desperately need to hear. Too many of us are living too securely and too comfortably. The church could use a loving exhortation and Floyd conveys it effectively.
"Our Last Great Hope: Awakening the Great Commission" by Dr. Ronnie Floyd It was about a year ago that I received the book "Our Last Great Hope: Awakening the Great Commission" by Dr. Ronnie Floyd" as part of a blogger review program that I participate in. I did not find the book to be interesting, even though I firmly believe in the Great Commission, Matthew 28:18-20 "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.
I thought I would enjoy this book, the author is even a member of the same denomination as I am so I thought we would think alike. His basic ideas were fine, biblically based even, but the way he chose to play these out was not at all appealing to me.Dr. Floyd served as leader of the International Mission Board of the SBC. He is also pastor of a mega-church. I felt the author used himself as an example way too many times. I was turned off by his portrayal of his ways, his office, his church so I chose to put the book down and not finish it.
