"Our Last Great Hope", by Ronnie Floyd

SYNOPSIS: You know it when you read it. You know, that book that is absolutely timely in getting into your hands. That was “Our Last Great Hope” for me. So, maybe I liked it with a little extra measure because I as ready for it. That said, I really liked this book, and I think Ronnie Floyd did an outstanding job in writing this one.


The premise of “Our Last Great Hope” is that the world is running on empty and has lost hope. But “the fulfillment of the great commission is our last great hope.” (p. xxvii) What would our world, our society, or cities – heck, our churches – look like if Evangelical Christians took the command of Jesus to “go and make disciples” seriously?

What would happen if you prayed daily for God to put people in your life who need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ? What if you prepared yourself daily in reading/study of God’s word? What if you talked Jesus every day with your children? It’s likely we would see a far different place than we see before us today.

Ronnie Floyd inspires readers not just to THINK missionally, but to ACT missionally. He suggests several practical, simple – yet sometimes bold – ways we can take the hope of Jesus Christ to a dark, lost world. And it all starts with you and me. “…don’t sit around and wait until we feel supernatural leading…The Great Commission is always God’s will” (p.113).

DISLIKES:  The one and only disagreement (and I am truly reluctant to call it a “dislike” in my heading) I have with Floyd is one aspect he suggests. “I believe that perhaps the most strategic solution to the challenge of the Great Commission lies in churches that do not yet exist…In a typical American city, we need many thousands of new churches” (p.67). With the abundance of churches in America – sometimes even multiple churches on one street alone, depending on the city – one of the LAST things I think we need is MORE churches.

Instead, what I think we need more of – and this is one other point Floyd stresses throughout the book – is missions-minded Evangelicals whose aim it is to take the gospel into their own world, if not further. I simply don’t think more churches is what we need, especially when we see more and more close each day because Americans like to “church hop”; and the ones that remain in existence do so primarily through “births among existing members” without “plans to go out and make disciples” (p.134).

CONCLUDING ‘HAT TIP’:  The most powerful statement comes near the end of the book, when Floyd says, “Today’s churches are easy to criticize, easy to ridicule, because too many of them are fruitless and fearful. They have meetings, members, programs, and fancy websites. But if there is no Spirit-driven boldness, no dynamic growth, no weekly pattern of people coming to Christ, then the world has no respect for them” (p. 209)

RATING:  What else can I say? 5 stars and 2 thumbs up for Ronnie Floyd’s, “Our Last Great Hope”. Well done, brother! Pick one up today and be inspired to share the gospel with your world.


DISCLAIMER: I was given this book free of charge by Thomas Nelson Publishers in exchange for my unbiased review of it. All opinions in this review are mine. I have not been threatened, coerced, or promised kickbacks in return for providing a positive review.