Book Review: Goliath Must Fall by Louie Giglio

In the summer of 1992, I attended my first youth camp, where the camp pastor was Louie Giglio. This was before he founded the Passion conferences which are now a worldwide phenomenon. I loved his preaching and had the privilege of listening to Louie many times whether in person or through an audio cassette of his messages from Choice Ministries at Baylor University which my church happily provided from free for anyone who wanted to listen to them.

Years later, I was delight to attend the Passion conference in 1998 where I heard Louie preach again and had my first experience hearing John Piper, which is the only time I have seen him in person. Then Louie started writing books which, in my mind, were great books. Passion started being more well known throughout the church and the country. They produced several worship albums and many worship came from that conference that now have their own albums such as Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman.

Over the years, it appeared that Louie's theology seem to becoming a little more watered down. At first, I did not want to believe it. Then I read and reviewed, The Comeback, which was a mess in terms of theology and writing. In that review, I shared my expectations were high for the big that turned out to be a big disappointment, which leads us to Louie's latest book, Goliath Must Fall. My first thought was is this going to be based on David and Goliath. I was correct. What Louie tells us is all of us have giants we need to face with the help of Jesus. One thing he does mention, which I am glad he said it, we are not David in the story. In fact, he points to Jesus as David in the story of David and Goliath.

The whole book seemed to a mixture of sound teaching and American Christianity where we stare at the giants and try to overcome them. There are many places in the book where Louie says that we must make Jesus famous. That is true. The Christian is to spread the fame of Jesus throughout the ends of the earth. There are many places in the book where is sounds like he is taking a page from Steven Furtick where it is a bunch of word of faith non-sense.

Overall, this book was written better than Giglio's previous book, but it is one I would not recommend.

Thanks Booklook Bloggers for letting me review this book.

Book Review: The Comeback by Louie Giglio

I remember the first church camp I attended during my teenage years. We were at San Marcos Baptist Academy where our church and a few other churches join together for worship, prayer, and reading the Bible. The camp pastor was Louie Giglio who spoke with such a passion for God that I never heard before.

Over the years, Louie became one of my favorite Bible teachers. I would get copies of his messages from Choice Ministries, which took place at Baylor University, and listen to them while laying on my bed. In 1998, I attended Passion in Austin, Tx which was one of the first Passion conferences before it became a household name in the church. Louie continued to preach with the same fire he had when I first saw him.

A lot has changed for the past two decades. Louie became the pastor of Passion City Church, the Passion conference has grown they have to have it in separate cities, and the conference has produced worship anthems that are sung in the church. Louie has written a few books, and The Comeback is one of them.

When picking up this book, my expectations were very high. I know Louie to be a man after God's heart and speak God's truth. This book does communicate that Jesus is enough as we live on earth and reminds us that Jesus died for our sins. However, this book had the affect of a self-help book. Louie talks about how God has a comeback ready for you when you are down and going through a trial.

He shares stories of how God took care of the Passion ministry, which I believe God does take care of His people in ways that blows our minds, but the way it was communicated almost sounded like I was reading something from Joel Osteen. There was hardly any structure in the book, in other words, Louie's writings were scattered all over the place.

He even wrote that the Resurrection was the greatest comeback of all. What? I don't remember seeing that in the Bible. I remember seeing that Jesus was "raised for our justification" (Romans 4:25). In reading 1 Corinthians 15, it says if there is no resurrection, our faith useless and we are still in our sins. I don't see where Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit calling Jesus' resurrection a comeback.

This book, while sharing that Jesus did die on the cross for our sins, was no where near all about Jesus. I was greatly disappointed in this book. I almost wanted to write "Farewell, Louie Giglio" at the end of book. Don't waste your time reading this one.

I received this book from Booklook Bloggers for the purpose of review.

Book Review: Passion: The Bright Light of Glory by Louie Giglio

In Christmas of 1997, my parents gave me an incredible Christmas gift. It was a ticket (no, not a speeding ticket) with a receipt showing they paid my way to attend Passion in Austin, Tx. It was an incredible gift because I have heard of this conference from my friends at Sagemont Church and the fact that this was started by one of my favorite Bible teachers, Louie Giglio. Louie Giglio was the camp pastor of my first youth camp in the summer of my freshman year in High School just before I got saved.

The Passion conference has grown over the years which also includes a number of worship CD's including the one from 1998 which I still listen to this day. One thing about Passion '98 that stood out was my first encounter with John Piper. I had no idea who this guy was or what in the world he was preaching because he seemed to present God as an arrogant deity, which, thankfully, I know now, that was not the case.

There have been many messages from Passion that have been dubbed as one of the greats by not only those in attendance but also by Louie Giglio. He has taken a collection of the best talks of Passion, including a few of his own, and have turned it into a collection in one volume titled, Passion: The Bright Light of Glory. The book started out with the history of the Passion conference and how it all came together. The rest of the book are talks from different conference that featured not only Louie Giglio and John Piper, but also Francis Chan, Judah Smith, Beth Moore, and Christine Caine. A very interesting collection of speakers from various theological studies as well as preaching styles. Probably the best chapter in the book was from John Piper when he preached, what many considered one of his best sermons, "Boasting Only in the Cross," which was given at the One Day event that happened at the Shelby Farms in Tennessee.

If you are a fan of Passion, this is a perfect book for you to have in case you lost your notes on certain sermons from a few of the teachers. If you are looking for a deep theological book, this would not be the book for you with the exception of Piper and Chan. In case you were wondering if that sermon from John Piper during Passion '98 was in the book. Sorry, it was not. I am still looking for it.

Thanks Booklook Bloggers for letting me review this book.