Louie Giglio

Louie Giglio
ChurchPassion City Church
Personal details
Born (1958-06-30) June 30, 1958 (age 65)
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
DenominationBaptist (Southern Baptist Convention)
ParentsLouie F. Giglio Jr., Martha Giglio
SpouseShelley Giglio
OccupationPastor
Author
Speaker
EducationGeorgia State University
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary—Master of Divinity
Baylor University

Louie Giglio (pronounced GIG-leo; born June 30, 1958) is an American Christian pastor. He is the leader of Passion City Church in Atlanta. The founder of the Passion Movement, he is an author and public speaker.

Biography

Giglio was born in Atlanta on June 30, 1958, and is of Italian descent.[1] He grew up in the Atlanta suburb of Smyrna and graduated from Campbell High School. He studied at Georgia State University and earned a Bachelor of Arts, then he studied at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and earned a Master of Theology.[2] Later he went to Grace Theological Seminary to pursue a Doctor of Ministry degree.[3]

Ministry

After finishing seminary, Giglio and his wife Shelley began a weekly Bible study called Choice at Baylor University where he was doing graduate studies in 1985.[4] After several years over ten percent of the Baylor student body was attending the weekly gathering, and Giglio's heart for the significance of what he refers to as the "university moment" was set.[5][6]

In 1995, Giglio decided to move from his home in Waco to Atlanta because of his father's failing health,[3] although his father died from a brain infection and a heart attack prior to their arrival in Atlanta. Around that time during a flight from Texas to Georgia, Louie was inspired to start a national gathering of college students, which would later become Passion Conferences.[6] The first Passion Conference was held in 1997 in Austin, Texas with about 2,000 university students in attendance.[7] Since then Passion continues to host annual gatherings in the United States and around the world for college students.[7] Until the founding of Passion City Church, Giglio was a longtime member of North Point Community Church.

In 2000, he founded the record label Sixsteps Records.[8]

Giglio wrote[9] Not Forsaken, Goliath Must Fall, Indescribable: 100 Devotions about God & Science,The Air I Breathe: Worship as a Way of Life, and I Am Not But I Know I Am: Welcome to the Story Of God. Giglio's latest release, Not Forsaken, debuted at number 3 on the Publishers Weekly Trade Paper Frontlist,[10] and ranked number 6 on the May 2019 Religion Nonfiction bestsellers list.[11] His previous trade release, Goliath Must Fall, made the Publishers Weekly bestseller list in May 2017 [12] and was #31 in the list of the top 100 bestselling Christian books of 2017.[13]

Controversies

On January 11, 2013, Giglio withdrew from the second Obama inauguration at which he was due to deliver a benediction after it became known in a sermon he delivered in the 1990s he urged Christians to oppose the "aggressive agenda" of the gay rights movement. He described homosexuality as a "sin in the eyes of God, and it is sin in the word of God".[14]

In a conversation about racism with Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy and rapper Lecrae in June 2020, Giglio suggested that Americans replace the phrase "white privilege" with "white blessing". He said that the "blessing of slavery" had built up the framework for the world that white people live in. Giglio issued an apology on Twitter for his comments.[15]

Writings

References

  1. ^ "Louie Giglio Artist Profile". NewsReleaseTuesday. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
  2. ^ "Louie Giglio Books and Ministry". Christ Notes. 2007. Archived from the original on 23 February 2008.
  3. ^ a b Givens, Joshua. (August 13, 2008) Associated Content. Louie Giglio - A Brief Biography on the Renowned Christian Author and Speaker.
  4. ^ Barry Alfonso, The Billboard Guide to Contemporary Christian Music, Billboard Books, USA, 2002, p. 45
  5. ^ Farias, Andree. (April 25, 2005) Christianity Today. A Passion for the Christ - Thousands of college students attend Passion worship conferences annually. We talked to the guy behind it all, Louie Giglio, a former campus pastor with a heart on fire for God.
  6. ^ a b "Louie Giglio: The Heart Behind the Passion". CBN.com - The Christian Broadcasting Network. 28 September 2009. Retrieved 2018-03-23.
  7. ^ a b "Louie Giglio Q&A: Millennials May Be Leaving the Church But They're Walking Toward Christ (Part 1)". Retrieved 2018-03-23.
  8. ^ Monique M. Ingalls, Singing the Congregation: How Contemporary Worship Music Forms Evangelical Community, Oxford University Press, USA, 2018, p. 70
  9. ^ "May Religion Bestsellers: Louie Giglio Breaks Top Four; 'The Broken Road' Takes #1". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2018-03-23.
  10. ^ "Bestselling author and Passion movement founder Louie Giglio's new book "Not Forsaken" hits No. 3 on the Publishers Weekly bestseller list". B&H Publishing. 2019-05-20. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  11. ^ "May Religion Bestsellers: The Rational Bible is Back; Richard Paul Evans Tops". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  12. ^ "May Religion Bestsellers: Louie Giglio Breaks Top Four". Publishers Weekly. 8 June 2017.
  13. ^ "ECPA Bestsellers 2017 Books". Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). 10 February 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  14. ^ Stolberg, Sheryl Gay (January 10, 2013). "Minister Backs Out of Speech at Inaugural". The New York Times. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
  15. ^ Morris, Seren (June 16, 2020). "Atlanta Megachurch Pastor Wants to Use the Phrase 'White Blessings' Instead of 'White Privilege'". Newsweek.
  16. ^ "Goliath Must Fall". Archived from the original on February 4, 2018. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
  17. ^ "Bestselling author and Passion founder Louie Giglio Releases new book "Not Forsaken," More Passion resources to come this year". B&H Publishing. 2019-02-05. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  18. ^ "Never Too Far". Christian Post. Retrieved 2020-03-04.

External links