50 People Every Christian Should Know: Learning from Spiritual Giants of the Faith Paperback – April 1, 2009

What an incredible book! Very well-written and encouraging, this book clearly shares how to be used of God through the lives of men and women of God who gave themselves fully to the Lord’s work. This book was not exactly what I expected as some of those included do not believe the way “I” might expect them to believe. Warren Wiersbe does an amazing job of clarifying what they believed without censure and encouraging believers to read their writings for edification while being aware of the “chaff”. And isn’t that how we should always read?This book would probably best be read slowly; the chapters are short and full of much that can be pondered and prayed over. I read this in two days and loved every minute. Some of the people I knew about, some were completely unknown, and some were big surprises, but all were interesting and useful for personal spiritual growth. This book was republished in 2009 so many of the out of print books he mentions are probably even more difficult to find now—though possibly more are available online now as well.This title is directed to pastors, but I found it incredibly helpful to me as a believer who wants to live for Christ. These biographies clearly indicate that reading the Bible and praying daily and on purpose equal changed lives. Highly, highly recommend!

Would recommend to very American to read!

I really enjoyed this book, but I am not so sure it is for everyone. Although it is entitled 50 People Every Christian Should know, and in a sense these are people that Christians should know about, with a few exceptions this book is about preachers. And it was written by a preacher seemingly for other preachers. It is heavy (as heavy as these short bios can be) on sermon prep, homoletical technique and ecclesiastical politics. These are the seas I swim in (except for ecclesiastical politics, I am not important enough for that nor am I part of a denomination) so I found this book fascinating and helpful, but I am not sure my wife would have.For me the best part of the book was the bibliographic information that the author gives on each person discussed, both recommended biographies and recommended works. This book is a great gateway into deeper study of preachers of the past, especially those of 18th & 19th century England.

Warren Wiersbe had to be one of my favorite preachers of all time! This book is a masterpiece and as I mentioned in the title, it is a gold mine of resources. With names and publishers for you to search for P. D F files or old copies of the books...by or about these 50 people.

I just finished reading this book a short while ago, and what a treat it was. Wiersbe is a great author and does a good job with these 50 introductory biographies. 50 People Every Christian Should Know is a book devoted to 50 giants of the Christian faith, spanning the time from the Reformation to the last hundred years. Wiersbe gives us short biographies, as well as insight into their writings and works. He shows you how these men and women can be great examples for us today as we seek to live out the Faith which we hold too. Now don't make the mistake of thinking that this book is at all comprehensive. These are just people who the author chose because he thinks that they are important for us to know. He was not making an exhaustive list. Had he been making an exhaustive list he would not have left out someone like Martin Luther. (He does include Martin Luther's wife) No, this is not exhaustive, but it does include some of the greats, as well as some relatively unknowns. My personal favorites include C.H. Spurgeon, Robert Murray McCheyne, and Amy Carmichael. It's a great book and I highly recommend it to anyone, whether you are a biography buff or not. As extra incentive to get the book you should know that it comes with a "For Further Reading" list in the back where you are given books for the next step on your journey of studying these great men and women. Enjoy!

Loved reading this book. Recommended it to others.

50 People Every Christian Should Know: Learning from Spiritual Giants of the Faith, by Warren Wiersbe, a former pastor of Moody Church and a prolific author of over 150 books. The six or so pages devoted to each person was perfect length for reading prior to going to sleep, something I regularly did. A few of the entries are worth the entire price of the book, each providing a wonderful resource for further reading. If either in want of a thumbnail sketch of one of the `50' or in need of knowing what are some of the good biographies written about them, I would start with this book.Since the book's subtitle invites the reader to "learn from Spiritual Giants", I would have enjoyed Wiersbe digging a bit deeper into their struggles and how they overcame them, their overarching ministerial ethos, . . . Warren's writing is a bit simplistic and not as penetrating a character study as I would have liked. For example, Spurgeon's consistent bouts with depression is never mentioned, but a descent purview of his life is. Further, most of the stories are repetitious in style--a logistical, factual recounting of the person's upbringing, the books they wrote, the ministries they oversaw, etc. Each entry feels like it was churned out rather than steeped, a part of 150 books written rather than a lifetime's worth of meditation.Further, though Wiersbe does write about many famous Christians (Spurgeon, Moody, Taylor, et al.) people like Wesley, Knox, Calvin, et al. are strangely absent from this list. Perhaps this is so because he had other factors motivating him to pick the `50'. A very large percentage of the `50' were in someway associated either with D.L. Moody or the ministries attached to his legacy.

This is a book that every Christian needs to read. This book is all about how faithful God is. The Men and women in this book were willing to be the hands and feet of Jesus, and God used them all in mighty mighty ways.