That Old, Old Story

Just Give Me Jesus: A Heart's Cry for Personal Revival

by Anne Graham Lotz

Word, 300 pages

What's it like to be a woman preacher in the heart of evangelical Christianity? Ask Anne Graham Lotz--the daughter of evangelicalism's most famous preacher. (Yes,

Graham.) Her family name, along with her widely acclaimed ability as a preacher, gets her invited to speak even to audiences of suspicious male preachers. And Lotz seems capable of winning them over--sort of.

In her new book, Lotz reports that "one of the most beautiful compliments" she has ever received in ministry came from a pastor who had initially questioned whether a woman should be preaching. "Mrs. Lotz," she quotes the grateful man, "it's obvious to me that you have been in the kitchen, preparing the Food. Thank you for serving it to us tonight without messing it up." This backhanded endorsement is good enough for Anne Graham Lotz--because she loves Jesus.

Though Billy Graham has said that Anne is "the best preacher in the family," Anne modestly says that her gifts are in encouraging Christians, not converting unbelievers, and her brother Franklin is set to inherit the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. But Lotz has built her own ministry, which takes its next big step with a series of arena events throughout the United States this summer. "Just Give Me Jesus" offers a foretaste of what she'll be offering.

Like customers at your local family restaurant, evangelicals don't get new items on the menu very often. Lotz's evangelical readers will be hungry for another helping of her personable, enthusiastic prose, nearly guaranteeing that it will be a commercial success. Lotz's focus is the portrayal of Jesus in the gospel of John, and each chapter follows a reliable formula: heartstrings-tugging story, lively and modernized retelling of a snippet of the biblical material, accompanied by some choice (if often oversimplified) observations from biblical scholarship, an offer of grace and a call to decision, and, to finish off, a sweet and memorable story.

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