Lou Priolo passed into glory today, as they say, and he could not be in a better place so I rejoice for his gain. I am confident that he is now with the Lord.
“Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” (2 Cor. 5:8) ESV
On a personal note, Lou was my first instructor in biblical counseling. He was such a gifted teacher, and I would drive 5 hours round trip with a friend to hear his teaching in person. We did this for about 26 consecutive weeks for two classes Lou taught. Hearing Lou teach the Scriptures as applied to life was such a great experience for me and my first real exposure to true biblical counseling. You probably remember the first time you heard the fundamentals of biblical counseling taught and how exciting it was to study the Word. I had no idea how sufficient and practical the Word of God is to address real heart issues, like drunkenness and the idolatry of addiction!
Mark Shaw, Daniel Berger, Lou Priolo at ACBC 2022 Annual Conference: In His Image
My wife and I decided to move two and a half hours north of our hometown to Montgomery so that I could attend seminary and take three more courses taught by Lou in 2002. That was a little more convenient than the 5-hour total drive! We joined the church where Lou served. It was a difficult transition to a new town for our family and few people understood why we would move away from our extended family, but we knew the Lord was calling us to go deeper in the Word of God and we knew that Lou was faithful to God and His Word.
A year later, I was blessed to work as Lou’s Office Administrator and as a part-time counselor under his supervision. I was certified as a biblical counselor with ACBC under Lou as my supervising Fellow. He was so hard on me in such a good way that I still think about how he challenged me to grow in Christ-likeness and my knowledge of the Word.
Lou not only “talked the talk but walked the walk” and by that, I mean that he would demonstrate humility on a daily basis to me. On one of many occasions while I was working for him, he came into my office, and he asked for my forgiveness and repented for something that I thought was a small, small matter. But it was important to him to make it right, and I realized how sensitive his conscience was toward sin! I thought it nothing, but he took the smallest sin seriously. Lou was committed to living out his faith in Christ in a genuine, humble manner.
In recent years Lou and I kept in touch. We would communicate and he would shepherd me when I called for advice.
There is much more I could share about Lou’s kindness and heart to shepherd and love me, my family, and so many others. He counseled 20 sessions/cases per week and was very committed to those souls. He served as an elder at the local church my family attended in Alabama, and I was blessed to be assigned to be under his shepherding care during those years. I learned so very much from Lou and drew closer to Christ as a result.
Please pray for his precious wife, Kim, and his two daughters, Gabriella and Sophia, as they grieve their loss. I am grieving, too, as are many, because of our loss.
But for Lou, there is no loss—only gain!
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Phil. 1:21)
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