Son of a Preacher Man: My Search for Grace in the Shadows [Hardcover]

Jay Bakker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 9, 2001

When Jim Bakker was convicted in 1989 of defrauding followers of his PTL (Praise The Lord) ministry of $158 million, Jay Bakker lost everything. With his father in prison, his family shattered by divorce, and his name forever linked to a national scandal, Jay's already bizarre life came completely unglued. Here is the story - a parable of striking import - of a young boy whose life was almost destroyed by televangelist excess and greed. In his new street ministry, Revolution, Jay has found a unique way of preaching the gospel that is tailored to those most like him, the tattooed and pierced youth of downtown Atlanta. By advocating God's love for everyone, regardless of past sins, Jay found his path back to the faith - and picked up a large and growing following along the way. This is a hard-hitting account of finding grace in the shadows of the Right, where men like Jerry Falwell and Oral Roberts turned their back on the Bakkers even while advocating forgiveness and redemption.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

By any standard, Jay Bakker has had it rough. The son of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Jay was only 11 years old when his parents' empire collapsed and his family was vilified as the epitome of televangelism's excesses. Jay Bakker's autobiography, Son of a Preacher Man, unflinchingly addresses all of his family's major scandals, including his father's affair with Jessica Hahn and his mother's battle with drug addiction. Bakker also reveals that by age 13, he had developed a serious drinking problem, and that was only the beginning of a long period of rebellion that intensified during his father's years in prison. After his father's release, Jim and Jay began to rebuild their relationship, and Jay, though still struggling with alcoholism, discerned a calling to ministry. After several false starts he built a ministry to young people in Atlanta called Revolution. As a minister, Bakker's main interest is in the kids that churches overlook--the pierced, tattooed, smoking, drinking kind. The message of this ministry, like the message of this book, is simple: "Jesus loves you for who you are, not who you can become." Bakker says that he still works every day to learn that lesson, and to pass it on to others, as he does with some eloquence in Son of a Preacher Man. --Paul Power

From Publishers Weekly

From the opening epigram (a passage from Romans about learning from trials and adversities) to the rousing concluding chapter, this memoir by the son of the scandal-ridden televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker inspires, captivates and entertains. Even before his dad was arrested, Jay confesses, family life began to fall apart: Mom was addicted to drugs, and Jay's 16-year-old sister ran off to marry her beau. And then, in a haze of scandal, his father, whom Jay lionizes, was sentenced in 1989 to 45 years in prison. Jay's portrait of Papa Bakker is extremely sympathetic--at times, a tad too worshipful. He also includes a touching vignette about Jimmy Swaggart, who agreed to help Jay get his father's prison sentence reduced when no other big-name pastors dared to intervene. In the years since his father was released from prison, young Jay Bakker has discovered he's an alcoholic, and gotten sober; fallen in love, and gotten married; and realized he's a sinner, and gotten right with God. He's now a pastor--a tattooed, hip pastor--in Atlanta, ministering to street youth on skateboards. Readers are sure to love Bakker's delightfully down-to-earth, slightly self-mocking tone ("For a while I thought I was Jim Morrison," he says about his acid-tripping, cowboy-boot-sporting days in high school), and will hope he'll somehow carve out time to write more books.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne; 1st edition (January 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062516981
• ISBN-13: 978-0062516985
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #964,272 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I've Felt the Same Flames, April 5, 2001

By 

Eric Wilson "novelist" (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Son of a Preacher Man: My Search for Grace in the Shadows (Hardcover)

My brother and I bought this book together. We've both read it. We've both gone through a similar experience as Jay (though not on the same scale), having had a father who was a pastor and made some huge mistakes that cost him his ministry. To this day, fifteen years later, his mistakes affect us and our families.

Does it sound like I'm whining? I'm not. But, then again, maybe I just needed to get that off my chest--which is exactly what Jay Bakker does in this book.

I was fascinated by an insider's view of what happened to the Bakkers and, though I never appreciated PTL ministries myself, it gave me some respect for what they originally started out doing. It seems the family was unnecessarily ravaged, especially by fellow churchgoers, but my one complaint is that Jay doesn't come totally clean and admit the long-term damage some of his father's choices had. Oh, he does to some extent, but he still seems to have a bit of that "Isn't my dad the best?" attitude of a child. I love my own father, I've forgiven him, but I can't gloss over the wrongs he committed. I never will.

Jay is open about his own mistakes, though. He paints an accurate picture of the pressures and internal motivations of a child in the limelight. I could relate to many of his frustrations with organized religion.

Overall, this book reads quickly, and I thought Jay's message of God's grace was powerful. I was moved by his encounter with Jerry Falwell, the man he lays most of the blame upon. While honestly airing his feelings, Jay shows the need for--and the freeing power of--forgiveness. A lesson he learned from his father.

Jim Bakker's book is entitled, "I Was Wrong." I'd like to read it and see if he doesn't unveil more of his own faults in what went on. But, to have raised a son through all that who still loves and follows God...that's impressive.

I, too, was the son of a preacher man. I know what it takes to move on. And, through this book, I'd say Jay does too.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Daughter of a preacher man, September 6, 2003

By 

Jen (Gresham, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Son of a Preacher Man: My Search for Grace in the Shadows (Paperback)

My brother just got married a couple months ago, they played the old song "Son of a Preacher Man" at the reception, so when I saw the title of this book it really caught my eye. I grew up as a preacher's kid, so I can relate, but only slightly, to what Jay went through growing up. Though, the whole country never hated my dad.
One lesson that must be learned from this book is that we must learn to love. The "American church" has gotten so far off in that area. We must remember that all preachers, pastors, evangelists, teachers, yes, and even apostles and prophets, are also just human and therefore make mistakes. But God is willing to forgive them when they repent, so what gives us the right to stop loving and start hating? What gives us the right to not forgive?
This book was actually the first time I have heard anything positive about Jim Bakker since all these things happened in the 80's when I was a small child. That in itself shows that the American church is in trouble - We need a revolution in the church!!!

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best REAL religious books I have read, May 21, 2001

By 

MotherLodeBeth "MotherLodeBeth" (Sierras of California) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Son of a Preacher Man: My Search for Grace in the Shadows (Hardcover)

Heard Terry Gross on Fresh Air on National Public Radio (NPR) interview Jay Bakker on February 1 2001 and had to pull over and park so I could take in the whole interview, because it was the best interview of a "Christian" I had ever heard. And this is a book that everyone Christian or Jew, Buddhism or Agnostic will appreciate. It is NOT a holier than thou book, which I am so thankful for.


Thanks to Terry Gross for having the author on. Check out NRP's website and read/hear the whole interview and I guarantee that most people will want to buy this book. It is a book that made me cry and in the end it made me throw high 5's in the air. I was cheering the author on and celebrating his journey out of the wilderness.