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Summary: Ephrata - Be Thou Opened!
Review: As the son of a famous "fallen" member of the PTL Ministry leader and eventually the object of ridicule and judgement from people who never met him, it's no wonder that Jay Bakker grew up and became a "troubled teen". While .Jay obliges the drama seekers who want to read stories of his early family life, he also tells how he entered a darkness of self-hatred, addiction and anguish eventually coming out of the darkness unscathed and gifted. This is the story of the Preacher's son who shares his journey of what it was like to be on the other side of the finger pointing and judgment as a family member of the "Fallen" Pastor.. This is not a tale of "Look what you did to us" or a book of revenge. It is the story of an awakening, a journey into the light and of an astonishing ministry that has risen from ashes. Furthermore, he calls us to return to the basic teachings of Jesus, especially when he writes: "But I am saying treat religion as it now stands as a killer. We've got to abandon the rhetoric that God's love is conditional and get back to Jesus." Now a minister himself he has much to share and to teach the youth of today that have fallen out of the favor of mainstream religion. Read carefully but learn heartily as he will open your heart and your soul to the possibilities of maybe, just maybe God loves you as you are. Ephrata - Be thou Opened!!
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Summary: the life of a P.K......
Review: Being a Preachers Son myself, i bought this book to see just what he had to say on the subject of his father. As i read through it, I had moments of anger, pain and sorrow and then sweet relief, all through his words in this book. Since reading it i have evaluated my sense of forgiveness. It really is something we take for granted. This book is definitly worth anyones time in reading.
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Summary: Son shines but not too brightly
Review: Being only 18 I did not live through/remember the Jim Bakker scandel and therefore perhaps I did not understand the entire and full implications of some of the things Jay said. However, the book was good and did stir me to thought. However some of the best of the book was the very ending when he spoke of his current outlook on religion and his own thelogical thought. Unfortunatly there isn't enough of this through-out. While the book is a good read I'd reccommend, it does seem to drag and be repititious at points. There are some parts that could have been left out, perhaps one of the hundreds of times he mentions getting drunk or moving somewhere and doing nothing with his life, and replaced with more depth with the emotions he was feeling. He also could have mentioned more of his relationships with his mother/father/sister etc during his struggles. However, overall the book was very good considering Jay is dyslexic and I don't believe ever gained his GED.
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Summary: A MUST READ FOR ALL
Review: Having just finished this book, I wrote a letter to Jay Bakker I may, or may not, send. I wrote that I was very, very young when the events that changed his life happened and I now feel that I know a lot more of the story and that the ribbings on television (like Saturday Night Live) were not funny-or, at least, not anymore. I also wrote that he still has a lot of demons left (who of us don't, really?) and that is objectivity is tainted because the incedents are so personal, but he does have this going for him: He's honest. He write what he feels, unabashedly, and I feel that he presented what he knows to show what happened - not twist it so the point he WANTS to make comes across. He doesn't flinch at his own mistakes, or those of others. But that is not to point fingers, merely to state that what a person did made him feel such-and-such. This is a must read for all. For those to get a true sense of what it was, and is, like to be a Bakker. To know what happened to a family raised and destroyed on television. And most importantly, for those that call themselves Christians, to see what it is truly like to walk down a dark and lonely path and feeling that there is nowhere to turn. Thank you, Jay, for sharing your heart and life.
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Summary: The Power of Forgiveness and Grace
Review: I noticed this book last week at work when I was putting product away. I had just picked it up and started thumbing through it, when a couple walked by and were discussing the video we were showing. Suddenly, the husband said, "You know how the Northridge Earthquake happened right? Tammy Faye's face fell off" At that point I had gotten to the part where Jay was talking about the church turning it's back on the Bakker family, I was convinced. This book opened my eyes to the power of grace and forgiveness, and the fact that God is bigger than any circumstance. Jay's journey from the limelight of TV and wealth, to the depths of hell and drug addiction, to the loving arms of the Father left me completley broken. I was also inspired by his new ministry of reaching out to "Gen Xers" the lost and unwanted. This story is moving and inspiraional, and whatever your feelings are towards the Bakkers, I highly reccomend you read this!
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Summary: A look at religous reality
Review: I picked this book up on the libraries new bookshelf, little did I know that two days later I recommend it to everyone to read. I also didn't know that I would find deep understanding about Grace and Foregiveness in such a powerful testimony. You can't have a Testimony until you have a test. Jay Bakker has passed the test with flying colors. From his grim start on the PTL as a decoration, to his struggle with his parents, public humilation, drugs, alcohol, and dyslexia. The love and admiration for his father is true and profound. He gives us a glimpse of "Hollywood Religion" and the true meaning of what it is to be a christian, a "child of God." Saving the people Jesus would be saving.
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Summary: Touching but a lot of conformity involved!
Review: I was first excited to get this book in the mail. But now I don't know what to think of it. I am touched by Jay's willingness to reach kids who are supposedly "unreachable". I feel his passion for those kids. God has laid a burden on my heart for those kids as well. I just disagree strongly with his ways of reaching out to those kids. There is a part in the book where a parent of one of the kids involved with Revolution(Jay's organization that reaches punks, and skate-boarders) asks Jay to turn off some vulgar music. Jay replies by saying that he is trying to reach non-Christians, but not Christians. How in the world will playing filthy music reach those who don't know Christ? Romans 12:2 says, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will." It is a touching book and a great book about redemption, and a perfect example of God's grace, but there is much to be desired.
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Summary: MUST READ FOR CHRISTIANS
Review: If you love the Bakkers then you must read this book! I have read both parents account of what they went thru...and agonized with them. Somehow the children got lost. If you have ever felt as if GOD has left you or doesnt care about you ANYMORE...then read ALL of their accounts. We fail to see or remember what it is like from a child's perspective. How COULD we? I thank GOD for his mercy and his grace. I ask for forgiveness for forgetting the children in the mist of crisis. Jamie (he will always be to me)writes forgivingly and honestly..I wish I could be as forgiving for what he and his family went thru. I (as well as my family)were partners. We NEVER failed to get reservations at the BEAUTIFUL "park" they (w/God's instruction) offered. Jamie may have forgiven "falwell" (the demon)..but I have a tough time. Buy the book...buy all the books by his family. They will show you what CHRIST meant us to be. With love, Tammy J.
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Summary: Compelling story that had me asking questions at the end.
Review: Jay Bakker scores major points for having the courage to write such a revealing story about he and his family. He's been through more negativity than anyone should ever have to experience in one lifetime. The thing that makes it worse is that he experienced it all at such a young age. I read "Son Of A Preacher Man" basically because I'm a fan of his mother, Tammy Faye. I am not a religious person at all, so there were some religious references that sort of went over my head. The one criticism I have with Jay's book is that Tammy Faye sort of comes off as deserting him. I don't know if that's really the case at all. She announces that she is divorcing a jailed Jim, marrying Roe Messner, and moving to California. "Do you want to come along?" He doesn't, so she goes without him. He was still in school, and in desperate need of a parent and guidance. I can't help but feel there were a lot of details left out of the telling of this situation. I realize that this is Jay's story, and told from his perspective and that may very well be how he felt. I've read a lot about Tammy Faye over the years and I really cannot imagine that, even with her own emotional and drug issues, that she would abandon her children. I realize that this book is about Jay, not his mother, but she is a major part of his life so it would have been nice if the reader got a fuller, bigger picture of exactly what happened. I also feel like Jay majorly skimped on details about his marriage to his wife, Amanda. One moment they are meeting, they have a date... the next he asks her to marry him. A little while later it seems like they are married, with a barely a mention of the wedding. (We do get to see a picture of their wedding day, however.) I would have liked to have some explanation behind his reasoning for becoming tattooed and pierced. He basically implies that he likes to ride skateboards, hence why he's pierced and tattooed. Is that really a reason? You can see on the cover that he is tattooed with images of Jesus, yet he really doesn't ever mention anything about this. It would have been interesting to read why he chose the tattoo's that he did. I'm not pierced and I often wonder why someone would want a ring hanging from their lip. I'm not judging at all. I don't have any sort of problem with body modification. I just think it would have been interesting to his readers for some explanation as to why he wanted to do these things. Does it represent something? Or does he just think it's cool? I don't want my criticisms to come off like I'm bad mouthing this book, because I certainly am not. A LOT happened, and to write about every single thought or incident, you'd have a 1,000+ page book. I think Jay really gets to heart of what happened, and I certainly felt for his trials and tribulations. Ultimately, "Son Of A Preacher Man" is about learning to forgive. Like I said before, I am not a religious person, but I have to say that I did learn something from this book.
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Summary: Honesty from the front lines
Review: Jay Bakker, son of Jim and Tammy Faye, the televangelists, has an interesting story. Having grown up in the PTL city of Heritage USA, his life went into a tailspin with the fall from grace of the PTL organization, and his father's subsequent prison sentence. (Incidentally, that is one of the great contradictions of his story: on the one hand, he maintains that his father was innocent of any criminal activity, but on the other hand, he acknowledges that his father "did some things wrong," although he never clarifies what those things might have been.) Basically, the first two-thirds of the book chronicles Jay's alcohol and drug use, paralleled by the prison term of his father. Bakker explains his frequent moves, his parents' divorce and subsequent re-marriages to others, and overall, his continuing search for his faith despite all of the trials he has endured. The final third of the book describes the process of finding his current ministry to disenchanted youth and young adults in the Atlanta area through an organization called Revolution, a sub-ministry of Safehouse Outreach. Throughout the book, Bakker is uniquely honest about his imperfections, especially his admittedly negative attitude toward those who he believes brought about the fall of his father. He is also unapologetic about indicting the institution of the church on the grounds that it has fallen victim to tradition, and is failing to reach those who need its message of grace, the message that God loves you no matter what, most. This position puts him in a rather precarious theological position, in or near the camp of Bart Campolo and Brennan Manning (whom he thanks before the text of the book), but it is obvious that Bakker does not care much for theology if it does not work practically, and he must be admired for that, though he comes off as one who is still very much in the process of finding his ministry and voice. Clearly, his journey has already been an arduous one, but it seems that it has only just begun. The chronicle of this journey is worth reading, but it will be more so in ten years, I have a feeling.
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