Daddy Tried - by Tim Bayly (Paperback)

About the Book

Tim Bayly offers a frank and hope-filled path to overcoming the inherent failures of imperfect fathers. Drawing from decades of his own journey as an imperfect son, father, and pastor, Bayly makes it clear there are no quick fixes. The road to recovery is paved with blood, sweat, and tears, but our Savior walked this path before us.

Book Synopsis

Every father knows failure. It comes with the territory. One generation to the next, imperfect men chip away at God's original design for daddies, leaving a flawed pattern for their sons to follow. Overwhelmed by their failures, it's easy for fathers to feel they have blown it for good and can't redeem themselves.

Within these pages, Tim Bayly offers a frank and hope-filled path to overcoming the inherent failures of imperfect fathers--and to reclaiming manhood and dignity for the man called Daddy. Drawing from decades of his own journey as an imperfect son, father, and pastor, Bayly makes it clear there are no quick fixes. The road to recovery is paved with blood, sweat, and tears, but our Savior walked this path before us.

Daddy Tried makes no apologies for being a book for men. Its subject is the male-only club of fatherhood. It takes the only perfect Father as our guide. Bayly stares the sins of fathers past, present, and future squarely in the face and clears a path to overcoming them--a path that begins with faith in our heavenly Father who tells us He knows our weaknesses.

Review Quotes

"Tim Bayly's Daddy Tried is the best book on fathering currently in print. Bayly meticulously exegetes the biblical teachings about fathers (especially fathers in the home, but also the leaders of the church and civil governors). And he applies the biblical teachings with great clarity, frankness, and vividness. He is aware that Christian fathering is today in a terribly weak state, and he stands firmly against fashionable compromises with biblical principle. But he also emphasizes winsomely that adherence to biblical principle is another name for love. This is the book to give to our sons on the verge of becoming fathers. It will clear their heads and steel their spines." -DR. JOHN FRAME, Professor of Systematic Theology and Philosophy, Reformed Theological Seminary "Daddy Tried is balm for the soul of every daddy, like me, who fails. Honest, urgent, and faithful, this book brings the gospel into the home, where it is so desperately needed. I came away grateful for Tim, his father, my father, and most of all for my Elder Brother, who allowed me to be adopted by my heavenly Father." -R. C. SPROUL JR., Teaching Fellow, Ligonier Ministries "Certainly no topic demands greater attention in this culture than the responsibility of fatherhood. Fathers are essential to boys and girls-and to mothers, who depend upon them for leadership, love, and partnership in the parenting journey. Bayly catches the spirit of urgency and sets forth not only the biblical pattern for fathers but also helps his readers wrestle with the challenges of this generation. He presents a winning strategy!" -DOROTHY PATTERSON, Professor of Theology in Women's Studies, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary "The title of Tim Bayly's book, Daddy Tried, might suggest to some that it is a sentimental journey through a failed fatherhood. It is anything but that. Indeed, the flawed patrimony that Bayly recounts was a success. And there is nothing small about this book. In fact, its horizons are cosmic-because fatherhood is rightly understood and commended as the duty of Christian men to be House Fathers, and Church fathers, and City Fathers. This call to "Father up!" is persistently theological (as it draws upon the relationship of the Father and the Son), intensely pastoral (as it is written sympathetically from a "chief of sinners" heart), sweetly practical (in its overflow of first-person application), and relentlessly prophetic (as the author says very hard, even harsh, things much like Joe Bayly, his father, did). Yet these prophetic utterances, in their written context, and midst the context of failed fatherhoods of our day, are words of grace. Daddy Tried is meant to bring about a recalibration and celebration of fatherhood in the home, the church, and the world." -R. KENT HUGHES, Senior Pastor Emeritus, College Church, Wheaton, Ill. "As a senior officer in the military, I know the importance of training and leadership. I've seen what happens when there is a lack of training and/or weak leadership, as well as the clear benefits of strong leadership and rigorous training. Our families prosper or suffer on the strength and quality of the leadership from our fathers. I have seen the effects of poor fatherhood on the young men and women who come into our Armed Forces and have struggled with my own shortcomings in raising my own four children. Tim Bayly's work is an excellent call to arms for fatherly leadership and the need for us to train ourselves, each other, and our sons to be strong, loving, and compassionate fathers and husbands who will serve and protect and fight for our families-to be strong in the faith and resolute in upholding what is good, right, and noble. It's up to us, men, to provide that leadership. Tim Bayly has helped us in this quest." -MAJ. GEN. BENTLEY RAYBURN, US Air Force (Retired)