One of my favorite Christian leaders is Jim Daly, President of Focus on the Family. If you’ve not read Jim’s powerful story of brokeness and redemption, you should really read Finding Home. Jim is the most unlikely candidate to lead a pro-family organization like Focus because his upbringing was unstable, chaotic, and broken. And yet it is out of this experience and God’s amazing work in his life that has not only led him to this place as a well-respected Christian leader, but as a father to his own children.
I had the chance to interview him for Christianity Today about fatherhood and his new book, The Good Dad, Becoming the Father You Were Meant to Be. One of the questions I asked him was this:
Many men will find solace in knowing that someone who grew up in your circumstances can become not only be an effective parent, but also the leader of a pro-family organization. Was that part of your motivation in writing the book?
Absolutely. I believe with all my heart that to be in Christ is to be a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17). Among other things, this suggests that followers of Jesus are not defined by their past. They don’t have to be locked into or held down by the sins of their fathers. Christ has set them free from slavery to the “same old same old” of previous generations. I’m convinced that, in God, all things are possible. This has huge implications for marriage, parenting, and family life.
I find it encouraging that God can use us, where we are, to be good dads to our kids. You can read the rest of the interview with Jim Daly here.