Description
What if the greatest misunderstanding in your life… is the way you see God?
For countless people, the word father carries the weight of absence, disappointment, fear, silence, rejection, or pain. And whether we realize it or not, those wounds often shape the way we view God Himself.
In Reconstructing Dad, Chuck Ammons offers a powerful and deeply healing invitation to rediscover the Father through the clearest revelation ever given—Jesus Christ.
Viewing Scripture through the “Emmaus Lens” of the resurrected Christ, this book pulls back the veil on distorted images of God and reveals the Father Jesus came to show us: compassionate, welcoming, trustworthy, and relentlessly good.
This is not another tired religious narrative built on fear, shame, violence, judgment, or impossible expectations. And it is not the hollow self-focused message culture keeps selling us either. Reconstructing Dad calls readers into something far deeper, richer, and more life-changing—the breathtaking reality of a Father who has never stopped pursuing His children.
- For every weary heart.
- For every wandering child.
- For every believer who has quietly wrestled with feeling like God is distant, displeased, or impossible to approach.
This book comes as a healing balm to the orphan spirit, dismantling false views of God and rebuilding faith on the person of Jesus.
Because if we misunderstand the Story, we will make it about something else.
But when we finally see Jesus clearly, we discover the Father has been far better than we ever imagined.
And He’s still standing at the edge of the road, arms wide open, ready to welcome us home.
AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER. Release Date: July 17, 2026
Josh Lambert –
Chuck Ammons teachings and books are a transformative blessing. This book WILL speak to you if you’re a Saint in the Kingdom, or like me, just an infant in Gods eyes and will make you see some things in an entirely new way.
Truly if you struggle with understanding God through the lens of a true father’s heart, you have to pick this book up and read through it. Best book I’ve read in 2026, and it’s not even close.
Denise Hamilton –
First of all what can I say I’m not a reader, but this was the most powerful book I’ve ever read. “I have always tried to measure up to my earthly father’s expectations! Only to find out on his death bed that the one and only person who was his whole world was not related at all but a granddaughter to the wife he was married to! BUT this book was like the Balm of Gilead to my soul! It helped me read through the lens of Jesus and not the lens in the first person. It wasn’t as much of how I see God but how He sees me! I want to be immersed into the Holy Spirit so fully that I don’t exist anymore and when people see me they see my Heavenly Father! My heart is to have a heart like my Heavenly Father and learn to love and forgive others and myself like He does! I want to Overflow with His Grace and Mercy! So that I am unrecognizable!! Thank you for letting me be a part of this wonderful journey!!
Lori Nussbaum –
If you’ve ever struggled to believe God is truly good… truly near… or truly delighted in you, read this book.
Chuck has a beautiful gift for revealing the Father’s heart in a way that’s practical, personal, and deeply healing. This book reminds you that God isn’t disappointed in you—He’s pursuing you with relentless love.
When you begin to see the Father as He truly is, you’ll finally begin to see yourself the way He always has.
And that changes everything.
Enjoy every ounce of this life-changing book. ✝️❤️🙏
Kristin Y –
As someone who grew up seeing God as the strict, disapproving Father, I had difficulty reconciling Him with the Jesus I came to know in my 30s. This book very helpfully demonstrated how He and the Father truly are One. Through use of scripture’s original cultural hermeneutics, historical context, and real-life parenting examples, Chuck unpacks some of the difficult stories of the Old Testament to reveal the heart of a parent pleading with His wayward children to see that His ways, not theirs, lead to the abundant life He wants for them. Though he doesn’t pretend to have all the answers, the fresh – yet ancient – lens Chuck provides demonstrates how God wants mercy, justice, and communion for His kids – ALL His kids. Highly recommended.
Jennifer –
I am currently reading Reconstructing Dad, and I cannot put it down! This book is an absolute masterpiece!
What makes this read so special is how perfectly Chuck Ammons balances profound spiritual truths with a truly amazing sense of humor. The witty, relatable writing style will have you chuckling out loud, while the heartfelt messages gently melt away any walls you might have built up.
It is incredibly refreshing to read a book that points you to the Creator of the universe with so much warmth, grace, and tenderness. If you are on a journey to draw closer to God and want to experience His unconditional love on a deeper, more personal level, I highly recommend this book. It is a beautiful reminder that you are deeply loved, pursued, and secured by your Heavenly Father.
Ryan Oakes –
Over the past few months I’ve worked through a stack of books on faith, including Willard, Tozer, Rohr, and a number of others, and I can honestly say Chuck Ammons’ Reconstructing Dad is quite possibly the best of them. It was a breath of fresh air, and for me, oxygen for my soul.
The premise is simple but profound: if you want to know what God the Father is truly like, look at Jesus. Ammons gently walks you through how our picture of “dad,” for better or worse, shapes the way we relate to God, and then he reintroduces you to a Father who looks exactly like His Son.
That was the point that convicted me most. For most of my life I’ve known Jesus as a close, personal friend, while God the Father felt distant and far off. That distance, I came to realize, mirrored my own relationship with my earthly father. When Ammons shows from Scripture that the image of Jesus is the image of God, something broke open in me. It made instant sense, and it began to close a gap I’d carried for years.
What makes the book so good is the balance. It’s a near-perfect blend of storytelling and insight, deep enough to teach you something new but never so heavy that it bogs down. Ammons takes you on a journey through the Old Testament and places its hardest moments in context, revealing a God who continually “comes in low” to meet His people, to call His children back, and to rescue as many as would follow Him, all of it pointing toward Jesus. He also has a gift for clearing up the little question marks you’ve carried for years but never stopped to look up. In one section he unpacks how our single English word “hell” actually translates three very different words (Gehenna, Hades, and Tartarus) and what each one truly meant. He does this again and again, returning to the original Greek and Hebrew to recover the fuller meaning, and it opens the Scriptures up in a whole new way.
I read it in three days because I couldn’t put it down. More than that, it felt like an answer to prayer. I’d been asking God to help me understand His love for me, and this book set me firmly on the path to knowing it.
I’d wholeheartedly recommend Reconstructing Dad to anyone longing for a deeper understanding of God’s love, especially if the Father has ever felt distant. It’s a beautiful, honest, and truly exceptional book, and easily one of the best I’ve read.
David Allen Williams –
Reading this book has brought me closer with God. The author of this book seems to have a real connection with God, and an understanding of God that I have never considered before.
Amy Riccio –
Reconstructing Dad doesn’t read like a theology textbook or a college thesis. It feels more like sitting in a living room listening to a wise father share stories, Scripture, and lessons learned over a lifetime. Chuck Ammons has a gift for taking deep theological truths and making them accessible without losing their depth.
One of the book’s greatest strengths is how thoroughly it is grounded in Scripture. Rather than simply using verses to support his ideas, Chuck weaves the biblical story throughout the entire book. His stories and illustrations, often sprinkled with humor, make profound concepts feel approachable and memorable in much the same way Jesus used parables to bring heavenly truths into everyday life.
Several ideas stayed with me long after I finished reading, especially the invitation to examine the lenses through which we read Scripture and to allow Jesus to shape our understanding of the Father. The book consistently points readers back to Christ as the clearest revelation of God’s heart.
Overall, Reconstructing Dad is thoughtful, biblically rich, engaging, and deeply pastoral. It doesn’t simply ask readers to rethink ideas about God. It invites them to encounter the Father’s heart through the person of Jesus. Whether you’ve wrestled with father wounds or simply want a deeper understanding of God’s character, this is a book that will leave you thinking, reflecting, and seeing familiar Scriptures with fresh eyes.
Ken Ackerman –
Re- Constructing DAD
by: Chuck Ammons
CrossRiverMedia.com
If you ever felt distant from God or didn’t understand the God of the Old Testament versus Jesus(God) of the New Testament, Re Constructing Dad is the read for you.
This book will refresh all that you ever wondered or questioned about God and scriptures.
This will lead to a significant spiritual awakening about a Dad you can love and trust.
I read it all in 2 days. I highly recommend it.
Jim Mottola –
When I was offered an early reader’s opportunity to check out Reconstructing Dad by Pastor Chuck Ammons, I expected a good book because I know Pastor Chuck and connect with the way he speaks and preaches. What I didn’t expect was for it to challenge the way I viewed my personal relationship with God the Father.
One of the biggest takeaways for me was realizing how easy it is to unintentionally filter our view of our Heavenly Father through our experiences with our earthly father. I had never really stopped to consider how much those experiences had shaped my expectations of God. Throughout the book, Pastor Chuck gently but confidently points back to Scripture, reminding us that God defines Himself. Our experiences don’t.
What I appreciated most is that this book doesn’t try to manipulate your emotions or offer easy answers. Instead, it invites you to ask honest questions and then patiently walks you through what God’s Word actually says. That approach made the book feel both deeply personal and firmly rooted in biblical truth.
Pastor Chuck also has a gift for making complex theological ideas understandable. I don’t consider myself a Bible scholar, but I never felt intimidated or overwhelmed while reading his book. In fact, I found myself making connections between passages of Scripture that I had never made before. It challenged me without confusing me, and that’s not something every author can do.
One of the questions that has stayed with me since finishing the book is this: How much of what I believe about God comes from Scripture, and how much comes from my own experiences? That’s a question worth wrestling with, and I think every Christian would benefit from asking it honestly.
Whether you had an incredible father, a broken relationship with your dad, or somewhere in between, I believe you’ll find something valuable in this book. At its core, Reconstructing Dad is about seeing God for who He truly is instead of viewing Him through the lens of our past.
By the time I finished the last chapter, I realized my perspective had shifted. I wasn’t just walking away with more knowledge. I walked away with a deeper appreciation for the Father’s heart and a renewed desire to know Him as He has revealed Himself in Scripture.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book. It’s thoughtful, biblically grounded, easy to read, and deeply challenging in all the right ways. More than anything, it points people to Jesus and to the true character of our Heavenly Father. I sincerely hope this book finds its way into the hands of many people because I believe it has the potential to soften hearts and change lives
Noah Thomas –
This is a book that leans down and blesses you. It goes low, connecting you to your own idea of God, and how to start healing from where your personal experience has taught you to believe in a God that is distant, disappointed, or destructive.
In the middle of the book, familiar bible stories are brought up where God seems to just be a jerk (my words), and Chuck finds the compassionate God which is in Jesus in these stories. The book ends giving theology that does not separate God from the sacrificial love of Jesus.
This book,
– Is diffused with Chuck’s narrative voice and stories which makes the conversation about God concrete
– Hermeneutics that are faithful to a Christian worldview, as well as being thoughtful expansive
– Theology that is both timely to contemporary Christian culture in America, and connected to ancient wisdom about Christ and revelations from the fathers of the church.
Reading this carefully and charitably will edify you, and will change how you see and experience God.
Ken Ackerman –
If you ever felt distant from God or didn’t understand the God of the Old Testament versus Jesus(God) of the New Testament, Re Constructing Dad is the read for you. This book will refresh all that you ever wondered or questioned about God and scriptures. This will lead to a significant spiritual awakening about a Dad you can love and trust. I read it all in 2 days. I highly recommend it.