Your Support Made My Book Possible

Plus the weekly digest with new Army ads, Jocko Willink self-improvement tips, and more

My new book Life in the Negative World is coming out in January with Zondervan Reflective. On Monday, I talked about how I’ve updated my three worlds framework for the new book, and showed how the negative world is affecting even the most winsome of churches.

On Wednesday I shared that about three quarters of my book will be devoted to how we should live in the negative world, with ideas spanning the personal, institutional, and missional. I talked about the importance of ownership, a theme I’ve hit before, but using the new example of Camden Spiller and Maddox Industrial Transformer.

One reader wrote to me to suggest that very few people can start companies like Maddox. That’s absolutely true. This kind of entrepreneurship isn’t for everybody. That’s just one example of ownership. In the book I talk about the need for ownership in a number of dimensions, from small business social spaces like coffee shops to real estate. And as I mentioned, I own my email list. That’s the sort of ownership that’s available to almost anybody.

It’s hard to believe the book is almost out. I started work on the proposal back in the first half of 2022. Here we are heading shortly into 2024 and the actual release date of January 30^th. It’s very exciting to say the least.

I hope all of you feel excited too, because you are the ones who made it possible. You helped spread the word about my work. You encouraged me along the way. You helped build community around this newsletter. You provided financial support.

Even if all you’ve did was just read me, that’s important too. Publishers these days want to see that prospective authors have an actual readership base before signing them to a book deal. So even if you’ve done nothing but subscribe at the free tier, you were in my proposal and helped me get the sale.

Whatever positive impact my work and book make in the world, you can legitimately claim a share in helping make it happen.

A big Thank You to all of you.

Believe it or not, most of the readers of my book will probably have never heard of my three worlds model before. Although it’s already very popular, I still hear from people who encounter it for the first time and tell me how it really helped them make sense of the world we are in.

For evangelicals, their leaders, and other Christians coming under new pressure, experiencing new uncertainty, and trying to make sense if it all, get oriented, and take action, this book will help. It directly addresses the key issues. First, how to understand the world we live in. Second, how to live in it, across personal, institutional, and missional dimensions. I know these are questions you have all been dealing with.

Even for those of you who have heard my three worlds model several times already, I’m confident you’ll find the book valuable. That’s because I’ve updated the model to take account of the feedback I’ve gotten, I’ve included completely new material in the book, and I go one layer deeper on the concepts I’ve talked about before.

I know some of you want to go even deeper than the book on this stuff, two or more layers deeper if you will. So I am providing a way for you to do that next year through my Member program.

My Member program is the group of my closest supporters. We have a private Slack channel. And we do interactive Member Zoom sessions, usually two per month. In these I give a behind the scenes look at what I’m doing, give more candid views that I can’t always say publicly, and more. This year, for example, we’ve been doing a twelve lesson course called “The Conditions of Modernity” where we’ve been studying topics like the impact of mass media, industrialization, managerialism, etc.

Next year in the Member program we will be doing a reading group of my book, with monthly Zooms going through it chapter by chapter. It’s a great chance to directly ask me questions about it, challenge my thinking if you are interested, and discuss how to apply the concepts with the rest of the community.

In addition to the discussion with me, I’m planning to hold additional Zoom discussions with other people putting the ideas in my book into practice. Yes, Camden Spiller and others are already on the list (subject to availability and scheduling).

Plus, I will also be giving everybody in my Member group a free, autographed hardcover copy of my book.

Starting Monday, I’ll be running a five day only special at 30-40% off on joining the Member community to participate in these discussions and get the free autographed copy of my book.

I only offer a discount on the Member program once per year. That window is next week only, Monday to Friday. This will be your only chance to get into the program at a heavily discounted rate, and to get your free autographed copy of the book as a bonus.

I will be sending out an email on Monday morning when the deal officially begins. Be on the lookout for that – because you won’t want to miss this discussion group or your free autographed copy of my book.

Again, comments are open to all if you have any questions or suggestions. I’m always looking for ways to add more value.

Now, on to this week’s digest…

Weekly Digest

Welcome to my weekly digest for November 10, 2023, with the best articles from around the web and a roundup of my recent writings and appearances.

Note: There will be no podcast next week.

US Army Gets Desperate for Recruits

This new ad the Army posted on Twitter shows that they are getting desperate for recruits. It features 100% white guys - which probably required some type of top level approval to green light - in a traditional military setting.

The one serious leverage point red America has over the system is to stop sending its sons to get their legs blown off in our government’s illegitimate and immoral wars. Joining the military can be a good move for some young men, but don’t be fooled - the US military today is very hostile to the values of conservative men.

Best of the Web

Daily Mail: 'Porn Dem' Susanna Gibson LOSES in Virginia - A Democratic state legislative candidate in Virginia who was revealed to have a sidelight streaming sex acts online for tips lost her election bid - but just barely. It’s another example what I’ve been writing about about how there are no more traditional moral standards in public life.

After Babel: Do you know where your kids go every day? - A Zoomer explains her generation’s malaise to older generations

WaPo: Millennials aren’t having kids. Here are the reasons why.

NYT: China’s Male Leaders Signal to Women That Their Place Is in the Home

Rob Henderson: How I Read

New Content and Media Mentions

I was mentioned in the American Book Club, at American Reformer, and at Christ Over All.

On this week’s podcast, John Seel joins me to talk about cultural engagement in the negative world.

Paid subscribers can read the transcript.

You can subscribe to my podcast on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube.

New this week:

• How Then Shall We Live? - American Christians need to figure out how to respond to the emergence of the Negative World

• Pursuing Ownership in the Negative World - My new book offers ideas on living in the negative world for families, institutions and mission

Post-Script

Here are a couple more of those Jocko Willink short videos with self-improvement advice.

This first one is about how if you want to see change, you need to make change in what you are doing. This is very good advice, though neglects the Christian perspective on God’s sovereign action. Everything changed for Saul when Christ showed up in his life on the road to Damascus, not because of anything he did himself.

Here’s another good one.