What I’m Crunching — November 30, 2025

I’ve been so encouraged by this accessible read. Rinne did a great job bringing together the various Scripture passages detailing the elder qualifications and expectations.

I can heartily recommend this for both aspiring elders and existing elders.

What I’m Crunching — November 23, 2025

Book I’m Reading How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe Nearly finished with this one. It’s been an interesting story about how crucial the Irish were to preserving the values that modern Western civilization is built on. From the […]

What I’m Crunching — November 16, 2025

Book I’m Reading Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War I finished this one this week. It’s a remarkable story of perseverance, endurance, and grit. This was the first material I’d read on King Philips’ War, which was absolutely brutal in its effect on the population of New England in the 17th century. In […]

What I’m Crunching — November 9, 2025

Book I’m Reading Church Elders: How to Shepherd God’s People Like Jesus As a deacon board at church we’ve begun reading this short book on the office of elder. It is so refreshing to be part of a group of church leaders who want to pattern our model after the Scripture. We’ve enjoyed good discussion […]

What I’m Crunching — November 2, 2025

It’s amazing how often non-fiction books narrating the history of various significant periods inevitably confirm specific patterns.

For instance, human nature. Human nature doesn’t change and it won’t until Jesus returns and recreates humanity, the earth, and the heavens. The first generation of Pilgrims lived out certain qualities, many of which enabled them to establish a colony where no European had before. But subsequent generations gradually changed and fell away from these qualities.

Such is human nature. The environment/culture created by those living a certain way produces different qualities in those raised in that culture. These different qualities, when lived out, produce a different culture, and so on and so forth.

The more recent book The Fourth Turning unpacks this well.