How did we get here, and what do we do about it?
Eight sessions · Second Thursdays · November 2026 through June 2027
7:00 PM · Greater Grand Rapids Area · Location sent to registrants
Things feel upside down. In 2020, some governors closed churches and kept liquor stores open. Pastors didn’t know whether to obey. Nobody could say who had the right to decide. Right and wrong seem to be up for a vote, and nobody agrees on who gets one.
That didn’t start with COVID, or in the 1960s. It goes back centuries. About 500 years ago, men changed their minds about one thing: where authority comes from.
For most of history, the answer was simple. Authority comes from God, and it comes down through fathers. Fathers of families. Fathers of churches. Fathers of nations. Then men began to say authority comes up, from the people. Every step since has pushed that idea further.
This series walks through those steps, one a month. At each step we ask two things. What did it cost us? How do we get it back?
Every session starts with a recap, so nobody gets lost. Then one big idea, a story you already know, and four questions. We answer them together, in the room. New? Read the thesis first and you’ll be caught up.
We’re fathers and husbands in West Michigan. Some of us own businesses, and some of us work for one. We’re building for our great-great-grandchildren.
If we don’t know you, we’ll ask for a social profile before we send the location.
Register for each session on the Events page. The listing there gives the day, time, and general area. We send the exact location directly.
Beyond Left and Right
We were born into it
You probably call yourself a conservative. Most of us did. But none of us chose liberalism. We were born into it, like a language. We speak it every day and never hear the accent.
What we mean by “liberal.” Not Democrat. Not the left. We mean the idea Republicans and Democrats have in common: men are born free and equal, so authority comes only from the people, by the consent of the governed. Every man is free to choose his leaders, to go his own way, and to practice his religion freely, as long as he doesn’t hurt anyone. Most conservatives believe that. If you do, you’re a liberal too. You just vote for the right-wing kind.
You were told politics runs left to right. It also runs up and down. Left and right are brothers fighting in the same house. This series is about the house.
In this first session we draw that map and fill it in. Kings and revolutionaries. Wars. Churches. We’ll show where each one stands, and you’ll see where you stand.
The 2026 election. Two parties. One argument.
Where does authority come from? Would you have given the same answer a year ago?
Who is in charge of a home, and who decided that? If you’re single: why is it so hard to find a woman who wants the same thing you do?
Is your church liberal? Before you say no: how would you know?
If left and right agree on the biggest question, what are we really voting on?
Better Than the Alternative
Who May Resist a Tyrant?
The Reformers and the king
In the 1500s, kings hunted the Protestant Reformers. So the Reformers asked a hard question: who is allowed to stand up to a bad king? Step by step, their answer moved from “God’s men” to “the people.”
A century later, Robert Filmer said they had it wrong from the start. A king is like a father. You don’t vote your father in, and you can’t vote him out. We side with Filmer.
Some sheriffs say they’ll refuse any order they think breaks the Constitution. Who gets to decide?
When is it right to disobey the man over you, and when is it just pride?
Does a father lead because his family agrees to it? What happens to a home that thinks so? If you’re single: whose authority are you under right now?
Why do we say “mentor” and “ministry” instead of father and duty? What did we lose when the words changed?
What do you owe a ruler you didn’t vote for?
Who Shall Judge?
From Covenant to Contract
How God left the room
In the 1600s, English and Scottish thinkers built on the Reformers. Kings and people made promises to each other, with God as the witness.
Then John Locke kept the promises and dropped God. A covenant became a contract. A contract lasts only as long as both sides are happy with the deal.
No-fault divorce. In 1969, California let a marriage end because one side wanted out. Every state followed.
What is the difference between a promise and a deal? Which kind do you make?
Is marriage a covenant or a contract? If you’re single: how can you tell which one a woman believes in before you marry her?
Do you belong to a church, or do you just go to one? What’s the difference?
If government is a contract, who gets to cancel it?
Consent of the Governed
What 1776 really said
Thomas Jefferson took Locke’s ideas and put them in the Declaration of Independence. Government gets its power from “the consent of the governed.”
That line is the heart of America. It is also the heart of the problem. Conservatives want to go back to 1776. But 1776 is where this road was paved.
The Fourth of July. Words you’ve heard your whole life.
Can you love your country and still reject the idea it was founded on?
Why should your kids obey you? What answer will you give them?
Why do American churches pray for their leaders but never tell them to obey Christ?
If “that’s unconstitutional” is our best argument, what happens when the Constitution says yes?
All the Gods of the Heathen · From What, and to What?
Two Sons of Locke
Mill, Marx, and the left and right we know
In the 1800s, two men split Locke’s idea in half. John Stuart Mill said the individual is king: do what you want, as long as you don’t hurt anyone. Karl Marx said the group is king: tear down anyone above you.
Today’s right runs on Mill. Today’s left borrows Marx’s tools, but it still starts from Locke. Neither one has room for a father.
“Love is love.” “Who does it hurt?” Bernie Sanders filling stadiums with college kids.
How do you decide what’s wrong? Is “it doesn’t hurt anyone” good enough?
What will you leave your children, and why did Marx want to end inheritance? If you’re single: why did the freedom we were promised make marriage harder to find?
Who has the right to tell you what to do with your life?
Where are you a libertarian without knowing it?
The Axe at the Root
Neutral Ground
Why “live and let live” never lasts
In the 1900s, Antonio Gramsci, a follower of Marx, changed the plan. Before you take the government, take the schools, the churches, and the culture. Later, John Rawls said a law should rest only on reasons every citizen can accept. That leaves God out.
The result is what you see now. Nobody is neutral. Somebody’s morals always win.
June. Every brand’s logo turns into a rainbow. Nobody voted on that.
Who shapes what you believe every day? Did you choose them?
Who is raising your kids in the hours you’re not there? If you’re single: where do you find men to stand with?
Why won’t most pastors say from the pulpit that a law is wrong?
Can a Christian keep his faith out of politics? Should he?
Baptized Liberalism
How the church caught it too
The church should have been the cure. Instead, it caught the same sickness. “Me and my Bible.” “Faith is private.” “Find a church that fits you.”
These sound Christian. They are liberal ideas with a Bible verse attached.
“I don’t do politics. I just preach Jesus.”
Where do you keep your faith quiet so you won’t cause trouble?
Who teaches your family the faith: you, or the youth pastor? If you’re single: what makes a man ready to lead a home?
Is your church a family with fathers, or a club with members?
What does a ruler owe the church?
One Kingdom, Not Two · Compel Them to Come In · Kings Shall Be Thy Nursing-Fathers
The Second Axis
The way back
Seven months of “how did we get here.” Now: what do we do about it?
Nations follow their rulers. When kings turned to Christ, their nations followed. That is the way back.
2022. Roe was overturned. We won in court. Did the country change?
What does a man do when the whole culture is against him?
What would your home look like if you ruled it this way? If you’re single: what should you be doing now to become that man?
What does a good church look like, and how do you find one without shopping?
If winning elections isn’t enough, what is?
The first session is November 12.
Space is limited. Sign up and we’ll follow up with the location.