#44 | OCTOBER 2026 M.D. House Newsletter September was a busy month on many fronts, and lots of good progress was made. The weather was also gorgeous here in the hinterlands of far northern Utah. As hoped, Lance Buckley completed the cover design for the next book in the extended Barabbas saga, about a real Christian man named Polycarp who was the bishop of Smyrna (modern-day Izmir, Turkey) in the first half of the 2nd century AD, and who ended up becoming a martyr. You can see that cover...

#43 | SEPTEMBER 2026 M.D. House Newsletter I'm a football fan (American football), so September is a fun month. My favorite thing to see isn't a bone-crushing hit; it's aggressive but fundamentally sound play on both sides of the ball, accompanied by great sportsmanship, which still exists, thankfully. How that applies to writing I'm not sure, but there it is. :) In August, I was able to return to my alma mater (BYU) and teach at Education Week, where about 18,000 people descend on campus...

#42 | AUGUST 2026 M.D. House Newsletter Last month, I mentioned receiving a welcome reaffirmation that there are many good people out there (including you!), all over the U.S. and around the world. So, while we can't bury our heads in the sand or in ideological clouds, we also can't let the constant barrage of instantly available bad news discourage us from recognizing the massive amount of good that surrounds us. That advice is aimed squarely at ... me. I don't consider myself to be a...