I think you might have an interesting niche at the intersection of urbanist and masculinist concerns with reporting on towns to which conservative Christians might choose to relocate. It would be good if you actually visited the place and interviewed some community leaders. How many potential Moscow Idahos are out there? I would be most interested in hearing about Christian/Classical education options and cost of housing along with cultural and architectural attractions and transit/walking options. It seems like a sweet spot where a lot of your interests converge.
Hey Aaron, love this piece. I haven't watched a YouTube in a while (use a podcast app), but I think you look sharper in glasses. I'd ask some trusted friends about maximizing visual appeal for those who watch. Mean this in a business/marketing way not romantic.
Aaron, thanks for all you're doing, you're filling a unique and valuable niche. Looking at the survey results, I notice you have a solid contingent from academia, but not that many students, which was surprising to me, since the survey shows you appeal to younger generations. That might be a neglected area of opportunity.
Podcasts are a really great medium for longer-form discourse, I get a great deal out of them, including yours, so I hope you will keep doing them. I suspect that the flat numbers are simply from the 'market' being saturated with so many new entrants.
In line with what many said in the survey, I have to say my favorite newsletter was the one on owned space, partly because the backstory on Doug Wilson's dad and the original strategy that went into choosing Moscow, Idaho was really interesting. But mainly it was because the bigger issue is really so central to what's happening across our culture: we're all getting turned into sharecroppers on some big, secular platform, certainly in cyberspace, but increasingly in the physical world, too.
Many are intuitively fighting back against that by returning to rural life, but that's not really a strategy for culturally thriving. So I agree with the others who want to hear about more examples of conservatives, and especially Christian conservatives, building broader communities. And I think your expertise on cities might help with that.
Hi Aaron- I took your survey and I am a millennial evangelical. I would recommend you think less about advice oriented content but rather more of a case study style. You can highlight individuals, churches or organizations who are successfully operating in the negative world. This would be highly valuable content and a case study style would better fit your skills and goals. I agree becoming a guru with advice content is not the way to go.
I’m in a seminary class right now and it’s clear with how the teacher is leading us to engage in culture that he says the world from a neutral worldview. It’s interesting how “kindness” is always used as the ultimate virtue
Your content is truly unique and influences the influencers. I'm always surprised at how low your youtube view count is. I think that simply upgrading your background would make a tangible difference. An acoustic wood slat wall panel background is one simple thing that you could implement that would make a huge improvement. or check out felt wall panels..
I should tell you I’m a 76 yo Australian Anglican Christian who has become a writer in my retirement. My work and thinking is almost exactly parallel to yours. Best regards Warren Mills.
Love your Substack and it's one of the few I support with a paid sub.
As a Boomer Catholic I check two fringe boxes :). At least I'm male! But apart from the quality of your work, a main reason I subbed is that I've always had a major gap in my understanding of the Protestant/Evangelical world (and certainly Calvinism), a bit of a handicap as an American Christian. And your Three Worlds piece is a ridiculously useful framework compared to my vague realization that things sure are different than when I was growing up--where, for example, we opened every day in my public elementary school on Long Island NY with a simple prayer thanking God and closing with an "Amen."
I enjoy the city-analysis pieces as well, since I have eclectic interests including admiration for Jane Jacobs.
Aaron, Thanks for the (characteristically) thoughtful analysis of your reader survey, even if it's bad news for me, whose interest in your work goes back to the Urbanophile blog days. Back then I occasionally thought you could be a Christian, but constantly found insight into cities that I wasn't getting elsewhere: your shift in focus has left a void there. And I don't fit your main demographic -- my sons do, as I approach 63 -- though my professional life has been entirely devoted to those on the young end of it.
Aaron-Enjoy your work and insights ver much. I have one comment on your reader survey. I don’t listen to your podcast, but I always read the transcript. It’s quicker for me. I don’t know if I count in your podcast numbers, but wanted you to know how I access your content.
I fit a lot of these demographic profiles, 48 year old, white male, evangelical, professional. I have found your analysis to be so helpful to me and understanding why it has been difficult to evangelize even my own children into the faith. When we were growing up in the 80s and 90s to be a Christian was not going to cause you to receive too much grief from either your peers or the outside world. Now, for my children to become a Christian is to join the “losing team“ and to be counted amongst bigots, ignorant people, and racists. It’s been a particularly difficult to figure out how to induce them to follow Christ, given that it will inevitably entail more much suffering for them than for me. I hope that you will continue to develop themes like this, and how to live out our faith within the negative world in more importantly, how to pass it along to the next generation.
Hey brother, I'd consider daily or as frequently as you can pull off family worship (reading the Bible & praying together, could one day add singing or catechism) as an effective way of communitcating your faith. God works through His Word and through the family unit. Dads leading the family in this way can have a huge impact on the faith of their children vs church attendance alone.
Your kids may or may not be older but it's never too late for God's mercy and grace.
Thanks for what you are doing, Aaron. As a free subscriber for a few months now, you are providing good value in a niche market.
Thanks, Charles.
I think you might have an interesting niche at the intersection of urbanist and masculinist concerns with reporting on towns to which conservative Christians might choose to relocate. It would be good if you actually visited the place and interviewed some community leaders. How many potential Moscow Idahos are out there? I would be most interested in hearing about Christian/Classical education options and cost of housing along with cultural and architectural attractions and transit/walking options. It seems like a sweet spot where a lot of your interests converge.
Off-topic: "In Defense of Negging," by Magdalene J. Taylor
https://www.thecut.com/article/negging-flirting.html
Hey Aaron, love this piece. I haven't watched a YouTube in a while (use a podcast app), but I think you look sharper in glasses. I'd ask some trusted friends about maximizing visual appeal for those who watch. Mean this in a business/marketing way not romantic.
Aaron, thanks for all you're doing, you're filling a unique and valuable niche. Looking at the survey results, I notice you have a solid contingent from academia, but not that many students, which was surprising to me, since the survey shows you appeal to younger generations. That might be a neglected area of opportunity.
Podcasts are a really great medium for longer-form discourse, I get a great deal out of them, including yours, so I hope you will keep doing them. I suspect that the flat numbers are simply from the 'market' being saturated with so many new entrants.
In line with what many said in the survey, I have to say my favorite newsletter was the one on owned space, partly because the backstory on Doug Wilson's dad and the original strategy that went into choosing Moscow, Idaho was really interesting. But mainly it was because the bigger issue is really so central to what's happening across our culture: we're all getting turned into sharecroppers on some big, secular platform, certainly in cyberspace, but increasingly in the physical world, too.
Many are intuitively fighting back against that by returning to rural life, but that's not really a strategy for culturally thriving. So I agree with the others who want to hear about more examples of conservatives, and especially Christian conservatives, building broader communities. And I think your expertise on cities might help with that.
Thanks, Gordon.
Hi Aaron- I took your survey and I am a millennial evangelical. I would recommend you think less about advice oriented content but rather more of a case study style. You can highlight individuals, churches or organizations who are successfully operating in the negative world. This would be highly valuable content and a case study style would better fit your skills and goals. I agree becoming a guru with advice content is not the way to go.
I’m in a seminary class right now and it’s clear with how the teacher is leading us to engage in culture that he says the world from a neutral worldview. It’s interesting how “kindness” is always used as the ultimate virtue
Sees the world*
Interesting.
Your content is truly unique and influences the influencers. I'm always surprised at how low your youtube view count is. I think that simply upgrading your background would make a tangible difference. An acoustic wood slat wall panel background is one simple thing that you could implement that would make a huge improvement. or check out felt wall panels..
Thanks. I agree that my setup is not the best.
Thanks for this update, Aaron. I see better how you work, as well as a glimpse into the future of free-lance writing.
I should tell you I’m a 76 yo Australian Anglican Christian who has become a writer in my retirement. My work and thinking is almost exactly parallel to yours. Best regards Warren Mills.
You have become a must read for me Aaron.
Thanks!
Thanks for sharing stats and goals.
Love your Substack and it's one of the few I support with a paid sub.
As a Boomer Catholic I check two fringe boxes :). At least I'm male! But apart from the quality of your work, a main reason I subbed is that I've always had a major gap in my understanding of the Protestant/Evangelical world (and certainly Calvinism), a bit of a handicap as an American Christian. And your Three Worlds piece is a ridiculously useful framework compared to my vague realization that things sure are different than when I was growing up--where, for example, we opened every day in my public elementary school on Long Island NY with a simple prayer thanking God and closing with an "Amen."
I enjoy the city-analysis pieces as well, since I have eclectic interests including admiration for Jane Jacobs.
Carry on, I wish you every success.
It is odd that there are a lot of Catholics I interact with - such as yourself - but the Catholic share was lower than I expected in my survey.
Aaron, Thanks for the (characteristically) thoughtful analysis of your reader survey, even if it's bad news for me, whose interest in your work goes back to the Urbanophile blog days. Back then I occasionally thought you could be a Christian, but constantly found insight into cities that I wasn't getting elsewhere: your shift in focus has left a void there. And I don't fit your main demographic -- my sons do, as I approach 63 -- though my professional life has been entirely devoted to those on the young end of it.
I appreciate your loyal readership.
Aaron-Enjoy your work and insights ver much. I have one comment on your reader survey. I don’t listen to your podcast, but I always read the transcript. It’s quicker for me. I don’t know if I count in your podcast numbers, but wanted you to know how I access your content.
Thanks!
I fit a lot of these demographic profiles, 48 year old, white male, evangelical, professional. I have found your analysis to be so helpful to me and understanding why it has been difficult to evangelize even my own children into the faith. When we were growing up in the 80s and 90s to be a Christian was not going to cause you to receive too much grief from either your peers or the outside world. Now, for my children to become a Christian is to join the “losing team“ and to be counted amongst bigots, ignorant people, and racists. It’s been a particularly difficult to figure out how to induce them to follow Christ, given that it will inevitably entail more much suffering for them than for me. I hope that you will continue to develop themes like this, and how to live out our faith within the negative world in more importantly, how to pass it along to the next generation.
Hey brother, I'd consider daily or as frequently as you can pull off family worship (reading the Bible & praying together, could one day add singing or catechism) as an effective way of communitcating your faith. God works through His Word and through the family unit. Dads leading the family in this way can have a huge impact on the faith of their children vs church attendance alone.
Your kids may or may not be older but it's never too late for God's mercy and grace.
Yes, understanding that Christianity - evangelical Christianity at least - is a big status negative for many people is key to understand.