/notes

Notes

Books and long-form writing from the house. Devotionals for the day and the night, and a book on why the church stands still.

Cover of Reflections: A Year of Days & Nights by Mark S. Jaeger. Tall condensed title on pale blue fading to deep navy, with Genesis 1:5 at the foot.
Paperback & eBook · Glossy cover
ForthcomingDevotional · Recovery

ReflectionsA Year of Days & Nights

366 Morning & Evening Devotions on History, Scripture, and the Twelve Steps

By Mark S. Jaeger

Each day of the year starts with one moment from history, then holds it to the light of Scripture and the Twelve Steps. A morning reflection begins the day. An evening review, gratitude, prayer and rest thought close it.

It isn't a book to read straight through. It's a book to live through, one day and one night at a time.

Morning

  • The “On This Day” story
  • A verse from the NIV
  • A reflection tying both to the Steps: powerlessness, a Higher Power, and the daily decision to turn it over

Night

  • An evening review, in the spirit of the Big Book's nightly inventory
  • A gratitude prompt
  • An evening prayer after the Serenity Prayer
  • A rest thought to sleep on

From the calendar

  1. A young nation counts itself honestly for the first time.
  2. The Sistine Chapel ceiling is unveiled, painted by a man who insisted he wasn't a painter.
  3. Three astronauts read Genesis from lunar orbit to a darkened world.

Twelve monthly meditations, from first light to last

“God called the light ‘day,’ and the darkness he called ‘night.’”

GENESIS 1:5 · JANUARY

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

JOHN 1:5 · DECEMBER

The book

Entries
366
Layout
One page a day
Scripture
NIV
Formats
Print & eBook

Written for anyone in recovery, and anyone who loves them. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.

Want word when it's out? Write and ask to be told on release day.

[email protected]
Cover of The Church in Paralysis by Mark S. Jaeger. A white clapboard church steeple under a storm sky, bound by a looping crown of thorns and rope.
Working cover · Draft 2
In progressNonfiction · Church leadership

The Church in Paralysis

Naming the Five Big Cracks in the Organized Church and Finding a Hopeful Way Forward

By Mark S. Jaeger · Former executive director of a medium-sized Lutheran congregation

For eight years Mark Jaeger ran the budgets, buildings and board meetings of a medium-sized congregation that looked healthy from the parking lot. The sanctuary still filled. The numbers told a quieter story. “We were not dying. We were stuck.”

This book names that stuck place. It isn't a scorched-earth attack on the organized church. It's written for pastors, elders, staff and members across denominations who love the church enough to tell it the truth, and who want a way forward that can actually move.

Part One · The five cracks

  • Direction: vague vision and delayed decisions
  • Doctrine: teaching avoided, thinned out or endlessly contested
  • Buildings: beloved space that eats money and identity
  • Growth: transfer growth that passes for mission
  • Giving: generosity that flattens when the story does

Part Two · The hopeful paths

  • A simple, public discipleship pathway
  • Microchurches and house churches
  • Movement strategies that train senders
  • Discovery Bible Study
  • The Becoming Five scale as a mirror
29%

of U.S. adults now claim no religious affiliation, up from 16% in 2007.

PEW RELIGIOUS LANDSCAPE STUDY, 2023–24
62% → 23%

Religion's share of all U.S. charitable giving, 1984 to 2024.

GIVING USA 2025
70

Median in-person worship attendance in a U.S. congregation.

HARTFORD INSTITUTE, FACT 2025

Becoming Five: where Protestant churches stand

Most churches are adding or holding steady. Almost none are multiplying.

1 Subtracting2 Plateauing3 Adding4 Reproducing5 Multiplying 19%43%38%7%<1%

LIFEWAY RESEARCH FOR EXPONENTIAL, 2025 · 1,001 PROTESTANT PASTORS · LEVEL 4 UNCHANGED SINCE 2019

From the manuscript

“I still believe. I just do not know what you are doing here besides keeping the institution alive.”

AN EXIT INTERVIEW · CHAPTER 3

“The paralysis ends where obedience begins. The roof can wait. The mission cannot.”

CHAPTER 28

The book

Chapters
28
Parts
Diagnosis & paths
For
Boards & pews
Includes
Small-group guide

Written from eight years as executive director of a medium-sized Lutheran congregation, for readers in every tradition.

Leading a board, staff or small group through these questions? Write and ask for early chapters.

[email protected]