About Old Man and the Book
Why This Place Exists
There’s an old man, and there’s a Book. That’s the heart of it.
For more than four decades, I’ve been walking with Scripture — not as a relic to admire, but as a living word that keeps refusing to let me settle. The longer I’ve read it, the more I’ve come to believe the Bible is not a manual for escape. It is the story of God’s Kingdom breaking into the world here and now, and of ordinary people learning to live as if that Kingdom were already true — because it is.
Old Man and the Book is the study companion to my six-volume Kingdom of God collection. It is also something more: a quiet table where readers, seekers, doubters, and disciples can sit down together and search the Scriptures honestly.
What We Believe Together
We hold a simple conviction: Jesus died not simply to free us from sin, but to free us for others. That freedom is not private. It is not deferred to some far-off heaven. It is meant to be embodied — in our homes, our neighborhoods, our politics, and our care for the least among us.
Around that conviction, we hold a few more:
- Scripture is our shared ground. We read it carefully, slowly, and in community — never weaponized against the vulnerable.
- The Kingdom is now. Justice, righteousness, freedom, passion, and compassion are not future promises. They are present practices.
- Questions belong here. Doubt is not the opposite of faith; indifference is. You don’t have to pretend to believe more than you do to belong at this table.
- No gatekeeping. We are not interested in policing who is “in” or “out.” We are interested in following Jesus.
We don’t traffic in Christian nationalism, doctrinal superiority, or any version of faith that bends Scripture to prop up power. The Kingdom Jesus announced is not an empire. It never was.
Who the “Old Man” Is
I’m Mick Finch — pastor of Howard Park Christian Church in Clarksville, Indiana, and the writer behind the Kingdom of God collection. I’ve been preaching for eighteen years and reading this Book a good deal longer. My faith was shaped in the civil rights and anti-war years, when I learned early that truth often costs something and is still worth the price.
A family story claims a distant tie to Davy Crockett, whose maxim I’ve tried to live by: “Make sure you are right and then do the right thing.” I’m not always sure. But I keep searching. And I’d rather search with you than alone.
I’m not interested in building a personal legacy. I’m interested in awakening in others a hunger for truth — and then getting out of the way.
What You’ll Find Here
- Study guides and teaching aids that walk alongside each volume of the Kingdom of God series
- Lessons and reflections drawn from Scripture, history, and the stories of the people Jesus kept making room for
- A growing community of readers committed to reading honestly, questioning bravely, and loving practically
- Tools for groups — for Sunday school classes, small groups, or two friends with a Bible and an afternoon
An Invitation
If you’ve ever felt that the faith you were handed was too small for the world you actually live in — too sentimental, too domesticated, too willing to baptize the powerful and forget the poor — you are welcome here.
Let’s search the Scriptures together.
Pull up a chair. Bring your questions. Bring the story you’re carrying. The Book is open.
A first step: Start with my first book, titled: Foundations of the Kingdom, or watch for our next study cycle. Then bring one person with you. The Kingdom rarely shows up alone.