THE BRAND STORY
An Ordinary Man with an Extraordinary Calling
"This is the book I wish someone had given me when I thought I had plenty of time."
Scott Elston grew up in Guthrie, Oklahoma, called to preach at age nine in a rural Baptist church. He spent the next forty years running from it — joining the military, serving in law enforcement, pursuing various careers. Through detours, failed marriages, and finally surrender, he found God in a foxhole in Saudi Arabia.
Scott founded Ordinary Man — a platform and press — to be a voice for men navigating the gap between salvation and spiritual maturity. He volunteers as an intercessor with Barnabas Ministries and John1723.net, praying for 80+ pastors and ministry leaders across Central Oklahoma weekly.
For more of Ordinary Man, you can find us on the Substack Blog here: Ordinary Man
NEW BOOK RELEASE AUGUST 2026
Under The Juniper Tree:
What We Carry While We Wait
What do you do when you've been faithful... but you're exhausted?
Elijah had just witnessed one of the greatest victories recorded in Scripture.
Fire fell from Heaven. The prophets of Baal were defeated. Rain returned after years of drought.
Then he ran into the wilderness, sat beneath a solitary tree, and asked God to let him die.
Most of us know the miracle on Mount Carmel. Few of us spend time beneath the juniper tree.
Under the Juniper Tree is a twelve-session Scripture study for pastors, ministry leaders, intercessors, and believers who have discovered that the greatest tests of faith are not always persecution or failure—but the quiet seasons when God seems silent, prayers appear unanswered, and obedience produces nothing we can see.
Each session includes guided reflection questions designed for personal study or small-group discussion.
Walking alongside Elijah, Moses, Job, Jeremiah, David, John the Baptist, Simeon, Anna, Habakkuk, Jonah, and others, you'll discover what God is doing while His people wait.
If you've ever wondered whether your prayers matter...
If you've questioned whether your faithfulness has made any difference...
If you've carried burdens no one else could see...
Then perhaps you've been beneath the juniper tree.
And perhaps God is not finished speaking.
About the Author
Scott Elston is a husband, father, and writer with a passion to see men grow an amazing relationship with Jesus Christ. Growing up in Guthrie, Oklahoma, he was called to preach at age nine in a rural Oklahoma Baptist church. However, Scott spent the next forty years trying to outrun it by joining the military, serving in law enforcement, and pursuing various other careers.
Through decades of delay, detours, failed marriages, and finally surrender, Scott learned what most churches don't teach: that saying "yes" to Jesus is just the beginning, and the battles that follow are ones nobody prepared him for.
Life After John 3:16 is the book he wishes someone had given him when he thought he had plenty of time—honest, unpolished, and written mainly for men, but for anyone stuck in the gap between salvation and real discipleship.
Scott founded Ordinary Man—a platform that includes his blog and Ordinary Man Press—to be a voice for men navigating this journey. He shut down a successful side business to pursue this calling full-time, on top of holding a full-time secular job.
Scott now volunteers as an intercessor with Barnabas Ministries and John1723.net for pastors locally in Oklahoma and abroad, while also facilitating the beginnings of John17:23 groups across Oklahoma. Located in Central Oklahoma, Scott's mission is to pray for the many pastors, ministry leaders, and churches in Central Oklahoma on a weekly basis.
Life After John 3:16:
What Your Pastor Didn't Tell You
It starts with a journey
Don't go 40 years not knowing who you are and who God is in your life, because someone didn't think it was important enough to tell you. Life After John 3:16: What Your Pastor Didn't Tell You answers the questions no one talks about. I've spent a lifetime working through the complexities of discipleship, and I want to help you discover what it truly means to follow Jesus in your daily life.
This book doesn't replace Scripture — I'm just a couple steps ahead of where you are, reaching back to give you a hand.
You Carry Others. Who Carries You?
Maybe you're a husband, a pastor, an elder, a teacher, an evangelist. Maybe you're a mother holding a family together, a father carrying more than anyone knows, a son or daughter standing in the gap for someone else's faith. If you're in the kingdom, chances are you've spent yourself for someone else's walk with God and know a weariness most people never see.
Under the Juniper Tree is for the ones who've given everything to help someone else stand, and are now sitting in the silence, wondering if God still sees them too.
You're not the first. Elijah sat under that same tree, ready to be done. This book meets you where you are, and walks you back out of the cave and into the light.
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What You'll Find Here
Honest, unpolished content for men navigating faith, purpose, and the battles nobody warned them about.
Join a growing community of men seeking real discipleship. Get notified of new content, book releases, and ministry updates. You're welcome here — wherever you are in your journey.
The Discipleship Gap
Most men walk away from salvation with zero roadmap. No warning about what's coming. No honest conversation about spiritual warfare, the attack on your marriage, or why your calling gets buried under decades of delay.
Scripture & Devotionals
Daily scripture posts and devotionals grounded in real-world faith. From Revelation to Thessalonians — honest reflections on what it means to walk with God in the modern world.
Ordinary Man Blog
Raw, honest writing about faith, spiritual warfare, marriage, purpose, and calling. Published on Substack and OrdinaryManPress.com — for men who are tired of spinning their wheels spiritually.
Our Legacy - The Next Generation
The discipleship gap doesn't start at adulthood.
The battle for your child's heart is already underway.
These are just a few of the ministries standing in the gap for our children.
Camp JOY Bible Camp
Right here in Guthrie, Oklahoma, nearly sixty years of planting the Word of God in the hearts of Logan County kids ages 7–18. Junior, Intermediate, and Teen camps that send children back to their homes and local churches stronger than they arrived. This is a community-level ministry doing exactly what the next generation needs.
Child Evangelism Fellowship
Part of the world's largest evangelism ministry to children — active in 192 countries with thousands of missionaries worldwide — CEF Central Oklahoma brings that same mission home. Good News Clubs meet weekly in schools, churches, and community centers across Central Oklahoma, bringing the Gospel to kids right where they are and pointing them toward a local church. Their summer 5-Day Clubs take that mission straight into neighborhoods. Every child. Every nation. Every day.
LifeWise Academy
LifeWise gives parents a fully legal way to get Bible-based character education into their child's public school week, during school hours. Students are released from class, taught Scripture-grounded lessons on courage, kindness, and integrity, and then returned. No fighting from the outside. LifeWise goes right through the front door. If your community doesn't have a program yet, anyone can start one.
In The Gap
Based in Oklahoma City, In The Gap equips local churches to run after-school Bible Clubs in public schools across Oklahoma. Their Operation Impact program mobilizes Christian young people ages 14 and up as summer missionaries — teaching kids, leading clubs, and living out the call. The name says it all. There is a gap. Somebody has to stand in it.
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