David’s new book, IRON BOY: Searching for Freedom Inside a Family Religious Order, was  published in paperback and e-book formats on June 15, 2025. You can purchase both now on Amazon, and wider distribution will be available shortly.

Iron Boy is about his twelve-year escape from his childhood seminary, a radical religious “Family Order” founded by the World Council of Churches, spanning the tumultuous sixties and seventies—and his road to freedom.

In the 1970 bestseller Future Shock, Alvin Toffler cited David’s boyhood home in a chapter about potential solutions to the fractured family: “In Chicago, 250 adults and children already live together in ‘family-style monasticism’ under the auspices of a new, fast-growing religious organization . . . .”

Iron Boy is based on a true story covering his experience in a religious commune from age six to eighteen. It is an unusual tale of oppression, discovery, freedom and triumph. He grew up in the Ecumenical Institute—or the Order as it was known to insiders—founded by the World Council of Churches. The Order’s mission was to renew the decaying church and lead the way in urban and rural community development, by building Iron Men who would change the world.

The Order was on the vanguard of the Christian reform movement. David’s parents saw themselves as revolutionaries making a difference in the world. They were social activists supported by progressive theology combating fundamentalism. They gave up everything for the mission, but lost their children along the way.

You can order the paperback or e-book now on Amazon.

Please click on Further Reading if you already have the book and would like more information on selected topics from IRON BOY.