What happens when a touring worship leader from Dodge City leaves his intellectual scaffolding in the woods and realizes that "dead men don't swat flies"?

In this twenty-eighth episode of Follow Me to the M-R-O-P!, host Brian Mueller sits down with Jared Adams for a fascinating conversation about his 2012 initiation at Pilgrim Park, Illinois. Jared, a freelance creative and touring singer-songwriter, shares how he arrived at the rites exhausted by the cognitive dissonance of his Reformed and Evangelical upbringing. Guided by the "apophatic" shepherding of Weaver Belden Lane, Jared learned the profound power of putting down his notepad, embracing beginner's mind, and surrendering to the magic of the woods.

Episode Highlights

• Dead Men Don't Swat Flies: Jared recounts laying prostrate in a meadow during his day of death, realizing he had to surrender his physical comfort and let the ants crawl over him to truly honor the ritual.
• The "I Am" Breakdown: The terrifying moment in his first council circle when he ran out of polite, dictionary-ready adjectives and was forced to drop his facade.
• Ruined for the Show: How the profound authenticity of sitting in a circle of men made it impossible to return to the performance-driven "fog machines" of Sunday morning worship leading.
• Building the Youth Rites: Jared's decade-long involvement in helping create a 24-hour initiation for teenage boys, and his excitement to finally experience it with his own son, Cohen.
• The Locksmith Epilogue: Accidentally locking his keys in the car after the rites, leading to hours of profound reflection on a stump with Father Bob.

Links & Resources

• Annagail
• Choosing Presence (Sponsor)
• Practicing Presence App
• Illuman MROP
• The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr
• Adam's Return by Richard Rohr
• The The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality by Belden Lane
• Brian Mueller (Host)

Credits

• First and foremost, thank you to Jared Adams for sharing his journey and his heart with us today.
• Thank you to Fr. Richard Rohr and the men of Illuman who have stewarded the Men’s Rites of Passage since 1996.
• Thank you to Jim Heaney and Jim Taylor for their dedication to Choosing Presence.

Music Credits:

• Slow Mo Dreams by Soundroll
• Becoming a Legend by Vens Adams