Episode #37 feat. Byron McMillan

What happens when a successful director of missions at a mega-church realizes his faith tradition is broken and he's carrying decades of internalized oppression?

In this thirty-seventh episode of Follow Me to the M-R-O-P!, host Brian Mueller sits down with Byron McMillan, a true contemplative, outdoor educator, and guide at the Center for Action and Contemplation. Byron shares his profoundly moving journey from the evangelical South to a 2017 initiation at Sky High Ranch in Colorado.

Episode Highlights

• Deconstructing Faith: Why Byron left his dream job at a 10,000-person mega-church after recognizing its complicity in systemic racism and political idolatry.
• A Vision of Harriet Tubman: Sitting in the rain during his six-hour nature solo, Byron received a powerful message from the great abolitionist: "Trust the earth."
• The Gauntlet: Byron describes the agonizing but liberating experience of walking through two lines of men and announcing his core wound of racial inadequacy.
• The Great Turning: Why American culture is like an adolescent caterpillar destroying the planet, and how the men of Illuman are acting as "imaginal cells" to birth a new way of being.

Links & Resources

• Byron McMillan (Guest)
• Elder Fire Collective
• Brian Mueller (Host)
• BriansPoems.com
• Illuman MROP
• Choosing Presence (Sponsor)
• Practicing Presence App
• The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr
• Adam's Return by Richard Rohr
• Breathing Under Water by Richard Rohr
• Trust Stillness by Brian Mueller

Credits

• First and foremost, thank you to Byron McMillan 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