Men welcoming young men into their emerging adulthood
The Joshua Project is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to providing meaningful rites-of-passage experiences for young men moving into manhood, to exploring the meaning of mature masculinity with men and boys, and to providing a vehicle to encourage adult-youth mentoring relationships.
While The Joshua Project forwards no particular religion or creed, it is dedicated to the encouragement of spiritual practices that inform a man's authentic nature.
The word initiation suggests beginnings and taking new steps, but it also means a thorough transformation through which we become our intended personality.
Michael Meade
Upcoming Retreats
Fri, Jan 17Jan 17, 2025, 5:00 PM – Jan 19, 2025, 2:00 PMSt John's River Valley Camp, 6211 NC-90, Collettsville, NC 28611, USA
About Us
Boys become men, but that “becoming” can be an arbitrary process, pushed one way or another by random chance and false initiations. Or, as has been done in traditional societies for thousands of years, young men can be consciously guided by experienced mentors to maturity realizing their individual strengths and character in a supportive community.
The Joshua Project was created by Philip Loydpierson, MSW in 1998 to fill just this role. Since then, dozens of young men have taken part in this innovative program.
Each season, the men retreat to a woodland encampment in North Carolina away from day-to-day distractions to provide a rites-of-passage experience and honor youths into their emergence as men.
While most of our participants come from the Charlotte, Boone, and Triangle regions of North Carolina, we welcome elders and young men from everywhere.
We all come from a history of needing to be acknowledged and blessed as we journey into adult lives. Without being held and supported in this transition time we can become lost... for a long long time. This work these men offer is saving lives and helping youth walk straight into their futures with courage, dignity, respect and joy!
