ALONG THE WAY
With John Michael Talbot
By Sue Mayfield-Geiger
His life has been a rather remarkable series of changing events. His journey, a tangled one. Roads crossed and by-passed as he went from a young successful folk-rock musician to an even more successful contemporary Christian recording artist, who just happened to become a Franciscan monk along the way.
It is the “along the way” part, however, that makes John Michael Talbot’s story reflect how the human spirit works in all of us. How the changes we make in our lives – good, bad or indifferent – mold us into who we finally become.
John Michael’s changes along the way include marriage at seventeen, fathering a daughter a short time later, divorce, an in-depth study into world religions, periods of disillusionment and solitude, a calling to join a monastery in Indiana, and finally, the lure of St. Francis – who offered him the peace and fulfillment he had been seeking.
John Michael’s mentor (Father Martin Wolter of Alverna Monastery in Indiana) offered encouragement and guidance. More importantly, as John Michael was trying to figure out the game of life and how to play it, it was Father Martin who told John Michael to think twice before hanging up his guitar. After all, how could music fit into a spiritual world of grace? “How could it not?” was Father Martin’s reply. According to St. Augustine, “He who sings well, prays twice.”
As a bearded, longhaired hippie and member of the musical group, Mason Profitt, John Michael tasted success at a young age. Along with brother Terry, they opened for famous acts like Janis Joplin, Arlo Guthrie, The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. A young John Denver even opened for Mason Profitt in the late ’60s. But the travel and the drugs took their toll. Although John Michael never had a problem with drugs, others in the band did, and John Michael basically grew to despise what he saw in the underlying world of rock stars. Plus, the inner turmoil inside John Michael’s soul had been a life-long inhabitant. As a nature lover, he spent most of his youth exploring the woods near his boyhood homes in Little Rock and Indianapolis, always questioning the mysteries of life. His musical talent was his salvation.
A switch from folk-rock to Christian music helped, but still did not give him the answers he sought. Why had his marriage failed, why did he have a deep desire to be alone and why was his soul always searching?
He began reading about St. Francis of Assisi and St. Francis’ devotion to Christ. St. Francis led a simple and uncluttered life – exactly what John Michael was looking for. So he headed for Alverna.
Father Martin and the Franciscan friars took John Michael into their hearts. John Michael knew instantly he was exactly where he was supposed to be. He spent hours alone in prayer, took long walks, read, worked hard, and began his healing process. Within a small room containing only a thin mattress, blanket and table, John Michael Talbot found John Michael Talbot.
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