The Three Links Odd Cast

For nearly 150 years, prior to 2001, the Rebekahs were a strong and vital companion organization to the Odd Fellows.  However, once women were allowed to be Odd Fellows and were no longer restricted to just Rebekah membership, numbers for that unit of the Order started to decline precipitously.  Director of Institutional Research Meredith Moore attended the Testamonial of IARA President Pam Isenhower to meet with and interview many...

Odd Fellowship has  a long, proud history in the state of Texas, dating back to Lone Star Lodge No. 1 in Houston, the first lodge chartered outside the United States by the IOOF, in 1845, before Texas joined the union.  A big part of that history was San Antonio Lodge No. 11, only a few steps away from the Alamo, the cradle of Texan independence.  On April 11th, San Antonio Lodge No. 11 was rechartered by the Grand Lodge of Texas w...

Pine Island, Minnesota is the kind of idyllic Midwestern farm town that most people picture when they think of anywhere in the middle of the country: friendly people, a strong sense of community, and civic pride.  The town also had one other fixture that used to be common in every little town in the Midwest: an Odd Fellows lodge.  Unfortunately, the lodge had fallen on hard times.  Membership was low and the building was falling ap...

Coulterville, California is a relic of the Gold Rush; a small mountain community nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains.  There are 110 residents of the town, which is situated at the crossroads of two state highways that take tourists to and from mountain tourist attractions like Yosemite National Park.  Like so many other towns of the Old West, Coulterville has an Odd Fellows Lodge, but one that was on the verge ...

The annual Odd Market hosted by Tuscola Lodge #316 in Illinois has become a community mainstay.  It didn't start out that way, though.  The beginning had a lot more variety—and lizards.  Sister Rain Martin and Sister Renee Moore join us to talk about the current Odd Market, how it started, how it grew, and how other lodges can copy its success.  There were a lot of challenges along the way (some involving food trucks) and a lo...

The new year finds us with a new co-host: Sister Meredith Moore of Dallas Lodge #44 in Texas.  Meredith brings a wonderful background in Odd Fellowship and in data collection and analysis to the show and we waste no time in putting her skills to work.  She developed and posted a survey on member burnout that got responses from 37 jurisdictions.  The results are, in most cases, not surprising.  Members like meaning, ritual, and rega...

What exactly is a Grinch, anyway?  Is it a person?  A creature?  An outlook on life that sours every interaction?  The Three Links Odd Cast does another adaptation of a timeless holiday classic focused on Odd Fellowship as we present, "How The Grand Master Stole Christmas."  In our version we get to explore what happens when individual desire supersedes our duties as Odd Fellows and how we can get back in touch with those...

Odd Fellowship isn't something that can be joined casually.  It requires a certain amount of effort to be expended on behalf of those joining the lodge to fill out an application, pay the application fee, and proceed through the interview and initiation.  For the applicant, this process should ensure that they get an opportunity to find out about the nature of the lodge to which they are applying.  For the lodge, this process ...

Waxahachie Lodge No. 80 is one of the largest and best-known lodges in North America.  Because of their excellent promotion on social media, they have become household names in the world of Odd Fellowship.  We talk with their Noble Grand, Alex Freeman, about his journey into Odd Fellowship, how it intersects with his professional life, (spoiler alert: he's a tattoo artist) and what it's like to be in charge of such a larg...

We always like to do a cemetery episode during October in keeping with the "spooky" theme of the season.  This year, however, we're not playing up the spooky or macabre side of cemeteries.  Instead, we're looking at the compassionate, caring side of cemetery operations with Brother Jon Hart, manager of the IOOF Memory Gardens in Livermore, California.  Brother Hart had a meandering path to the job, starting with...

Mike fills two roles on this episode: one as host, and one as guest while we discuss his newest book, "Oddtistic."  The book looks at how Odd Fellowship has become a refuge for those seeking acceptance in a world that is often dismissive and uninviting.  It also outlines how community heals isolation and structure provides an anchor, all giving those seeking community a place to go with real prospects for inclusion and be...

Looking to get his life on a better track, Bro. Niles Schumm took his mother's suggestion and joined the Odd Fellows.  That led him to his local lodge where he started to get more and more involved in lodge activities.  After not too many more years, he started to get interested in serving at the Grand Lodge level and is currently the Grand Warden of Illinois.  Bro. Schumm recounts his journey into Odd Fellowship and talks abo...

When we last spoke about the Cave Degree, it's fate was left uncertain.  The deck in the cave was in disrepair and there was a fundraising effort underway to restore it to a functional condition.  Now, in its second year post-revival, the Cave Degree has evolved into a full-blown Cave Weekend, with a meeting of the Richard Brouse Degree Lodge No. 190 and an English Country Dance on Friday evening, the Initiatory and First Degr...

Season six kicks off in Grand—or, should we say—Sovereign Grand style!  We recorded this episode of the podcast live from the historic hall of Kanawha Lodge #25 of Charleston, West Viriginia, host of the 2025 Sovereign Grand Lodge Session.  We were joined by a wonderful live audience and guests who told us about what's going on in their jurisdictions.  We heard about a tiny lodge in Rhode Island that suddenly had an influx of ...

Five years ago, a new podcast emerged on the fraternal landscape, the Three Links Odd Cast.  Shrouded in mystery, the reclusive hosts have done their best to keep knowledge about the show secret—until now.  Join host Ian Love-Jones of Peninsula Lodge #128 of Portland as he guides this exposé of the Three Links Odd Cast.  Host Love-Jones digs into the shady past of the show, calling on disgruntled former hosts for their perspective....

As more and more people are searching the Internet for Odd Fellowship, many of them are finding this podcast.  As a service to them, we put together this episode where we give an introduction to Odd Fellowship, including what it is, how it's structured, how to join, and what members get out of it.  We hope this will be helpful to those of you looking for a way to connect with your community through Odd Fellowship.  As always, ...

Spring is here and many jurisdictions are having their Sessions, which means electing new Grand Masters who will be traveling around to visit lodges.  In response to a listener's question, we discuss the process and protocols involved in a Grand Master's visit.  Should you feed the Grand Master?  When does he or she get introduced?  Where should they sit?  When do they speak?  Who else gets introduced with the Grand Maste...

Not everyone understands fraternalism or takes the groups at face value.  The suspicion of Freemasonry by the Roman Catholic Church is well known.  Lesser known is the skepticism of so-called "secret societies" by Evangelical Christians.  In response to a listener question, we asked Paul Michaels (not his real name), an Evangelical pastor, to come on the podcast and shed some light on why some Evangelical Christians are h...

Brothers Aiden Brink and Will Sparks both joined their respective lodges in the past couple of years.  Each have become very active and spurred growth in their areas.  They were both kind enough to join us to discuss their perspective on Odd Fellowship: what we get right, what we get wrong, and what we can do to build a solid future for our Order.  Some of the answers may be surprising, especially to long-time members, but they are...