Sustainable Leadership Beyond 2020 Brethren, Before we introduce our next Masonic Education topic, let’s review the first 2 lessons in the “Lodge of the Future” series of Lesson Plans and Lodge Education Topics. In Lesson 1, you should have gathered your Lodge membership data and determined how your Lodge will address your Membership trends, Dues and Lodge Expenses, Membership Communication so as to determine where you are today and begin thinking about your Lodge. At current Membership levels how long will your Lodge be sustainable. In Lesson 2, Membership Engagement, we raised the questions and your Lodge should had discussed how to improve Membership Value, Communication, and how to better care, one for the other as promised. It is all about improving communication with all your members and getting them involved and engaged. Lesson 3, Sustainable Leadership is being introduced and the Masonic Education Lesson Plan can be found at www.scgrandlodgeafm.org under the Resources Tab. Let’s begin by asking the important question of how many new members raised to the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason in the last 5 years are active in your Lodge today? From the travels of our Grand Lodge officers, District Deputy Reports and discussions, it appears that most of our new members are joining us and not active in our Lodge Leadership as officers or committeemen. Is it possible we have failed to set ALL the craft to work and give good and wholesome instruction? In discussion with new members from various Lodges, we make an impression when they receive their degrees. Some report favorable impression, while others report less than favorable experience and voice concern. Sustainable Leadership is another critical item for us to consider for the Lodge of the Future. Who will be the officers and will they be successful beyond 2020? Will your lodge have qualified men to serve as leader of their peers or will we continue to rotate leadership roles between our Past Masters, who continue to serve the Lodge. Sustainable Leadership, in the Lodge setting, is all about the process of selecting, engaging, and training members who will lead our Lodges by serving the membership, and consistently improving the Quality of the Lodge Membership. This is an important task for the Past Masters and Officers to work together with an eye to the future of the Lodge. Too many times we see a rift between the generations with one side on “That’s the way we have always done it” and “What if we tried new ways to get members involved.” I am here to say, in my opinion both are correct! We need structure and tradition, if and only if the tradition is good and follows our specific ritual, and also new ways to get members involved. So our Lesson plan will offer some discussion topics to help develop our new members for future leadership. It will come at a price. The price is giving of ourselves, as current Leaders and Officers, to assign ritual parts to the newest members, coaching does not stop with the completion of catechism! By sharing the proper and correct way to delivering the important lesson is our great care and one that helps get members on the path to effective leadership. It comes at a price of assigning our newest members to investigation committees with seasoned members, to teach how to work with a new candidate and his family on Lodge membership. It comes at a price by assigning new members to committees on how to balance needs of the Lodge and the financial resources to get the job done, or to positively impact the image of the Lodge to our members, our families and our communities. Step by step we learn and teach. Step by step we approach the East and making a positive impact as a leader. Finally, Servant Leadership is about leading for a short time your peers or your brothers, and having a positive influence. Servant Leadership is about helping others be better than themselves. In the Scottish Rite Easter Sunday Service we close with the following charge from the Leader, “May the Peace of Our Master be with you and remain with you always. It is always better to Love than to hate. Remember our duty is not to be better that others but to be better than ourselves, and the more we have the more we owe those around us who are in need.” May your Lodge of the Future be filled with servant leaders, each in his turn contributing to the benefit of all the Lodge Members, Families and Communities, and by doing so with the right attitude, provide for the next generation of engaged, enlightened Servant Leaders for the Glory of God and betterment of each other. The “Put George Washington back in our Schools” Team headed up by RW Sam Turner, PDDGM and RW John King, PDDGM present the Grand Lodge with a George Washington Portrait, which will be hung in the Main Entrance Foyer of the Grand Lodge Building. Pictured above from left to right, RW Johnnie F. James, PDDGM, Grand Tiler, Edward S. Hershberger, Junior Grand Deacon, RW O. Bruce Smith, PDDGM, Senior Grand Deacon, Ronnie P. Richards, Junior Grand Deacon, RW AC Flora, PDDGM MSA Committeeman, MW Gerald L. Carver, PGM, Grand Secretary, MW William B. Rogers, Grand Master, MW Jack A. Marler, PGM, Grand Treasurer, RW Sam Turner, PDDGM, RW John King, PDDGM, RW J. W. Benny Hammond, Jr., PDDGM, Grand Marshall, and RW, James “Chico” Mathis, PDDGM, Senior Grand Deacon. Photo by Mrs. Susan King. The new Ahiman Rezon 2015 is available by contacting MWB Gerald L. Carver PGM/ Grand Secretary at 803-808-4377. The new edition has improved graphics that make all of the pictures much more detailed. They are selling for $20.00 each. Be sure you get the new edition for your lodge. The 279th Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free Masons of South Carolina will be held April 28th and 29th, 2016, at the Embassy Suites Hotel Airport Convention Center located at 670 Verdae Blvd, Greenville, SC 29607. The Religious Service will commence at 9:00 AM conducted by The Reverend A. Robert Nix, Grand Chaplain. The Grand Lodge will be officially opened at 10:00 AM by the Grand Master, Most Worshipful Brother William B. Rogers, assisted by the other Grand Lodge Officers and Brethren. The Annual Banquet will be held Thursday night, April 28, 2016, at 7:00 pm at the Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center. The Embassy Suites Hotel (864-676-9090) will be the headquarters hotel. Those desiring rooms there should get their reservations in early as rooms will be assigned on a first come - first serve basis. Each person, including Grand Lodge Officers, will be responsible for making his own reservation. It is not likely that everyone will be able to stay at the hotel as there are a limited number of rooms. It is desirable, if at all possible, that all Grand Lodge Officers, including Past Grand Masters, District Deputy Grand Masters and Committee members, stay at the headquarters hotel. The telephone number of the hotel is 864-676-9090. The Grand Lodge Banquet will be held on Thursday evening, April 28, 2016 at 7:00 pm at the Embassy Suites Hotel Convention Center, 670 Verdae Blvd., Greenville, SC 29607. In the near future, two tickets will be mailed to the Secretary of each Lodge. If the Lodges do not want to purchase the tickets, they may be returned to this office for credit.
IF WE DO NOT HEAR FROM THE LODGE, OR IF THE TICKETS ARE NOT RETURNED, THE LODGE WILL BE CHARGED FOR THE SAME. Engaging Our Membership Gentlemen, as we enter the “Dog Days of Summer” we are at the time and place in our Lodges to determine what our membership will be by year end and if we have members that are in danger of being dropped from our roles at the end of the year. This is the time to both, review the results from the Masonic Education Lesson Plan, as found at www.scgrandlodgeafm.org under the Resources Tab, and to move forward in our series on the Lodge of the Future. If your Lodge has not yet discussion your actual Lodge statistics and direction for the future, the data that you will generate is vital to understanding your Lodge Future Success. Start now with your plans to visit every member who is in danger of dropping membership, and determining why they are in arrears. The key issue facing us today is how best to maintain our members and engage them. This is best performed today with an appropriate use of email and website communication to ALL of our members. It is very unusual today to find any Lodge in our Grand Jurisdiction that has more than 20% of members attending meetings. Why so few attendees? What do we deliver to our members at meetings? If, as promised, we are to support one another and continue to improve and enlighten our membership, so then why are they not coming to our Lodge? We hear the typical responses, but often not supported by real facts and truth. Health issues, work obligations, and relocation are legitimate and often heard, but what about those other members that we do not see anymore, or in some cases ever! I submit, that like me, many Lodge Officers have members that they have never met! These are often the very members that are questioning the Value of Lodge membership and predictably more likely to drop from our roles. While it is incumbent on all members to support their lodge, many report that they feel little or no connection to the Lodge. We must work to improve the Lodge Experience, with more time together, giving every member a responsibility to the Lodge and providing more for our members. Better Education, more discussion, better time spent together over a good meal at Lodge and even in other settings. Now let’s address ways to engage members that are not active with us but are still our brothers and lodge members. It will take work and effort. For us to establish a platform for growth and stability, we must address the issue of Creating Membership Value. We must communicate with all of our members with regular frequency with meaningful information and encouragement to remain active and engaged. We must make our meetings more than meet, read minutes, pay bills and go home. We must recreate the environment of Brotherhood, Fellowship, Education and Support for all of our members with valuable experiences. In essence, we must create an environment where members WANT to come to our meetings. In the Masonic Education Lesson Plan Number 2 - Engaging Members, we offer a Lodge Education topic and action plans to create an opportunity for improved communications and engagement. Get it at www.scgrandlodgeafm.org Will your Lodge become a place where we can come together, learn from each other and enjoy being part of something greater than ourselves and make a difference to our members, our lodge, and our community? Before we address how to add new member, we must make Lodge Membership a meaningful and rewarding experience for all of our members. Brethren, thank you for your work to improve the Lodge Experience and Advance toward a successful Lodge of the Future. Share your results! MASONIC EDUCATION LESSON PLAN NUMBER 2 OUR LODGE OF THE FUTURE – ENGAGING MEMBERS BACKGROUND: Engaging our Current Members is Critical to our Long Term Success. ISSUES: How well we improve and deliver Membership Value will determine our Future Success! NEEDS: Freemasons expect and want more value from the Lodge Experience! How can your Lodge improve membership engagement? FACTS: Lead a discussion with the members at your meeting to address the following;
As I write this article our country is celebrating the fourth of July or Independence Day. The question came to me “Why do we celebrate the fourth of July”? This date should remind us of the freedoms we enjoy because of the brave men and women who fought the British government for the privilege of being free and giving us an independent America. The signers of the “Declaration of Independence” were courageous men who pledged their lives, their fortunes, their future and their sacred honor for the cause of freedom and independence. Most of these brave men lost everything and many lost their lives in the pursuit of the freedoms we now enjoy as free Americans. Also many of the signers were Freemasons. Some of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were from South Carolina. They were Thomas Heyward, Jr., Edward Rutledge and Arthur Middleton. They were captured by the British during the Charleston Campaign in 1780. They were held prisoners in dungeons at the St. Augustine Prison until their exchange a year later. Independence Day is associated with fireworks, cook-outs, parades, family reunions, ball games, speeches, concerts and other ceremonies, as well as other public and private celebrations of the history of our government and traditions of the United States. Independence Day is the birthday and National Day of Celebration of the United States. At the bombardment of Fort McHenry by ships of the British Navy in the war of 1812, Francis Scott Key, a thirty-five year old lawyer and amateur poet, was on one of those British ships trying to secure the release of Dr William Beanes, a prisoner of the British. As they watched the shelling of Ft. McHenry throughout the night, Key penciled a poem describing what he was witnessing. The poem was published in the Baltimore Patriot with the title “The Defense of Fort McHenry.” The poem became known as “The Star Spangled Banner.” Key’s poem was declared in 1931 by the U.S. Congress as the official anthem of the United States. A Mason named John Stafford Smith set the poem to music to the tune of an old English tune called “To Anacreon in Heaven” a difficult melody with a large vocal range sometime between 1770 and 1775. We are more familiar with the first stanza, but the anthem contains four. In indignation over the start of the American Civil War, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. added a fifth stanza to the song in 1861 which appeared in songbooks of the era. I hope that as you celebrated the “Fourth of July with your families and friends that you kept in mind that we are free because of the sacrifice of so many brave and honorable men. May God bless us, our Fraternity and pray that He will bless The United States of America. Sincerely and Fraternally, William B. Rogers Grand Master Lodge of the Future It is, indeed, a distinguished honor to be elected to serve the Craft of The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient Freemasons of South Carolina as your Senior Grand Warden. I am humbled and honored by your support and our shared love of this great Fraternity. Thank you and I pledge to do my best to support your Lodge, by listening and working together for the benefit of the Fraternity. I am excited about the future of our great fraternity because of those that are accepting the challenge of examining and improving the experience for our members. Brethren our lodge membership is our most important asset. While I am positive of the great influence we have as Freemasons and our future, and yet I am also greatly concerned about the transition many of our lodges are facing for renewal and even survival in the coming years. I find many Lodges unprepared, and some even unaware of the issues that are on the horizon. In an effort to support and assist our Lodges, I am pleased to introduce our humble effort to inform, enlighten and assist our lodges in moving forward. We must ask ourselves and prepare to answer together the following question, What will MY Lodge look like beyond 2020? Will it be a Lodge of the Future or a Lodge that is struggling to succeed or even still in existence? I believe we have a great opportunity to study, plan and implement actions that will help us with renewal and greater success. It will take work, passion and dedication and in my humble opinion, it must begin now! It is my intention to offer a series of articles for the Lodges in our Grand Jurisdiction to reflect on their past, their current situation and to look forward to take the actions necessary to define the very success of their Lodge of the Future. Topics planned for this series will include both the article in our Masonic Light, and will also include a brief Masonic Education Lesson Plan for all Worshipful Masters and Secretaries to use in the Lodge, during the period between articles. The lesson plan, will be found on the Grand Lodge website for your access and from the Masonic Education Committeemen and District Deputies. Each Masonic Education Lesson with have a brief introduction and specific action for your lodge to consider and research and implement plans to address the real issues facing your lodge today. Worshipful Masters, I remind you of the obligation you have to provide Masonic Education and each meeting. These Masonic Education topics are provided for use in your Lodge every other month, if you so choose. It is my sincere hope that you choose to do so! So let’s get started and together we can determine our path toward the future, and plan for success so that the generations yet to come, will value what we know and cherish about our beloved Fraternity. MASONIC EDUCATION LESSON PLAN NUMBER 1 OUR LODGE OF THE FUTURE BACKGROUND: Keeping our Current Members is Critical to our Long Term Success. ISSUES: How well do we keep up with our older members, those that do not attend regularly or those that have moved away for work or other reasons? I believe you would agree that without our members, our Lodge future is in jeopardy. NEEDS: Lodge Membership Trends that impact our future success Here is the first opportunity to research your Lodge Membership 1. How many members have we lost in the last 10 years? Why? 2. What is the average age of your Lodge membership? 3. How Many Dues Paying Members do you have in your Lodge? 4. How many Life or Perpetual Life Members do you have in your Lodge? 5. How do you communicate with all you Lodge Members? FACTS: If you assign a committee you can search the Grand Lodge Proceedings and gather most of these facts for questions 1. Deaths, NPD, Demit and Suspension. If you assign a committee, you can work with the Secretary and check your past Annual Audits and determine the answers to questions 2 – 4. Question number 5 will really take some effort by your officers and active members. Two proven and effective methods to reach most of your members are; Divide the membership list among your Officers and Active Members and call them to check on them and get email address if they have it. Welcome them to come back, share upcoming events and regular meetings. Mail a written letter to each inactive member and let them know you are trying to reach them. Ask for contact information and get back to them to check on them and invite them back or to a special event. APPLICATION: These facts will be helpful in the coming months when we look at other topics, so complete the research, share with your Lodge members. You will be glad you did this? OPPORTUNITY: Build the relationship with your current members and show them how much your Lodge cares about him and his family. |
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