To Lead or Not To Lead ???

Some of you who have been around for a long time can remember that getting into the "line" or getting into the moving line of officers one would often be put on a waiting list. I joined the craft in 1983 went into line in 84 as a steward and spent two years as a steward. Then JD, SD and so on. By the time I reached the east I had been in a variety of positions in the lodge and pretty well understood how things worked.

Fast forward 28 years and things in most lodges are quite different. Owing to the reduced population in the area and the much busier lives everyone leads we have situations where it is not uncommon for a brother to get into line at the JW position or higher. This often leads to brothers lacking the needed experience to effectively lead the lodge in growth not only in new members but also meeting the needs of the existing brothers and financial health of the lodge.

We are learning that the younger brothers coming in are not actually wanting a watered down version of Masonry. They are here because of our history and heritage and want that Masonic experience which our forefathers had. Also PGM Bob Conley has spoke to us many times that the new brothers are looking to "belong" to something with other men like themselves, opportunities for family, and opportunities to be an active part of leadership and learning leadership skills.

Fortunately for us our Grand Lodge is rolling out a new Mentor program. The intention of the program is that each lodge will have trained mentors in place to help the new members become familiar with our traditions and to lead them to becoming an active part of the lodge.

We need to adopt the philosophy of line officer leadership that when we put a brother in the Junior Deacon position we are actually putting the future Worshipful Master in line. Unfortunately this is a difficult task in most lodges. There are no waiting lists and we have done a poor job of preparing new brothers for the line. With our re-dedication and the new Mentor Program we can surely overcome this challenge and grow our fraternity.