Brethren, a new year is upon us, and one which I believe has more opportunity to grow our Fraternity than we have seen in decades.

I see Lodges doing more work than we have in a long time. We need to build the momentum we have to increase our numbers. There is a lot of work to be done, but I believe we are more than capable of excelling at doing it.

Our youth groups are working hard also. They are starting to initiate new members after a long period of decline. They are enthusiastic about their future. They need and have a right to expect support from us. They appreciate any support they do get. I want to encourage you to contact them and see what you can do to help promote Job’s Daughters, Rainbow, and DeMolay. They enjoy helping us. We can do a lot to help them. Please contact your Masonic Youth Committee members to see what you can do for our youth.

I have some ideas for increasing our membership, and for getting Brothers back into Lodge who have not attended in a while. I am also interested in hearing from you about any ideas you may have to regaining these Brothers participation in Lodge.

We need to continue working on the Endowed Membership program to make it financially viable and useful for our Lodges. This is important to help improve the financial health of our Lodges.

One thing we need to do is to really ramp up our participation in our communities. Open houses, charity events, anything that can improve our visibility in our communities will help us to build our Fraternity. These events can be a great way to get inactive members to get back into Lodge. They have a lot to offer. We need to make sure they know that we understand that and appreciate what they can do to help their Lodge. We need to remind them that these are still their Lodges, and that they are needed. And while we’re at it, let’s go out of our way to include youth groups to participate in these events, and include the appendant bodies as well. Let’s make sure our communities know we are still here, and still the greatest Fraternal organization in the world.

Thank you Brothers and may the Great Architect of the Universe keep and bless you.