Northern Michigan Masons

Wardens Workshop

2009-09-01T12:33:00.002-04:00

The Grand Lodge of Michigan is holding Wardens Workshops throughout the state. On October 24th, Indian River Karnak will be hosting a Workshop at the Masonic Activities Building.

The days agenda includes:

Light breakfast

Planning for the East

Team building for Lodge Growth

Getting done what needs to be done

Developing Lodge Leaders

Public Relations for the Local Lodge

Lunch will be provided.

This program is open to all members of the Lodge but is geared towards Wardens and Deacons as they make their way to the East. There is a $25 fee for each member attending and you need to register. You can register for this event at tinyurl.com/irwardens. Any further questions should be directed to Director Bob Conley, Grand Lodge Member Services.

Remember it is also bear, rabbit, archery deer, pheasant, quail, turkey and woodcock season. So after a day of knowledge, you can get in a couple of days in the woods.

Aiding and Assisting a Widow

2009-08-12T09:15:00.002-04:00

At the August regular, WB Mathis brought it to our attention that the widow of Brother Graustein was in the extended care facility and her house needed some attention. Several Brothers agreed to meet the next day to help out with cutting the grass, trimming hedges, pulling weeds and cleaning up the outside of the residence. Four Brothers from our Lodge along with WM Mcginn from Onaway Lodge and several girls from the International Order of the Rainbow were there to help.

Fulfilling part of the Obligation we all took brought discussion back into the Lodge about the reasons we meet. Small duties to our Masonic family as well as to the community is a way we, as individual members and as the Lodge as a whole, can grow. Last year our current WM was dropping off our loaner electric wheelchair and found some work that needed to be done at the persons house. WM Wade had never met this person but as we have been brought up, saw a person in need of assistance and acted upon it. When she came home and saw what he had done for a person that only two of us have meet at our breakfasts, she wrote a very nice letter that was published in the local paper. A great example of getting our name back into the community.

The Circus is Coming!

2009-07-26T22:53:00.002-04:00

Indian River Masonic Activities Center is proud to be sponsoring the Kelly Miller Circus August 17th on the back 40. This years circus will roll in on the morning of the 17th and you will be able to watch the elephants raise the Big Top at 9am. The Midway will open around 3 pm for fun and camel and elephant rides. Shows will be 4:30 and 7:30. The stick around the watch the tent go down and the whole crew to be ready to go within 90 minutes. Pre-order tickets are cheaper than the buying the day of so if you need tickets or wish to get on the work committee, contact Gene or Vic.

NZ Mason jailed over sorcery claims

2009-07-15T22:56:00.003-04:00

A New Zealand man spent a "wretched" night in a Fiji prison cell after frightened residents and police raided his Freemasons meeting, suspecting witchcraft and sorcery.

A police spokesman said the men were arrested because police had been tipped off that a meeting was being held and there were "some strange goings-on".

You can read the entire article here:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10584756

Brother in need

2009-03-21T11:26:00.003-04:00

The daughter of Brother John Causey (Indian River Karnak 442)lost all of her belongings in a house fire this week. Indian River Lodge will be hosting a spaghetti dinner for the family, with date to be determined this weekend. The family has a complete loss including the home. They have 4 children and could use help with clothing for them also. 3 boys aged 8,5,3 and one girl age 1. If you can help with anything they could use, please make contact with Bro. Randy Wright at 231-238-7795.

Masonic Leaders Conference

2009-03-02T08:56:00.005-05:00

The Grand Lodge of Michigan just announced a Spring Masonic Leaders Conference. From the GL website:

A great day is planned, not only with excellent education products relating to your Masonic Lodge, but we're also planning some special surprises as well! Nationally renowned speakers and programs designed to help you become the Masonic Leader your Lodge deserves! This is a program you do not want to miss. For more information contact Robert Conley. Make your plans, grab your leadership Team and join us in Mt. Pleasant. Arrangements have been made for room specials, so bring the wife and spend a nice weekend enjoying wonderful Mt. Pleasant and the Soaring Eagle resort!

Bob Conley has done a great job at putting together programs to help the Lodges at the local level with many different training and leadership programs. His programs are sure worth it if you can find the time.

For my Father

2009-02-12T22:28:00.006-05:00

This last several months in my life have been a rough and hard road. I tore my MCL just two days before Christmas and couldn't see my doctor until after the new year. While waiting for the new year to pass so I can get my knee taken care of my daughter started having more pains and problems.

She was diagnosed with Kawasaki's Disease 3 years ago and the doctors told us our biggest concerns would be cardiac related (increased stroke risk and artery problems). So low and behold she has been having leg pain that just keeps getting worse and worse.

The good thing is they have finally ruled out Leukemia and Bone Cancer after a long week of x-rays, MRI's and drawing blood. The bad part now is the waiting. They want to do a couple weeks of physical therapy, then off to a doctor in the next town over and then downstate to Detroit to see an Endocrinologist. During this whole time, I am still waiting for them to decide what they are going to do with my knee.

That brings me to the purpose of my post today. 5 years ago I tore my ACL in half. After my replacement/reconstruction surgery and time off work for therapy, my father lost his battle with cancer. The only blessing of all that tragedy was my ability to travel to his house and spend the last two weeks caring for him.

Today is the fifth anniversary of his journey to the Great Celestial Lodge. My father was a Mason for just over 40 years making him a Life Member at his Lodge here in Michigan. That was one of his final goals, getting to that 40 year mark. His other goal, from a Masonic stand point, was to raise all three of his sons himself. That he accomplished in each of our Lodges and I never saw him so proud for a long time before that or ever again after.

My father was an incredible man. He had 9 kids, was able to keep us all in line and made sure we never went without anything. Every year we went on vacation, all over the country by the time I graduated. He was a police officer, starting as a patrol officer and working his way up to the big seat. During his 32 + years there he also graduated the FBI Academy and the Secret Service Academy working as a local contact for them. After retiring he ran the Police Academy at the college passing on his knowledge.

Through the way he lived his life and the way he treated his fellow man, his wife, his family and his God, he was an incredible example for his children and those around him. Public service is predominate in the lives of my brothers and sisters as we followed his lead of taking care of our fellow man. This example I try to follow in my own life both in my profession and as a Mason and community member. In my professional life I became a Paramedic right out of high school and then followed with becoming a volunteer firefighter for my township thereafter. In my Masonic life I dove into learning after I was raised by my father in front of one of my brothers, a big smile as he was able to complete his wish of bringing all three of his sons to light. Becoming Master of my Lodge in just under three years and then District Deputy Instructor, I received a lot of support from my new found Brothers and quickly putting myself in a place to support them.

I have a loving wife that supports my decisions and is behind everything I do and three beautiful daughters that are incredible at anything they set their minds too. This alone makes me a blessed man, but adding to it the support through the Lodge, from e-mails and phone calls to Brothers that have drove out of the way to stop in at my house, just to see how we are doing and offer every kind of help under the sun as we work through the current concerns with my daughter. From this I see that living my life the best I can to be a just and upright person returns ten-fold.

For this I thank my Brothers, all my Brothers, as I know if I was in your Lodge you would be the ones on the phone or on my porch offering to help.

I especially thank my father for showing me this path and taking the time with each of us. He made sure that we all turned out to be good kids. I will never forget him, I miss him every day. I love you Dad.

UPDATE:

The doctors have ruled out the bone cancer and leukemia. We are still trying to figure out what is wrong, but I am more than happy that those major ones have been ruled out. Thanks to all for your thoughts, prayers and kind words.

Veteran's Day

2008-11-11T09:42:00.009-05:00

We showed these clips last night at our Blue Lodge Meeting as a tribute to our Veteran's. After I turned off the screen and turned up the lights, there was not a dry eye in the room. As it turns out, our newest Brother, so new he received his lambskin that night, was part of the 173rd battalion.

Thanks to all our Veteran's for their service and sacrifice for this great country.

Here is the link to the website, there is an additional video there and you can order a copy of it direct from them.

http://www.hififusion.com/ecard/bigandrich/acm2007/1/

ALL DEGREE DAY

2008-10-26T22:11:00.004-04:00

UPDATE: This all degree day has been postponed. Lack of Brothers to help with the degrees. My guess is opening weekend causing the problem. I will update when we get another date set.

Cheboygan Lodge will be hosting an all degree day on Nov 8th starting at 9 am. There are 5-6 candidates scheduled many of whom are active duty in the military. Lets try to give them a good show for their raising before they are off.

President Roosevelt

2008-10-20T07:26:00.003-04:00

One of the websites I frequent, The art of Manliness, had this article from Brother Roosevelt. Maybe something we should share with our Brothers as something to keep in our minds as we interact with our schools through the Beacon Projects and our Boy Scouts.

In a speech, Roosevelt extolled the manly virtues that every boy and man should develop: hard work, courage, and a disposition to do good. The lack of men of character in the world today makes this speech relevant even today. As fathers or mentors, let us seek to raise up a generation of boys like the one TR describes. As men, let us seek to develop these traits ourselves.

What we have a right to expect of the American boy is that he shall turn out to be a good American man.

The boy can best become a good man by being a good boy–not a goody-goody boy, but just a plain good boy.

I do not mean that he must love only the negative virtues; I mean that he must love the positive virtues also. ‘Good,’ in the largest sense, should include whatever is fine, straightforward, clean, brave and manly.

The best boys I know–the best men I know–are good at their studies or their business, fearless and stalwart, hated and feared by all that is wicked and depraved, incapable of submitting to wrongdoing, and equally incapable of being aught but tender to the weak and helpless.

Of course the effect that a thoroughly manly, thoroughly straight and upright boy can have upon the companions of his own age, and upon those who are younger, is incalculable.

If he is not thoroughly manly, then they will not respect him, and his good qualities will count for but little; while, of course, if he is mean, cruel, or wicked, then his physical strength and force of mind merely make him so much the more objectionable a member of society.

He can not do good work if he is not strong and does not try with his whole heart and soul to count in any contest; and his strength will be a curse to himself and to every one else if he does not have a thorough command over himself and over his own evil passions, and if he does not use his strength on the side of decency, justice and fair dealing.

In short, in life, as in a football game, the principle to follow is: Hit the line hard: don’t foul and don’t shirk, but hit the line hard.

Heres the link to the webpage: http://artofmanliness.com/2008/10/19/manvotional-the-american-boy-by-theodore-roosevelt/

MASONIC RECORD

Initiated: January 2, 1901, Matinecock Lodge No. 806, Oyster Bay, New York. Brother and President Roosevelt visited the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania (in its present home, the Masonic Temple at One North Broad Street) on November 5, 1902, for the Celebration of the Sesqui-Centennial of Brother George Washington's Initiation into Freemasonry. Governor of New York, 1899-1901. Brother and President Roosevelt issued an Executive Order, dated, October 17, 1901 changing the name of the "Executive Mansion" to the "White House".

Leadership Training overview

2008-09-01T12:06:00.004-04:00

This month the Indian River Lodge hosted John Maxwell's 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership taught by MWPGM Robert P. Conley.

This class was held over two weekends during the month and is well worth it if you have any desire now or in the future in furthering yourself and developing your Lodge or your professional career.

The class is taught via video of John Maxwell followed by group discussions on each by Bro. Conley and workbook segments to be done, some then and some for homework.

In Michigan, this class is provided as a service from the Grand Lodge with the only cost to us being the purchase of Johns book. This was a great class and well worth the time commitment.

I highly recommend speaking to your GL about programs like these. Why not invest in ourselves to better our Leaders now and create new ones for the coming years.

As part of our Masonic education during Lodge meetings, we plan on presenting one law every meeting and discussing it for those that couldn't make the classes.

Pythagorean Theory

2008-09-01T10:22:00.003-04:00

I found this video today with a simple explanation of the darker side of the triangle.
Hope you enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6vzK2ULRTs&eurl=http://timesonline.typepad.com/schoolgate/2008/08/darth-vader-exp.html

Upcoming events and updates

2008-07-20T12:35:00.002-04:00

On Friday, August 22nd, we will be hosting a travel rest at the northbound rest area on I-75. We will be providing free coffee and homemade donuts to those heading up for one last weekend vacation and those attending the Mackinaw City corvette show. This will be a great opportunity for us to meet and talk with those that we usually don't get to meet through the breakfasts and MICHiPs programs.

Also times were set for our leadership training courses put on by the GL. 9 am start time on both the 16th and 30th of August. Those interested in attending need to purchase the book and let us know so we can plan right for lunch.

At least 10 petitions were handed out during the OES flea market and Summerfest, so keep studying up on your degree work as we are finishing raising our newest Brothers and hopefully will be starting on some new ones. Cheboygan Lodge also reports several new canidates for the EA are in waiting.

Short notice for end of month events.

2008-06-19T13:53:00.002-04:00

I was just notified of an EA Degree to take place on Tuesday, June 24th. The new group of candidates (count them) FIVE of them are all shipping back out of the USCG Cutter at the end of the week. If your in the area, please attend. We just put another from the cutter through last year. Maybe they are getting the fever.

Other reminders for end of the month -

Monday, June 23, a trip to Gaylord for 2 MM's.

Thursday, June 26th, Table Lodge in Rogers City.

Monday, July 14th 3-4 EA Candidates at Indian River Lodge.

Leadership Training hits the North!

2008-06-10T17:12:00.003-04:00

Finally we in the north and our knowledgeable PGM Bob Conley had gotten the dates set for his Masonic Leadership course written by John Maxwell. The 21 irrefutable laws of leadership will be presented on a two day course in August on the 16th and 30th. - Fine job by me, scheduling it on my anniversary, I'm sure I have only heard the beginning of this mistake. Both dates are Saturdays and will be all day classes. We will have lunch served at the Oasis for the class.
For those of those in the North, please let me know in advance if you plan on attending so we plan for lunch. Purchase of John Maxwell's book by the same title is required for the class, but I have found a local store that will give us a decent group discount and they are available at on line sites also. This class is open to all of our masonic bodies, size is only limited by the Lodge room size.

2008 Grand Lodge

2008-06-05T11:40:00.002-04:00

The Grand Lodge session was held at the Detroit Masonic Temple over the last weekend in May. Still an incredible building. Brought back many memories of going there as child with my family to see concerts and plays. We owe our gratitude to Mr. Ilitch and Olympia entertainment for their interest in the building and their assistance at bringing it back to life.

Thursday brought me to my first Deputy District Instructor meeting. A very good program that provided lots of information for us to bring back to our Lodges. Thank you to Bro. Elwin Brown for serving as my Grand Lecturer and I wish him well as he steps aside from his post. Additional congratulations to RWB Eddie Steffne for taking the open chair.

Grand Lodge started on Friday and continued through Saturday with introductions of guests from across the world and reports from our appendent bodies. Handling of business started on Saturday and continued throughout the day.

Back home we are preparing for a FC Degree this week followed with 4 new candidates being brought to EA to follow.

MICHiPs events for the Indian River Summerfest downtown and the north rest area for MICHiPs and coffee rest stop on August 22 for the annual Mackinaw City corvette show.

Rogers City Table Lodge

2008-05-14T13:39:00.003-04:00

Brothers,

Come one, come all.

To gather in fellowship, amongst Masons that care.

Upon the level, and by the Square.

A Table Lodge & Feast of Saint John.

June 26th Rogers City Masonic Lodge 6:00 PM

A generous & Full course Roast beef dinner $7.00

MICHiPs

2008-03-29T10:56:00.002-04:00

We held our first child ID program on Thursday at the Mackinaw Schools. The turn out average for the state is reported at 10% of the school system. The Mackinaw school system has 100 students grades k - 12 of which we put 44 kids through the program.

We are going to be running the program throughout all the school districts in the county, during our county fair and during the annual Mackinaw Bridge walk. Hopefully we will have completed all the school districts by the end of the year as became my goal when I was Master of my Lodge. This was the primary program I chose to pursue throughout my year in the East. I am a 911 dispatcher and have found that alot of parents do not have this type of information available.

I hope that you are having this success in your Lodges also. I see nothing but good things coming from this program even if its just the public knowledge that this program exists in our neighborhood and it allows parents and law officials to respond quicker.

As an additional note: We had both Lodges in our county there to man the stations as well as our newly formed Rainbows Chapter. During the course of the afternoon we handed out information to more than a dozen interested persons that came to us to ask about our groups. Another great side effect of bringing our groups out of our buildings and showing our communities what we do.

Thank you to all the brothers and their families that take time out of their lives to help with programs like these.

Way to go WOOT!

2008-02-24T09:15:00.002-05:00

On Sunday Feb 24th, Woot.com put up the Shriner's Hospital as their side deal. For those of you not familiar with woot, they offer a deal a day on electronics, when they sell out its gone. they also always offer a side offer usually another product. Today's side offer is a link to the Shriner's Hospital Donation Page. If you get a chance, atleast click on the link and show the some traffic as support.

GREAT JOB WOOT!!!!

Main Page
http://www.woot.com

Use this link if it's after Sunday to get to the forum page
http://www.woot.com/Forums/ViewPost.aspx?PostID=1989392

Post meeting follow up

2008-02-19T10:11:00.002-05:00

Recruitment and Retention follow up.

Brothers,

I hope your fairing this weather well. It has been a wild two weeks for the weather up here. Our meeting was sparsely attended to due the bad weather but we still talked some about this topic. We only had 7 Brothers present and they are all regularly attending so not much could be learned from our newer Brothers or those who have recently come back.

Throughout the meeting the stock answers kept showing up to our questions on both the recruitment and retention discussions. I realized that we seem to be stuck in a rut in our thinking and involvements.

The first questions asked were related to our visibility around the state and the links in our local community. The sponsoring of Tiger's baseball and Red Wing hockey came to mind quickly as well as the billboard campaign that is concentrated in the major cities. Locally we could only come up with our efforts in getting MiCHiPs off the ground, the earlier attempts to get the beacon project in the schools, our pancake breakfasts and our spaghetti dinners that we hold for those in need and as fund raisers to help with school trips. Other things that came to mind were the commercials for the shriner's hospitals, the parades and the yearly circus that we send the 8th grade class too. These last examples are all Shrine related, it is good advertising, but doesn't cover the Blue Lodge itself.

Locally we have also joined our chamber of commerce as a way of attempting to build name recognition throughout our area. We hold a circus every other year on our property, as a small fund raiser as well as a chance to bring families onto our site.

The next question was "Can our members explain what Masonry is, what we stand for and what we do at a local and national level." This garnered the biggest discussion and left us short of our goal of having an 'elevator speech'. Through our next couple meetings and our membership committee, we hope to come up with at least a basic response and hope to work on refining it to reflect what we do in our community.

We next spoke about retention, keeping our current members active. Looking through program variety, activities and needs of our current members show that we really haven't been offering much outside of a straight business meeting and not many other social activities, whether they be a night for cards and friendship or outings for dinners or events.

As for the next set of questions, referencing our new Brothers and how welcome we make them feel, utilize them in roles in the Lodge, and use our mentoring program. Our newer members we not in attendance that night so we will have to add this to a further discussion.

Our final questions we related to ritual (too much or not enough emphasis). A whole agreed need to spend more time on ritual. Hopefully with one of us taking a DDI spot, we will spend more time in our ritual and hopefully be able to spread our knowledge through our sister Lodges. The final question was do we make efficient use of our members time in our meetings. We have started to include something extra in every meeting, be it reading a short talk booklet, a reading of a Masonic letter or poem, watching a video related to the Craft or a power point or other presentation.

We have identified some areas where we could make ourselves more known. Hopefully we can motivate most of our Brothers to step up and assist in our attempt to renew our Lodge in our community and make Masonry more appealing to those looking who have been thinking of joining and those who are looking for something to enhance their lives.

Let's hear your short speeches on what Masonry stands for and what we do. Post your comments.

Recruitment and Retention

2008-02-03T15:13:00.000-05:00

Our WM has decided that membership is going to be a top priority during his time in the East. So during the month of February my presentation to the Lodge is based around membership recruitment and retention.

I chose this presentation to go along with the re-formation of our membership committee.

First we are going to look at Recruitment.

Questions we are going to discuss include: How are we known throughout the state? How are we linked to our communities? Where can we look throughout the community for potential members? How do we support our membership committee? Can we as members explain what Masonry stands for and what we do at the local level and the national level? Do our members actively talk about the Lodge and Masonry with their friends?

The second section of our talk will be about Retention:

What activities do we offer our members? Do they meet the needs of our members? Do we offer enough program variety? Do we remind our members of the benefits of being a Mason? Do we make our new members feel welcome? Use our mentoring program? Do we attract younger members and offer them roles in the Lodge and its leadership? Do we meet their expectations? Do we emphasize ritual memorization too much or not enough? Do we offer opportunities to network and make friends? Do we encourage participation in planning and decision making? Are our meetings making efficient use of our members time?

We will be discussing this in an open forum during our meeting and I will post a follow up with results from our discussion and answers from the Brothers present. If we can help others to survive and thrive, it can only make our ranks stronger and our Fraternity closer.

Maybe we are on to something?

2008-01-21T13:01:00.000-05:00

Here's a great article to help kick off the website:

http://themiddlechamber.blogspot.com/2008/01/e-masonry.html

The Middle Chamber is written by a Brother MM from South Dakota, Looks like its time we get you sideliners and PM's onto the Web, or at least writing this down to help promote our Lodge through these sites.

New message board forums

2008-01-20T20:21:00.000-05:00

Brothers we have now added a message board forum to allow for calendar of events, posting of educational websites, links and power points and a general discussion forum. Please make use of what I am trying to provide to further Brotherhood, education, fellowship and inter-Lodge events.
http://northernmimason.proboards100.com/index.cgi

My new Masonic year

2008-01-17T09:39:00.001-05:00

Two years in the East. A long journey for a relatively new Mason. My journey started in 2003 after my father was diagnosed with cancer. It was discovered during another test and they didn't give him long.

I had been putting off joining a Lodge when we lived downstate as I knew my wife's plans included moving "up north" to be closer to her family. I didn't feel right having my father's Lodge putting all the work into bringing me in, then with a quick wave, leaving for another Lodge.

Now was the time to join as he has talked about it in the past. Only one of my brothers had already joined the Lodge, I called my other brother and talked with him about joining also. With that, my dad was on the phone with our secretary and had my application and dues already in the mail.

Within a few months, I was on my way. The key night was my raising to MM which occurred on my birthday and had my father and brother both present and taking part in my raising. What a great night to think back too. He planned ahead during his life and made sure to have three rings that he wore throughout his 40 years. This allowed all of his sons to wear a ring that belonged to his father. I wear mine with pride.

Through all his years of Lodge activities, pancake breakfasts, plays at the Detroit Masonic Temple and the great Shrine Circus I realized this was something I wanted to be part of my life.

Once I finished my degree work, I was asked to fill a seat in the South for the rest of the year. What a challenge that turned out to be. Did I mention that they forgot the tell me I get to serve dinner? We don't just do sandwiches or a snack. We think that having a good dinner helps keep those on the fence coming in. I know over the years that it draws Brothers from other Lodges in also.

I continued my next year sitting in the South and worked into the West and then the East during the next years. Without help from the Master before me I would have still been lost. His help during my early years helped to steer me down the right path.

I then spent two years in the East, either because they liked what I was doing or thought I was a big enough sucker, they still will not tell me which. During this time I took the momentum from the previous year and built on it. We restarted our breakfasts, continued going to other Lodges (up to 100 miles each way is a normal trip) to assist with degree work and started working on community events to promote our Lodge.

After my two years in the East I have decided to take a shot at DDI for my district. I am hoping that what we accomplished at our Lodge, including the Brothers getting off the sidelines and helping with building improvements and gearing up for a county wide MiChiPs event, can be spread to other Lodges also, sharing our zeal and recharging them also.

Any help or suggestions are welcomed to help me improve this blog to make it an effective tool for education and communications. If we don't try to make our Lodges more visible and inviting to the communities, we won't have long until we shut our doors. A bigger problem, I think, in our small Lodges up here.

Guestbook

2008-01-16T18:12:00.000-05:00

Leave any comments or suggestions here. Feel free to just say hi and let me know where you hail from.