On The Level Podcast
Some people think Freemasonry is on the decline, not if we have anything to say about it! Join On the Level Podcast as we explore that Esoteric side of Freemasonry. We talk about the inner workings of our Fraternity, how to apply it's teachings to your every day life to become a better man, and general current events. Join our host and guests as we explore Freemasonry together and bring our ancient craft into the modern age!
On The Level Podcast
Crafting the Future of Freemasonry Through Unity and Innovation
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Ever felt that indescribable pull towards a community that promises more than just casual friendships, but a brotherhood steeped in tradition and shared values? That's the journey Fred and I embarked on as we delved into the world of Freemasonry on "On the Level with Fred and Chris." Our latest episode is a narrative-rich exploration of the challenges and triumphs in growing our Masonic ranks post-pandemic, embracing digital advertising, and fostering community events that beckon to the modern man's quest for a meaningful tribe.
The heart of the discussion lies in the powerful stories shared, including my own encounter with Freemasonry's welcoming spirit at a lodge open house. We examine the digital frontiers being chartered by the Florida Grand Lodge's marketing reimbursement program, and how high-quality videos are reeling in new members via social media. Furthermore, we celebrate the diversity within our lodges and the vitality it brings, acknowledging the lessons from Alan E. Roberts' seminal work "The Key to Freemasonry's Growth."
Wrapping up with a reflection on the enduring power of Freemasonry's principles of integrity and fellowship, this episode isn't just about the "how" of increasing membership—it's an ode to the "why." We, along with our brethren, revel in the virtues of Freemasonry and its capacity to unite men across generations, inviting listeners to join us in this timeless quest for personal growth and collective strength, underscored by the potent mentorship and rich diversity that our fraternity is proud to uphold.
Making New Masons After COVID
Speaker 1Hey , chris , yeah , fred , what's a Mason ?
Speaker 2That's a really good question , fred .
Speaker 1You've reached the internet's home for all things masonry . Join Chris and I as we plumb the depths of our ancient craft , from the common gavel to the trowel . Nothing is off the table , so grab your tools and let's get to work . This is On the Level . Well , we're back . We are back . It is On the Level with Fred and Chris . Your home for all things , masonry Well , maybe not all things .
Speaker 2Many things .
Speaker 1How's it going , chris ? Eventually , maybe all things , yeah . Well , hey , I'm not against all things .
Speaker 2But anyway , I'm only against some things , not all things .
Speaker 1Yes , there's a list . We'll post those things online later . Doing well , thank you . Thank you , how are you today ? I'm good . I'm good brother .
Speaker 2I am .
Speaker 1I am ready , yes , I'm ready to talk masonic as I knock the microphone over .
Speaker 2How are you going to talk to me about it ? Are you going to be ? I'm going to be .
Speaker 1On the Level . Oh , nice plug , nice plug . Okay , let's minimize the opening banter and talk about today's topic . Today's topic is going to be making new masons , and I know that's a topic that I think every lodge is probably focusing on and dealing with , especially coming out of COVID , there was a serious downturn in numbers and I know that the masonic way is not to advertise .
Speaker 1We've everyone seen the bumper stick To be one , ask one . And I hear stories about some of the old timers that tell me that their dad was a mason for many , many years growing up and , you know , as they got into adulthood they asked their dad you know how come you never offered masonry to me ? And he looked him straight in the face and said well , because you never asked me . So with that in mind , you know , making new masons in this new world of ours , this post COVID world , where we're kind of coming out of the insanity that we all saw and just the absolute changing of lifestyles and the shutting down of economies and lives and all that stuff , numbers went way down , roles are down , people are not showing up afterwards who were regularly showing up . So in this new way , in this new world , chris , talk a little bit about making new masons . How do you see it ?
Speaker 2Well , the first thing I think it's important to talk about is what is the purpose of the blue lodges ? And at least in the state of Florida , the purpose of blue lodges are to make new masons . That's what we do , that's what we're here for , and traditionally , after World War II , I think we were at our peak when all those guys came back and they wanted the brotherhood and the companionship and the structure that Freemasonry offered , and they blew up our ranks , and over time , it's you know those guys have died and the world's forgotten about Freemasonry a bit . It's not uncommon . I work in digital advertising . I'm probably the oldest guy in my office One of the youngest in Freemasonry , though , but the oldest in my office and it's funny because most of the people that I work with don't even know what Freemasons are . If they know anything , it's because they saw a Nicholas Cage movie and they thought it was cool and that we have the secrets to where .
Speaker 2Yeah , I really believe the stuff they see in the movies , or they're maybe more orthodox than their religion , and in their religion , they've heard that it's a bad thing , and that's the only exposure most people have young people have these days . So it's almost impossible for us to still operate the way we used to . If we waited for people to come and ask us who we are and how to join , we wouldn't exist in short order , I think , and that's the direction we've been in . In Florida , when I joined Freemasonry in 2018 , I asked for the historical records of my lodge here on Tuddle Avenue , and they showed me that we average about five new Masons a year .
Speaker 1Wow , that's five years Now . How long ago was that ?
Speaker 2This is 2018 . So the preceding five years averaged about five new Masons per year . I think that's pretty standard and average . In Florida . There's some standouts and there's some definitely on the lower end , but I think that's pretty average and I thought this is really unacceptable . You know I'm an advertising guy , right .
Speaker 2This is blowing my mind that this opportunity exists for people today and they have no idea what it is . I had no idea what it is . I had seen movies myself . So I mean we can have a whole podcast about why we joined and we will , but I knew nothing about Freemasonry when I came in and it was a leap of faith for them to say you got to sign here and you're going to say all these things and do all these things , but I had no idea what I was getting into . I knew generally it was a fraternity , but you never know until you get in . And I think as I talk to people they just want to know . That's one of the reasons they joined . They're curious about the mysteries .
Speaker 2They just want to know the secrets ? Yeah , I think so . I agree with that . The people that know about it , but most of the people these days don't . So we can't keep operating the way we have in the past . And so I got approval from the Warsaw Master of my lodge at the time , who got approval from the district deputy , who had to get approval from the Grand Master . Up the chain it goes Just to run a 30 second video on Facebook . So we got approval to do that . I had a little custom video made . It was horrible . We initiated 24 guys the year that we ran that video out on Facebook . We almost we nearly broke the lodge that year Because no one was prepared for how to handle that kind of volume , right Catechism and all the degree work .
Speaker 1Sure , sure , especially coming out of , like we said , coming out of the situation . This was pre-covid , oh right , it was kind of nice .
Speaker 2You know there was none of that . I kind of separate the world now into pre-covid and post-covid . I don't even like watching comedy shows or TV shows pre-covid .
Speaker 1I'm like those guys they don't know , the world , come on .
Speaker 2So this was a good time , pre-covid , and we just crushed it and people were looking at us like what the heck are you doing ?
Speaker 1And just let me interrupt you . This is one 30 second Facebook ad . One 30 second .
Speaker 2So when you .
Speaker 1when they ask you what the heck are you doing , the answer is not much .
Speaker 2Not much . Yeah , I think we might have spent a few hundred dollars that year and you know , initiating 24 guys sounds like a big number , but if you knew how many guys we talked to that year , it was a ridiculous number Because we didn't know what we were doing . We wasted a lot of opportunities . Sure , we weren't organized , for sure , so we were working way harder than we needed to . But that's how it is in the beginning when you're proving the concept to something . So after that year , other lodges around us started to ask what we were doing . So we started to improve that process and it took about two years before Grandmaster in the state of Florida finally came and said hey , what the heck is going on over here . I'm going to be the Grandmaster in a few months . I would love to make this my marquee thing . I just want to push free masonry .
Speaker 2And this was a guy that obviously is a bit more friendly with digital . You know , his thing was let's not . Let's not be those guys on social media talking negatively about each other with politics and all this . Can we refrain from that ? But he did want to use it in a positive way . So those were two good things . I mean , I loved everything this guy was .
Speaker 1Yeah , he kind of set , he set you up for success . Oh yeah , you know in a big way there , yeah , yeah , they said whatever you need , whatever you need .
Speaker 2The only thing I said was if you want the lodges to do this , you've got to pay for it .
Speaker 1Right .
Speaker 2That's going to be the big hang up . You know it's hard enough to get people to do things , but to pay for things is impossible to get people to do . And he agreed no questions asked , right . So we we didn't think we'd load more than a few lodges that first year because it's such a difficult thing to get free masonry to change and try new things . But with the Grandmaster supporting it , he really helped us make an impact and we took these traditional ways , traditionally right . If you were , if you wanted to talk about somebody joining free masonry , you you couldn't . You had to wait for them to ask you . In some cases they had to ask twice . You had to say no and hope to ask you again in order for them to get it .
Speaker 1Right .
Speaker 2Right yeah , can you imagine today if that was our ? I mean , you and I wouldn't even know each other .
Speaker 1No , no , that's right .
Speaker 2Yeah , I wouldn't know most of the people I know today and so that and you know they were they were doing billboards , spending money on billboards at the time . If you can , you know , I've never successfully called a number that I saw driving 80 miles an hour on the highway .
Speaker 1You know , I think I've seen one of those billboards . Have you , yeah , was it in Tampa ?
Speaker 2I think it was up in Tampa they had them in certain markets , probably Miami and Tampa . A black background .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , ok , something with a guy's face a really good-looking young man's face , because all of us are really good-looking young men here at Masonry , absolutely , and some sort of catchphrase , and it seemed clever . But you're right , at 80 miles an hour you look up . Oh yeah , masonry , cool , cool man . Nicholas Cage right on . Yeah , nicholas Cage right .
Speaker 2And they were holding seminars where they were asking guys hey , write down a list of 10 people you might know , let's go ask these guys . That's how they were operating when I came in and I thought this is caveman technology to us at this point .
Speaker 2We can reach so many more people in such a more effective way , and so we proved that model . So over the last year and a half , I think , we've , in the state of Florida , I personally have onboarded almost 40 lodges on the program , and these lodges are generating hundreds of people per year that are interested . And the first pushback we get is you're not supposed to advertise Freemasonry or you're not supposed to be pushy and asking people to join . And the great thing about our ad is it's like less than 30 seconds and it highlights the main points of Freemasonry right brotherhood , yeah , like integrity .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2And working together for the good of your community . Those are the main points . We're not even big on the mysteries , you know , which is another reason people do join . But it's also a negative , because people see us , if they have secrets , they must be bad . Yeah , right , right , yeah . And who doesn't have secrets ?
Speaker 1Yeah , we all have secrets , but remember , we are not a secret society , we are a society , or fraternity , with secrets . And for me , let me just tell you my experience . Then maybe we'll backtrack a little bit and just kind of go over some of the traditional methods versus the new methods as a discussion . But for me , my great-grandfather apparently was a Mason in Scotland , in Air Scotland , and I have yet to look up any of that information . I will eventually do that . But so in the back of my mind I always thought it was something I wanted to do and wanted to check out . And the more the people in my life told me that it's bad , it's this , it's that , the more I wanted to investigate it . Because that's just how I am . Man , don't ever tell me no , because I'm going that way . And that's what I did .
Speaker 1And I was trying to connect with Freemasonry . So I live in Sarasota , florida , and wanted to connect with Freemasonry . Obviously I did what everyone else does . I went online and just typed in that . After maneuvering around , I found out that Sarasota does in fact have a lodge . The lodge is on Main Street and it is 147 . And there is a phone number and an email prompt to put in your information and someone will call you Is that how you came in Through the website Originally .
Speaker 1Through the website . That's correct , ok , and yeah , and Rusty was the one who reached out to me , nice , originally . So what happened was my life became super busy , like everyone else's does , and I got busy and didn't drop it Definitely was still trying to pursue it , but just was super busy and I was at I love I'm an avid motorcycle rider and I was at a biker bar that I go to . Yes , that's right .
Speaker 2I remember you had your leathers on , yeah .
Speaker 1And I'm sitting at the bar and the Tampa chap , one of the lodges up in Tampa , put together a motorcycle club and they wear a five-piece patch which is actually Riders Association .
Speaker 2That's what they call themselves .
Speaker 1Right .
Speaker 2Sonic Riders Association .
Speaker 1Yeah , and so they .
The Importance of Brotherhood in Freemasonry
Speaker 1I went up to them and I said hey , man , I've been trying to get with the lodge and get information and stuff . Man , what are you guys just trying to get them to say something ? And they just completely turned their back on me . They're like yeah , you need to talk to your local lodge , wow , and that's all I can tell you , man .
Speaker 1And it's like because we're all bikers with our Harleys and our gear on , so we all have to be really cool . And so that's biker cool , get out of here , man . Oh really . So it was just cool . I totally get it . But it prompted me to make that phone call . Back to that number , that phone call , and it was on a Sunday and during open house . And I made the call and I got you , chris , on the phone and I was just sitting there at the bar and we're talking a little bit and you said , well , you know . You said something to the effect Well , we're , you know , we have an open house right now . I'm like what do you mean right now ? I was like no , we're here right now at the lodge , and I'm like I'm on no time like the present .
Speaker 1I'm like I'm on my way , man , I'm on my way . So I got on the bike , rode down , met you and I think brother Jeff Reed was there as well , and I just knew as soon as I walked through the door I met you , shook hands and looked around at the history and just the coolness of it all , in my opinion . I thought it was just really cool , right up my alley , the mystery behind it and all that and the fellowship , a fraternity men only I'm in sign me up . So from there we went forward and it has been an absolute blessing on every level for me . But it's interesting that as I'm telling this story , I realize I did not get it through that 30 second Facebook ad . I did see it later , you did . But here's the thing I'm not the average guy , see . I already had in my mind , I had a family member who was in it . I already had it in my mind to pursue this and get to that point . I think what , what we're talking about here is that that's just not really like . We said . That's not the , that's not an option anymore . Most people are too busy . Most people would consider it if presented correctly .
Speaker 1You know for what it is , because what I'm finding is and I talked to the seven guys that I went through with and we went through EA , fellowcraft and Master Mason together , all seven . I was through the whole entire process and it was , it was a great , a great thing , but they were a lot of them will tell you that and I am getting somewhere . So hang in there . A lot of them will tell you that you know , I , I was looking for something . You know I'm a , I'm a guy , I work , I own my own business , I work , I got wife , kids , responsibilities , but there's nothing in my life that's greater than myself . I'm looking for something that you know , that is , you know , a tribe . I'm looking for my people , I'm looking for a place to go , and that's those are the people that . Those are the guys that I see that are looking for it .
Speaker 1So to me , yeah , trying to bring this back around in a well , in a Fred kind of way , you know that's , that's the people that , that the new way of reaching men for masonry is necessary because of this new man who's out there , this man who doesn't know , he knows that he , he knows there's something out there . You know he's not looking for a civics club doesn't want to join the rotary nothing against the rotary or anything like that but he doesn't want to join those kind of clubs . What he wants to join is a brotherhood , you know , a group of men who are focused on the same thing , moving in the same direction , lifting each other up . Men I can trust . I haven't had so many men in my life that I truly trust . You know , with the intimate details of my life , since I , you know , since I've joined masonry and I have been in church nothing against church .
Speaker 1I am a member in good standing of a church I attend every sunday . But I have not found that there , not a group of men , you know a band of brothers . You know I haven't found it .
Speaker 2So anyways , I'm rambling on here a little bit , but tell me , tell me what you think , man , because that's not really the point of church , is it ? I mean , it's a byproduct , that's nice , I think of going to church is the social aspect , but really there's a purpose for that , which is your salvation . That's the point of why you go and practice your faith , whatever it is . This is different . It's not about your salvation , it's more about what you just said . You're concerned with it , just improving yourself here , yeah , in the world today .
Speaker 2How can I be better tomorrow than I was today ? How can I stop these bad habits that I have ? How can I control my temper ? How can I get along better with people I don't disagree with ? How can I be a better father , businessman , citizen of the country that I live in ? Those are issues that Freemasonry deals with , and sure , there's a spiritual aspect but no answers are given as to . This is the way , and I think that's what's special to me about Freemasonry is it gives us all the opportunity to explore so many things that are important to us in our lives in our own personal way . We're all sharing the same experience , but we're all take because of our backgrounds and our interests and our history . We're all taking different lessons from these things that we can apply into our everyday life , and I have a similar experience . When I joined just shocked by the relationships I've developed , I didn't expect that I wasn't ready for that .
Speaker 2I didn't even know how bad I needed that in my life . You know , I was uh . We're gonna get personal now . I would say , uh , I was uh only boy in my family . I have an older sister and a younger sister , and my father was gone from the time I was about four and my mother , in order to save money , moved back in with her mother , who lived right next door to her mother . So I had uh three , four generations of women in my life right and being the only man , no men , okay , no men my whole life .
Speaker 2So I learned how to get along with women . I do that very easily . For me it's second nature . I fit in with a group of women , I just know how they communicate and I can relate . And you know I'm an ally and , uh , I never had good relationships with men because I never fit in . I never learned those skills of how to be a guy with guys and and that's a sad thing for a kid to not have that experience . So I was 40 years old , already , over 40 years old , when I had enough and that was one of the main reasons I wanted to look into fraternity , because that's a fraternity of guys . I never went to college , never had that experience you know , started having babies when I was like 10 .
Speaker 2It feels like actually 19 , but very young . So I started my own family and , and you know , once that happens , goodbye world . You're gonna spend certain decades of your life just working and changing diapers and doing all that . Sure ? So when my kids were old enough , that's when I something called me to reach out to Freemasonry , and it was actually a documentary I saw , which was great . I think it did a big boost for Freemasonry globally . Netflix did a little documentary . It wasn't about the Grand Lodge , it wasn't about the secrets of the mysteries . This documentary was about regular guys yeah , I think I've seen it and how Freemasonry if they had , like , a guy who's in a band I think he's a singer , he's right , yeah , yeah , and I want to say it's a history channel yeah , it was a documentary .
Speaker 2Yeah , I saw through Netflix , but I believe it was and that triggered me . I was like , look at all these guys and they're saying the same thing . I'm thinking like I just needed a place to not be judged , to go to explore these things , and I didn't expect much because typically , you know , real life isn't what you expect it to be . Yeah , but in this case it exceeded my what I ever thought it could be . You know , I've met so many guys that I've built just people I'd take bullets for and I truly believe would take bullets for me .
Speaker 2Absolutely . I can trust them with the keys to my house , my wallet , and so I was very interested in , I was evangelized , like I need to tell people about this , I need to get the word out about this , and I have the capacity to do that . So that's what drove me wanting to get
Impact of Online Marketing for Freemasonry
Speaker 2more members . It just be ashamed to see . See this . Just , you know , through our own stubbornness of sticking to not not wanting to change , just letting it die off , just watching it wither and dry up and disappear from the face of the earth .
Speaker 2What a shame that would be terrible , I'm here at a place and I can make a potential change . So it became my mission to prove that we could do this well , let's , let's go there , let's talk about what is what .
Speaker 1Does it look like this ? This I know that you're on a committee sanctioned by Grand Lodge , yeah , and you're bringing , you know , the , the new way of making new masons to this new world . So tell us , just share with us .
Speaker 2I know we touch on a little bit , but give us kind of the the bullet point idea and where , where you're gonna go with it so in Florida they sanctioned what they call the Florida Grand Lodge marketing reimbursement program and this is a way for any lodge to take a free video that the northern jurisdiction of the Scottish right is put together very high quality , good production video that we use on your lodges Facebook page to show in a radius usually about 10 miles , in some rural areas 25 miles if you live on the beach .
Speaker 2Half of a 25 mile radius is the ocean , so you might need to go you know , get a little creative , but you're targeting a radius and you're targeting men of specific ages , and you can even target men with specific interests , with specific ads so in our situation we tend to appeal to ex-military guys that are first responders , people that are used to being around other men and having those kinds and the structure makes sense so you can target ads to those kinds of people with messaging that speaks to them and you're gonna get a great return on your investment .
Speaker 2We're paying about three dollars per hand raise . So every time a guy hits learn more , you pay about three bucks for that and , uh , all you're really doing . It's no different than if you were had a sign on the street and you were like , hey , we're here , hey , we're free mason's . If you want to learn more , step up and I'll tell you . You're doing that online . And so this video people see it in their feed when they're scrolling through . It automatically plays and has a simple learn more button . They hit learn more and on facebook they already know your name , email and phone number . They don't have to type it in . It's pre-populated , it's very easy .
Speaker 2So they hit learn more , they see all their info and they hit submit and then they're waiting for somebody to call them to tell them more about free masonry . So you call this person and within 10 minutes , you know if they're going to be able to petition a lodge and how interested they are in actually learning more . And so what ? That's exactly what we do . We make sure they lived in the state long enough that they believe in higher power . In the state of florida , you can't have a felony on your record without being redeemed and having the right to carry , and so we check all those things and if they meet all those requirements , tell them . All right , if you're really serious about learning more , the only other thing you would ever need to petition a lodge is two brothers from that lodge to recommend you .
Speaker 2Obviously , you don't know two brothers from the lodge right guess what for us , every sunday at two o'clock we do an open house where two brothers from our lodge are going to be there for an hour and anybody can come and we're going to talk to you about free masonry , who we are , the history , what it looks like , the time involvement in your life to join , what the commitments are , answer your questions and show you're on the lodge , and we find about 85 percent of the people we talk to that make to that point , walk away with the petition or fill one out right there . So this is a system that we've been doing now for I've personally been doing for several years . It's impossible to fail .
Speaker 1It works every time Well . An 85% of people walking away with a petition in their hand is an impressive number by any metric .
Speaker 2I credit that to Rusty in our lodge . He's good , so they need Rusty and it's their salt obviously .
Speaker 1And I think every no lodge has a Rusty . There's only one Rusty , but every lodge has a Rusty-like man in there who would probably be more than happy to put together a Sunday . Was it Sunday or Saturday ? It's Sunday , ours is Sunday at 2 PM , sunday at 2 . And for me , when I walked through the door , like I said , when I walked through the door on that Sunday and you were there , you shook my hand and there was just guys talking and it was a good turnout that day , yeah .
Speaker 1Yeah and I was hooked . So when you come , it's like any other sales and marketing because I've done sales and marketing and media for a lot of years . It's like you said , where are the people who have already raised their hand and said I'm somewhat interested , I've heard about it , I'm looking for something that fits this idea and then from that point , once they come on the property , meet the people . Your chances of bringing them into the lodge and getting them to fill out a petition and go forward are greatly enhanced . And this would be right .
Speaker 1Here would be the rub for the old timers . I say old timers I don't mean it as pejorative as it sounds , but this would be the rub between the traditional method and the new way of doing it , because we just had a conversation about marketing , almost like talking about people , like their product and that kind of stuff , and that's probably why people recoil from this idea . They think it cheapens masonry . I'm assuming . Maybe they think it cheapens masonry in a way where we're trying to sell something we're the carnival barker out there trying to with the sandwich sign on , trying to pressure people into becoming masons , and I would just talk a little bit about how that is . So not the case with what we're doing .
Speaker 2It's true in one sense . I mean we said at the beginning the purpose of the blue lodge is to make new masons . Yeah agreed and when you make a new mason there is a monetary number associated with that person to the lodge and to the grand lodge . You can't escape that .
Speaker 1Right .
Speaker 2And so I just want to address that . It's true , If you follow the program and you get about 16 leads a month , and you do that every month , you're going to get about 192 leads for the year If you can get 15% of those people to join your lodge . You initiated 28 masons 28 masons in the state of Florida . Our lodge is $100 for each degree . They have three degrees . You just made $8,400 for your lodge and you got 28 new sets of hands to help in the events of the lodge . So that is a fact . That is the thing that exists .
Speaker 2It is making money for the lodge . It is making money for the grand lodge on the per capita fees . Is that a bad thing ? No , it's a reality and a fact that we need those things . And it's also a reality and a fact that those 28 guys need freemasonry in their lives Because we're not selling snake oil .
Speaker 1That's right .
Speaker 2We're not selling anything , that's right . We're basically offering a system of tools to help them improve themselves and it works every time for every person that implements them . That takes the time and the effort to implement them . So it's a real huge value that you are offering to somebody For an our lodge , I think it's $160 a year . I spend that taking my kids to the movies with all the popcorn and the soda . I can do that easily in one move .
Speaker 1I think I spend that much on Starbucks . Hopefully my wife's not listening to this .
Speaker 2Hey , at least it's just Starbucks .
Speaker 1Yeah , right , could be worse yeah .
Speaker 2But yeah , so there is an aspect of . There is a unit value for every person you bring in , and that is necessary in the lodges . But more importantly than that , we have a broken world . We're broken , then it might have been in a long time .
Speaker 1I agree .
Speaker 2It's not just our country , it's not just your state , it's the whole world , and we have a generation of people that grew up with the internet . I didn't have the internet . I know you didn't have the internet growing up no . I had to play with sticks in the mud and trade time with my sisters to play sword fighting . I'll play your Barbies . We know that was my life had to deal with humans face to face Constantly .
Speaker 2Right , which is what we're built to do , exactly . But you have people living in isolation from a young age and their only engagement with the world , or the bulk of their engagement with the world , is through social media . Everything on social media is fake . You only see the happy times , the best situations , the makeup is done , they're in the perfect lighting , that's the life that they're growing up in . They don't have real engagement with real people and it's kind of this generation and the one coming up behind it I feel like is similar in some ways to maybe your generation or the guys before you who had zero faith in institutions , wanted no part of any , organized anything , didn't trust the church , didn't trust the state , didn't trust anybody . And I feel like these new kids coming up have a little bit of the same kind of thinking as that generation , where they just don't trust institutions anymore .
Speaker 2Right , yeah but everything on the internet . It's hard for them to know what's real and what's not real , and so Freemasonry offers all that stuff you get to . You have to deal with people . It just from the time you're initiated , right , you're gonna sit weekly with people and Then maybe they're going too slow for you , maybe they're going too fast for you , maybe you don't like the guy that's teaching you . You start to learn hot , you have to deal with people . Yeah , that's right . That's right .
Speaker 2But , like we said in our last session , you get these training wheels that help you learn how to have those Relationships in a positive way . So you're offering them what they've been missing their whole life . They just don't know we exist . So You're doing the whole world of service by just letting them know we're still here . And that's the whole point of this is just to Let the world know that Freemasonry exists . Yeah , this is what we're about not pushing anything on anybody , but just saying , hey , we're still here . And if you want to learn more , if there's a simple button to click to get the information you need .
Speaker 1I like . I like what you said . It reminded me of an old sales and marketing saying , and that is the saying goes sooner or later the dog has to eat and what that means is that marketing dog food . It was there for a while . There was absolutely no nutritional value in dog food at all . It was . It was basically cardboard and but the marketing for the dog food was amazing .
Speaker 1I mean these pictures of dogs running through the farm where the cows are , and meadows floppy ear Earp up and the happy family with the kids and everything , so you buy this dog food , but there came to a point and this was basically in the mid 80s where they were finding out that the dogs were not eating the food , and All the marketing in the world was useless .
Speaker 1At that point , though , they spent literally hundreds of millions of dollars on it , because , sooner or later , the dog has to actually eat the food , and and it goes back to back to your statement about you know it's yeah , okay , we're using some , some marketing tactics here To try and and tell people in your words , chris , you know , yeah , we're here , we're still here and this is who we are . But once men come into a Lodge that is , generally speaking , properly able to receive these men in a in a Masonic way , you find out that the dog eats man and the dog eats good . Once you get in there and this dog certainly has it's it's absolutely Transformed . You know my , my life and my outlook on life , everything from from church to my relationship with my wife To my work . I'm just of the way I process relationships . I come from a pretty hardened background . So me I'm . I don't suffer foolishness very , very easily and I'm learning in a major way how to , how to be that man . So let's , let's finish out with this , okay .
Speaker 1So Lodge , you know number 000 in wherever Main Street has adopted the , has adopted this program and it's it's , it's working beyond their expectations and they're really pleased . They're , you know they're hitting , they're doing 30 new masons a year . Everybody's happy . What do you do ? And this will be another podcast , but I want to touch on it just a little bit in closing what happens when a Lodge that was used to having one or two a year come in and everybody's kind of set in their ways , all of a sudden has 30 new entered apprentice Masons , or seven at a time , or you know four at a time . And then you got a fellow , you got a fellow craft degree going while you're doing catechism for a bunch of ea's and now you know the master Mason things coming up here . So we're , you know , and you guys , haven't really been faithful in doing your rehearsals Talk . Let's talk a little bit about some of the growing pains that people can expect after the success that we know this program brings .
Collaboration and Diversity in Freemasonry
Speaker 2So many challenges In , or it takes a lot of work to bring someone through the three degrees of Freemason really does .
Speaker 2I was surprised from the beginning to the end . Think about that . You've got two guys who are gonna meet you just to meet you and introduce you . If you do petition , you're gonna have two people look at the petition To recommend it into the Lodge . You've got the entire Lodge is voting on it and then three men are gonna be in an investigating committee who are gonna talk to you . Those three men are gonna make a recommendation and then the Lodge is gonna ballot . Could be a different set of guys . How many people were involved just in that process ?
Speaker 1just in getting you to the point where we could say yay or nay right .
Speaker 2Once that happens , you need a catechism instructor and a mentor . They can't be the same person . There's two more guys . You're gonna get an EA degree . How many people are in that degree that have to do countless hours of memorization and practices ? Ten maybe , yeah , plus the guys that are gonna come out to see it . Same with the fellow craft . Double that with the master Mason degree . How many people were involved in that one person's journey from the door to the first master Mason state of communication ? 30 guys , 50 guys . Yeah , it's a huge number . Right about it . It takes a lot of resources to do this and there are lodges that don't have a lot of resources , and that's why it's important for us to work together between the lodges .
Speaker 2Yeah right , because you may not have the resources in your Lodge but I have a few that can help you and so if we help each other , if we send four guys to help you with your degree or we take some of your guys and do courtesy work , we can get it done together . We have nine lodges in our district . It's very common in our district for courtesy work to happen . You know I've done work in all nine lodges and degrees helping other lodges and I love it . I love going to other lodges and seeing the brothers and Feeling the different kind of vibes that they have .
Speaker 1As a newly raised master Mason , I have I participated in some work down in the In Venice Lodge and you're right , it is it's . It's really awesome to be part of a crew that goes down and helps out another crew of men to go through it . Yeah , yeah , yeah , go on , go on right , and so you .
Speaker 2It's gonna take a community of people to do this in the beginning . You know , if you're , we have a lodge that's a daytime lodge in our district . They only meet once a month . They have 30 members . Bringing in five guys in a year Changes them in a massive way and they don't have the resources to do it . So they need to call for help .
Speaker 2You gotta swallow your ego as a lodge in the beginning and ask for help and get the help you need to get it done , because you gotta get yourself to a healthy place as a lodge where you can start to do all this stuff . You have time for practices , people are experienced and knowledgeable . That might not be the case for a year , it might not be the case for two years , but if you don't bite the bullet and ask for help to get it done , where are you gonna be in five years ? Where is your lodge gonna be in 10 years ? You're probably gonna be merging with another lodge or folding your doors completely . So it's change or die is what we're dealing with in masonry , and we're not talking about changing the tenants or the landmarks or the principles , nothing like that . That's really , I think , the biggest pushback I hear when I talk about this with people from lodges is we can't just let anybody in the free masonry . I can't do that . Yeah , that'll ruin it .
Speaker 1It'll ruin it . That's not the idea here , though .
Speaker 2No , because think of the people that went through vetting you just to get into the lodge . Like , we have a very solid process that if the brothers follow the process , you're not gonna have somebody that's a problem come into your lodge . But you can't be afraid of the people you don't know . I mean , the great thing I love about this program is in the past it was always who you knew , who I knew . So our lodges are very homogenous . They just keep looking like us .
Speaker 2Right which is a thing . They all think , like us , which is very evident for the past generation .
Speaker 1I don't mean that in a pejorative way , but it's very evident .
Speaker 2Oh , they told them that sure there was no other way to do it .
Speaker 1So that's how they did it they wear the same suits , they got the same look on their face and they all vote the same way .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , yeah , oh yeah everything is very homogenous and Freemasonry isn't built for that . Freemasonry is built for representing the community , and the community isn't homogenous . It's different ages , different backgrounds , different stations in life .
Speaker 1Yeah , especially nowadays . I mean , people are so transient , you know , and all I mean . It's like when you meet somebody who's been born and raised in Florida , they're like a unicorn man . I mean that's like that's rare .
Speaker 2It's like you know you don't ever see those .
Speaker 1We're all transplants from somewhere else . So that makes that speaks to that . You know that diverse community and I like what you said about you know the diversity we are supposed to be . You're supposed to look at the sideline in an open meeting , in a stated meeting , and see all kinds of different faces , backgrounds , people from all around . And I think this approach definitely lends itself more to that , because it opens up . It opens , we're opening ourselves up as a lodge to the community to say here we are . Like you said , here we are . You know , if you've raised your hand , if you've ever thought about it , we're here , we're open , come down , talk to us . We'd love to talk to you .
Speaker 1I want to talk just briefly , or just close briefly .
Masonic Mentorship and Growth Importance
Speaker 1I love old masonry books . We have a library at our lodge that we're kind of going through and going through all the books and I found this little book called the Key Key's sorry , the Key to Free Masonry's Growth and it was written by Alan E Roberts , who is a prolific writer in masonry in his own right , but this book was written in 1972 . And I want to do a podcast solely on this book someday because it's so good . But it's funny to me that in 1972 , the men in Free Masonry on a national level , because he speaks to , he speaks to worshipful masters from all over the state and lodges from all over the state same troubles , same issues , same problems , same same on-goings . You know that we deal with today .
Speaker 1They were dealing with then and he presents a really comprehensive plan to and that's what brought this up in my mind to deal with that onslaught . Because if you do and we'll put links down below and we'll do more and more on the program that Chris has been talking about , that he's chairman of for the state , we'll do more and more on it . We do desire to get more and more people involved in it and to use this podcast as a catalyst to get this idea , this process , this program in front of as many people as possible , many lodges as possible . But it's just interesting to me that this book right here talks a lot about how do we deal with the numbers that start to come in , how do we deal with more people , and they talk about that lack of early Masonic mentorship and training that is so important . And we'll end it on there . That's one of the things that must be dealt with in Lodge . Once you start bringing people in , you have to train them to be Masonic . Isn't it funny ? This is 74? .
Speaker 2Yeah , 1974 . So that was the year before I was born and I'm pretty sure every year since that was written most lodges are still dealing with that problem , like you said Yep , absolutely Like those of us that refuse to look at history and what the issues are , are going to keep repeating the problem . Yeah , that's right , you have to look at this kind of stuff and implement some lasting change . We're only in stations for a year in Freemasonry .
Speaker 2So , our influence on the lodges . Our lifetime of influence is somewhat limited and if you are a guy who's taken a chair in a lodge you better live up to the expectations . You're representing a 300-plus year old fraternity officially probably much longer history than that .
Speaker 1I've been digging into that more on that later . Go on so much more .
Speaker 2But we're carrying the torch , we're carrying the flame and I don't want to be the guy that it's knocked out on my watch . Yeah , that's right , right , that's right , I mean .
Speaker 2I'm here . I'm an able-bodied man , I have a passion . I'm going to leave it all on the table . I have a finite number of years and I'm going to do absolutely as much as I can , and I wish everyone had that mentality . We're not just sitting in a chair for a year to get to the next chair , to get the next title or the next name on our badge . We're here for a reason and a purpose . You're here . You were put here for a reason and a purpose . This was put in your heart . You don't even know why . This is just the calling that we have , because our creator is calling us to do something . And we're here and we're men , we're together . It's our time . We've got to make the change . That's what we're here to do . And speaking of diversity , you said I like to look out and you see all this difference in the sideline , different , everything we have in the EA degree . We talk about the anointment that flowed down upon the beard , ran down upon the eating beard and the air and the bird .
Speaker 1this is from the Bible , it's from the Psalms .
Speaker 2That's right . And what is the holy ointment ? I started looking into this . Why is this a thing ? Why do we keep talking about it ? And , like everything in Freemasonry sorry , we're going over a little , this can be on the after party but what I discovered was that it's simple . The holy ointment is some oil and some spices . It's some simple things that , when combined together , become much more than they were separately . They become anointed by God , and I think that symbolism is huge in Freemasonry and we don't mean literally some of the things that we say often . But I started thinking about this and how it applies to Freemasonry , and you and I are different . A bunch of guys in our lodge are different and individually we're awesome , but when you combine us together , we've created a holy union that is capable of magic .
Speaker 1Yeah , that's right .
Speaker 2Just like those ingredients that come into the holy ointment that is placed upon special people , and so I think that's a great example of some of the beauty of symbolism in Freemasonry , how you can actually think about this stuff and apply it to your everyday life .
The Power of Freemasonry
Speaker 2People of different backgrounds and ages isn't something to be scared of when they come together . It's something to be in awe of , especially when you're all moving in the same direction together .
Speaker 1Right , because our commonality is friendship , morality , brotherly love , truth , the understanding that there are truths , integrity matters . A man should be honest , hardworking , he should be a loyal friend . These are things that are true and good and beautiful , and Freemasonry lays those things out in such a great way . We're really going on a tangent here . This has been on the level with Fred and Chris , and this is our second podcast . We're excited . We are number two , 002 . We are open . We're here to promote the greatest fraternity of all times . That's why we're here . We dig Freemasonry on such a deep level . We want to share it with the world . So now I'm rambling again , chris . I will see you on the next one , my brother , all right , bye .
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