Grand Master John L. Cook visits North Star Lodge #23

Last night(October 11th), MWB John L. Cook, Grand Master of MN Masons visited North Star Lodge #23. The Brothers did a great job with the reception of the Grand Master and his officiers. During the meeting MWB John Cook gave the tip of his hat to the stewards for the exceptional job they did with preparing and serving the meal. He also spoke on the importance of the MN KIds ID Program with Take 25 and using it to get involved in your community. He than addressed membership and mentoring. During his discussion on mentoring, he spoke about the importance of mentoring not only new brothers, but also mentoring and assisting current officers.

Thank you MWB John for visiting North Star #23 last night.

2010 Illinois Grand Lodge

I had a great time at the 2010 Illinois Grand Lodge of Masons Annual Communication held in Springfield, IL. The Grand Master's Banquet was held Thursday night at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. Brother Delbert Yarnell represented President Abraham Lincoln. We also attended two shows and were able to walk through the entire exhibit. WOW was that fantastic.

During the Opening session visiting dignitaries and special guest were introduced. After the opening session, they closed the session and conducted business similar to the same manner we do in MN. The had a demonstration with three brothers preforming a rod drill. This was very impressive.

I met Grand Masters, Past Grand Masters, and other Grand Lodge officers from many states (Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Arizona, Alabama, and Wisconsin to name a few), and a delegation from Italy and one Brother from France.
During the lunch on Friday, I had the honor to sit by MWB Neil E. Neddermeyer who was attending the Grand Lodge to give a talk on Masonic Research. I enjoyed our visit during the lunch hour.

I have included a few photos from Grand Lodge Communications. I have added the complete set of photos on my facebook page (Bob Darling).

Meeting a Brother by mistake!

I had the opportunity to me a brother last night thanks to a mistake by the US Post Office. When I arrived home from being out of town all last weekend I noticed the mail on the kitchen island. In it was the new addition of the MN Mason. Not only did I have my copy, but I had received a copy for another brother who lived in Becker. I didn't recognize his name, and no it was not Duane Evermann. He is the only other brother I thought that lived in Becker.

Instead of sticking the MN Mason back in the mail box, I got on the Internet and look up his telephone number and gave him a call. I asked if I could bring his MN Mason over to him. After a little conversation he agreed to have me bring it over to him. I told him I would be over in about 5 minutes. I had a warm reception and was invited in for a visit. I met his wife and granddaughter. We had a great visit and found out that he was a 50 year member from Sharon Lodge in Wilmar, MN.

Before I left, I had made arrangement to pick him up tonight and take him to lodge in Monticello with me. Next week I have a feeling I will be having another rider to attend North Star. Now I have two traveling brothers to attend lodges with me. All I need is for the post office to make another mistake in my favor.

2010 Shriners International Development Conference

I arrived home last night after spending the last three days in Tampa, FL at the 2010 Shriners International Membership Seminar. I represented the Grand Lodge of MN. The seminar was filled with great presentations and speakers. Some of the topics included Recruitment, Masonic Relations, Retention, Mentoring, Communication, and Technology.

They held special sessions presenting two new websites that are approximately one year old. The first one was called, "beashrinernow.com" It focuses on attracting new prospective Shrine members. It contains several fantastic tools built into the system such as, virtual mentors, e-mails to top individuals, follow contacts, and tracking of the status of the individual throughout their progress to becoming a Shriner. Since it first was rolled out on October 1, 2009, it has had 1280 candidates sign up, with 26 in the month of September, 2010. Sixty percent were below the age of 40 years old and 40% were already masons. They have had 1224 Nobles sign up as virtual mentors. The Shrine International is doing national advertising in USA Today, NSCAR, and other areas.

The other new web program is call "Shriners Village" and is designed for the current Shriner. You have to log onto the system with your name and your membership number. It has several great tools such as: current breaking news, membership benefits, power point presentations, calendar of events, etc.

They had one whole presentation on Mentoring. Taking mentoring to the next level and why it is so important. They discussed having the right attitude is critical to make any program work and become successful. They also discussed that temple should partner up with 5-6 lodge and work on membership and memtoring together for membership retention.

I felt this seminar was very beneficial containing great ideas and I had a lot of fun visiting with other nobles and brothers from different juristrictions.

Pictured above are as follow:

Top picture (left to right) Zuhrah Shriners Divan Representatives: Adrian Skytland and Ross Hjermstad.

Bottom picture (left to right) Osman Shriners Divan Representatives: Richard Purcell and Roger Berge.

Two New Master Masons raised at Clearwater #28

Two new brothers were raised to the sublime Degree of a Master Mason on June 26, 201o at Clearwater Lodge #28. The two new brothers were Todd Theisen from Clearwater Lodge #28 in Clearwater and Wes Hoffman from Golden Fleece Lodge #89 in Litchfield.

The degree was put on by a joint effort with Clearwater #28, Golden Fleece #89, and Monticello #16. The three lodges have been working togther the last couple years on degrees. They have built a strong fellowship bond among the brothers. They are a great example of lodges working together to get things done. They held a practice earlier in the week and the degree work tonight was very good and impressive. A job well done by the brothers. The two new brother are in the first row. Wes is the third from the left and Todd is the forth from the left.

MN KidsID Train The Trainer Class

On Saturday, June 26, 2010 we had 42 brothers representing 30 different lodges atted the MN KidsID Train the Trainer Class held at the Masonic home. I thought this was a great turnout and a fantastic show of support for the program.

The MN KidsID Train the Trainer Class is designed to help train brothers at the local lodge level so when they decide to hold a MN KidsID Event they will be able to train the volunteers they will have to hold the event.

Today's event was conducted by John Gann,Junior Grand Deacon, Bob Holly, Assistant Area Deputy for the Northwest Area; and myself.

Benjamin Franklin Table Lodge at the Minnesota History Center

It was a great evening last night (May 3, 2010) at the Benjamin Franklin Table Lodge held at the Minnesota History Center. The setting in the great hall over looking the State Capitol was fantastic. The was a special exhibit honoring MWB Benjamin Franklin one of our founding fathers and Grand Master of Pennsylvania.

There were about about 100 brothers and guest in attendance. Most people walked through the exhibit with many original items and books that belonged to Benjamin Franklin. It is amazing to stop and think about all of his accomplishments he achieved with only a formal education that went through the age of 10.

RWB Brian Beermann, Senior Grand Warden was the MC for the event and did a very nice job presenting interesting facts and quotes from Benjamin Franklin.