Alex Powers addresses Leadership Academy
Coming of fresh from the Aug 25 Refresh session, Bro. Alex Powers, Director, Kansas Lodge of Research, provided an overview of the new energy and “innovations” being made to KSLOR to make it useful, relevant, and accessible.
The reboot supports the previously established goals:Research-Publish-Speak. Grand Lodge suspended the bylaws so the new leadership could re-launch without having to trod over the same dusty ground as previous administrations. New focus will be on events, social campaigns, Facebook activity, changing the name to Masonic Research Society, changing the dues structure, and adding emphasis in preservation. Non-Kansas Masons may now be members.
“The key to success of our Research Society is participation. That’s why we are providing a substantial incentive for contributors.” Bro. Alex Powers
Dues are $50 but can be significantly reduced for contributors. One Research Paper in a year or a day’s preservation work at the lodge will give you “academic credit” equivalent to $40 bring dues down to $10 (former amount). Mechanics of the academic credit is still being worked out.
If you don’t want to be involved in research, why are you joining the Lodge of Research?” Alex Powers in response to those who want to be a member of KSLOR but don’t want to contribute.
To join, click on Membership and follow the instructions. A paper is required, but, as Alex explains, the Society is looking for a basic paper, not a sequel to Albert Pike’s Morals and Dogma. It should be current research. The minimum standard is one page. A great place to start is your own lodge: Who was your first Master? What has your lodge done lately that needs to be recorded (beyond what is in your lodge minutes)? There are a lot of great places to start your research.
History has a way of repeating itself and the glory days of men seeking Masonic membership en masse is not behind us. It is ahead of us. As younger generations begin to look for a solid rock in the rough seas of anti-establishment, pursuit of the profane, and distributed electronic societies, they will discover what we have and come to us in numbers.
Greetings brothers! The calendar has flipped to 2018 and the means your dues are due for KSLOR. Those not current as of February 1st will no longer have access to the member area of the KSLOR site and may be dropped from distribution of meeting information.
The demographics of Leadership Academy show that we are attracting a greater audience of leaders and potential leaders at the Grand Lodge level. Nearly all Area and District Deputy Grand Masters, as well as a huge contingent of line Grand Lodge officers were present. So, too, were the leadership of the successful lodges and those lodges with bright hopes for a long, prosperous future. Those visibly absent were representatives from the struggling lodges, the smaller lodges, troubled lodges, and the lodges that find themselves on the so called “death map”. In other words, the Wardens about to assume the East and in the most need of this information were the least present. Puzzling is the reason that the very officers who need this information the most are the least likely to attend. Maybe a look at the genesis of Leadership Academy is in order.
For years, Grand Lodge operated a Wardens School with the intention of arming near-term Worshipful Masters with all the basic information needed to assume the Master’s duties. Presumably, this would give the elect enough time to understand their duties and make plans for their year. However, leadership of a lodge is the paramount attribute that determines success of a lodge. The demands of a lodge Master and the officers of the progressive line are numerous and extremely weighty. Event planning, annual budgeting, volunteer management, paid personnel management, facility management, meeting facilitation, and new member programs are just the start of required knowledge. The leaders must also be proficient in degree work, keepers of the landmarks, officers in all committees, lodge spokes persons, fundraisers, and dispensers of charity. Additionally, they are members of the Grand Lodge and liaisons to outside organizations, subject matter experts in their lodge bylaws and those of higher authority, keepers of the charter, and must stay well appraised of legal, social, moral, and civil matters affecting the lodge. The lynchpin is a plan to guide the Master elect through it all.
While the Wardens School was well organized and refined over the years to “put some meat on the bones”, it garnered a reputation for being dry, and, as it has been said many times, was like “drinking from a fire hose”. Attendance dropped and Wardens School became uneconomical to sustain. A common conclusion from Wardens School was that getting all this information as a Warden was too late. Real learning and shaping oneself for the successful term as Master had to be done over a course of many years. A new approach to longer term lodge leadership ramp-up in a more adult-style, academic environment was needed. Leadership Academy was born.
While Leadership Academy attendance growth is one marker of success, missing criteria are those markers that show how well an attendee destined for the East is prepared to make the ascent to the third step. A demographic study along with a more focused evaluation will be required but necessary to ensure that the long-term intent of the academy is met. Information needed would include whether the attendee has ever served in the East before, from what lodge position in their progressive line did they start attending the academy, did they come away with at least three golden nuggets each time, and, the ultimate test of success, how prepared did they feel they were just prior to assuming the Master’s role. The same survey needs to be sent to the Master at 6 months during their tenure and again within 30 days after they transitioned out of the Master’s chair. The main purpose on the latter survey should be to ascertain a list of subjects in which the immediate Past Master felt most deficient and, from Leadership Academy attendance, most prepared.
In a society of friends and more especially brothers whose primary pursuit is further light, it is disheartening that so many of our brothers in lodge officer positions fail to attend 
The Best Show Up. Recorded attendance at the Leadership Academy held on November 4, 2017 in Topeka was 215. While this number is impressive, it represents less than one member per lodge. If just the wardens of each lodge came, there would be 436 in attendance plus the usual cadre of Area and District Deputy Grand Masters and Grand Lodge officers. It is reflective of the state of Masonry in Kansas. If you assume that 100 lodges are dead or disconnected from Masonry, then we’re pretty close to an average of 2 members from each breathing lodge. The reality is that those gathered in Topeka are the heart of Kansas Masonry; those interested in actually seeking Masonic light and learning ways to raise the value of Masonry for their lodges. Thanks to those brethren who made the trip. You are truly the top 1.26%.
Grand Lodge Building. The concluding session was a well-researched and delivered summary of where we are in the decision-making process whether to preserve or abandon our 100-year-old Grand Lodge landmark at 320 SW 8th Ave in Topeka. MW Cole did an amazing job giving the leaders all the puts-takes. The bottom line: We Kansas Masons need to commit to an average of $365 per Mason donation within a year in order to proceed. Knowing that only 10% will likely invest in their own hallowed legacy means we few-proud Masons will need to donate $3650 per Mason. That’s a huge chunk. And we still need to finish the 50th Anniversary $20 million Kansas Masonic Foundation campaign. I have learned – “Never fall in love with a building. It will not love you back.” So it is with the Grand Lodge building. We Kansas Masons who participate in the Craft comprise the Grand Lodge. Where the administration, operations, archiving, and artifact display takes place is immaterial as long as it is effective for the Craft. If we err, let’s err on the side of preserving the Craft and move to a building we can afford. Maybe we can obtain another Masonic landmark in Kansas for the purpose before it either gets sold or falls to ruin, like the Masonic temple in Salina or the Scottish Rite building in Topeka. In ALL cases, Kansas Masons need to express their opinion NOW through the