*Note, you may have read this already in your email because of my fat fingers sending it early. Apologies.. I was public schooled.
Tuesday, we diagnosed the disease: a 134-year addiction to growth that started before our grandfathers were born. The “crisis” isn’t new. The panic isn’t justified. The 1959 membership peak you’re trying to climb back to? It’s a mirage.
Here’s what you need to understand: You are standing on the summit right now.
This lodge. These brothers. This moment. This is the whole f****** point.
Stop trying to save Freemasonry. It doesn’t need saving. Your lodge does. And you don’t save it by getting bigger. You save it by getting deeper.
Our obsession with numbers turned us into desperate junkies, constantly asking “How do we prove our relevance?” That’s the question a dying institution asks when it’s forgotten its purpose. It led us straight into becoming a mediocre service club with funny costumes.
Let me be crystal clear: Masonry is a fraternity, not a charity. I will fight you on this.
Charity is what we do. Fraternity is who we are.
We started focusing on the “do” because we forgot the “are.” And in forgetting who we are, we became nothing. J.P. Morgan and Henry Ford didn’t join for pancake breakfasts and highway cleanups. They joined for something money couldn’t buy: a crucible where titans tested each other’s character. A level playing field where the bank account didn’t matter but the man did.
Our 19th-century Brothers explicitly condemned “mass production” of members. They demanded quality over quantity, depth over numbers, purpose beyond ceremony. They knew that too many “members” meant not enough Masons.
Yet here we are. In five years across multiple lodges, I’ve attended 60 stated communications. Only 12 had any Masonic education. Only 12 out of 60. The rest? Bills. Minutes. Arguing about the topic of the day.
The solution is brutally simple: Build the version of Masonry that you and your Brothers actually enjoy.
Here’s what we’re trying. My lodge is 60% veterans. For over a year, we’ve been working on something different; MI407, a Lodge of Research. Our dispensation petition goes up soon, but here’s the idea: no degrees, no competition with home lodges, just preservation and service. Collect veteran stories before we lose them. Transform military leadership principles into tools every lodge can use.
This isn’t Grand Lodge coming down from on high with a solution. They’re up on the bridge managing things we can’t even conceive in scale. We’re down in the engine room saying “Hey, we want to try something.” They ask a few questions, then say “Very well, carry on.” That’s how it should work. FUBU…For Us, By Us. ( I’ll share it this weekend.)
Scripture says “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart... and thy neighbor as thyself.” AS YOURSELF. What’s the prerequisite? You must love yourself first. If you don’t know what real self-love feels like, you can’t fully give it to your neighbor.
Self-development IS self-love. Self-development IS leadership development.
So stop criticizing your neighbor for not joining. Stop blaming new Brothers for not being active. Stop cursing old Brothers for causing both problems. And for God’s sake, stop beating yourself up for not being able to fix everyone else.
Show yourself some love. Lower your gaze to the lifelines of your own ship. Build something that serves YOU and your Brothers. Let everyone else worry about everyone else.
That’s what happens when you stop climbing fake mountains and start building on solid ground.
Your turn. This is an intervention. Call the men who actually show up. Ask these four questions:
Why did you join in the first place?
If you knew nothing about Masonry, what would entice you to join today?
Tell me about a time you felt most fulfilled in your Masonic journey. What sparked it?
What’s one Lodge program you’ve always wished existed?
Then shut up. Listen. Record their actual words, not your interpretation.
“But Grand Lodge has rules.” Stop.
“The Past Masters resist change.” Stop.
“The building needs repairs.” STOP.
Grand Lodge doesn’t regulate whether five Brothers can start a book club. Past Masters can’t prevent you from meeting for whiskey and philosophy.
The building isn’t your lodge… the men are.
Your lodge is your sovereign territory. Act like it.
Find the overlap in what your Brothers want. Maybe it’s deep esoteric study. Maybe it’s a hiking club. Maybe it’s rebuilding engines together.
Whatever brings them joy… do exactly that. Only that.
Stop measuring success by last century’s metrics. Stop comparing yourself to lodges that died before you were born. The feedback loop ends when you decide it ends.
Each Brother has his own phantom mountaintop, his own delusion about what Masonry “should” be. But right now is the only summit that exists. You’re standing on it.
The only question is: What are you going to build there?
What’s the ONE thing you’ve always wished your lodge would do? No idea too small, too radical, too expensive. Drop it below. Let’s build a playbook for lodges that are actually alive.
