1. What do you plan to get out of Masonry? What makes your journey successfull.
Foremost, the result of what Masonry gets out of me. In a world-wide, ancient fraternity, my impact is minimal, but I intend to make it a maximal as I can. If that means ONE person, whether child, widow, or simply another Brother benefits from my Masonic membership, then I am pleased. However, it is my highest hopes that I can help to convince the world of it's good effect.
2. What do you LOVE about your Lodge?
Our heritage is something about which I'm proud. Three Texas Governors, several senators, and a variety of other successful men met upon the level at Waco 92. Charles Goodnight's mentor, Clairborne Varner, was our first Worshipful Master and our Lodge is the oldest continuous organization in Waco. Our main lobby is surrounded by photos including every single one of our Past Masters and as you walk along that pedigree, you find dozens of names that you'll easy find on street signs, medical centers, sports complexes, and many more places around Waco.
3. What do you dislike about your Lodge?
The lack of involvement from the majority of our members is concerning but in all honesty, I wouldn't say I "dislike" a single thing about my Lodge. Every week, I find myself earnestly looking forward to Thursday nights. It doesn't matter if it is the stated meeting, a called meeting, or just a practice night, I THOROUGHLY enjoy every moment spent in that stupendous edifice.
4. When you get down what "recharges" the batteries?
A quick recollection of where I am, who I'm with, and what we're there for.
5. What would you like to contribute to your Lodge?
Decades of positive influence. I'm the newest addition to the "lineup" and I truly look forward to every year I spend in a chair, but half a century from now, when a Brother looks up at that aforementioned line of Past Masters and sees my face, I hope he thinks not of my time as Worshipful Master, but of at least onne way that I directly impacted his happiness and the prosperity of the Lodge as well as my eagerness to receive more light regardless of whether I was the Senior Warden, Worshipful Master, or any other position in Masonry that often comes with great honor.
6. What roll does your Lodge have? Community Involvement, Family, Esoteric, etc.
Esoterically, most of our active members strive to execute the work and degrees with the greatest amount of accuracy. Family- Our monthly Fish Fry and occasional open Lodge events allow excellent opportunities to spend quality time with our own familiese as well as mingling with those of our Brothers; we do our best to take care of our widows and in fact, many of them take care of us in the form of delicious desserts at our meetings.
Our community involvement isn't as hands-on or direct as I would like it to be, but we are moving in the right direction. We regularly donate to various causes around the community. Once again, our Fish Fry's open the Lodge up to the community and allows for a safe night of fun for anyone who cares to join us and the impact on the community from our individual Brothers, both past and present, is actually quite immense.
7. What makes your Lodge different than anyother Lodge?
In the early part of 20th Century, Waco 92 gained quite a bit of fame in the Texas Masonic world when it became the first Lodge to incorporate musical degree ceremonies. The musical degrees were so pleasantly received that our work was published and offered to many Lodges around Texas and it was reported that every musical degree at Waco 92 filled the room with spectators. Many other neat tales and aspects of our Lodge make it quite unique and can be found here:
Home Page of Waco Masonic Lodge #92, Waco, TX