MISSOURI DEMOLAY #1 IN THE WORLD FOR THE THIRD YEAR IN A ROW Missouri DeMolay is proud to announce that for the third year in a row it has achieved the Top honors for new Membership Growth for the entire Order of DeMolay Internationally. In fact, for the last three years, Missouri DeMolay’s net growth in membership is double that of any other Jurisdiction in the world. We are off to a great start for Missouri DeMolay this year. Our State Installation occurred on Saturday, November 11, 2006, at the Scottish Rite Cathedral in St. Louis, where Brother Cory Meyer (also a Master Mason) was installed as the State Master Councilor of Missouri DeMolay, along with 15 other State Officers from throughout the state, as well as 7 new State Squire Officers, led by State Master Squire Nathaniel Thomason. Following the Installation was a very enjoyable evening of fun and dancing for all who attended. The State Officers plan on propelling Missouri DeMolay into a very successful future with the Masonic Family. For this coming year we hope to accomplish several goals, which will help Missouri DeMolay grow. Our goals include initiating over 250 new members, many of whom will go on to become Master Masons. We are also striving to institute seven new Chapters throughout the State. We have already started two new Chapters: Harry S. Truman Chapter in West Plains, and Southwest Missouri Chapter in Anderson. We are also on our way to instituting new Chapters in Fulton, Joplin, Kansas City and St. Louis. If THE MISSOURI FREEMASON
you would like to begin a DeMolay Chapter at your Lodge, please contact us. Another goal we have set is to increase public knowledge of DeMolay and to get DeMolay to become a household name. Increasing public awareness of DeMolay will in turn increase the knowledge of our Masonic Family and assist in gaining and retaining new members in all of our organizations. To coordinate and improve communication throughout the state, we will hold quarterly meetings of our State Officers. Also, we would like to retain our #1 status in membership for DeMolay International. We know if we reach all of our other goals, this one will easily follow. In addition to our goals for the
year, there are three separate keys we would like to focus on for success: Communication, Membership recruitment and retention, and Adult recruitment and retention. The first and most important to us is communication, because if we conquer communication, we will flourish with the other two keys. We are striving to keep constant reliable communication which will keep everyone informed about our current events as well as the status of Missouri DeMolay. Next, membership recruitment and retention is vital. We believe that not only getting members initiated into DeMolay, but retaining them is crucial. To do this we plan on having several different membership drives throughout the year; the first starting on January 1, 2007 and lasting until our State Conclave on continued page 44 Spring 2007 43