Searching For An Assistant

 

While the summer is pretty quiet at the lodge I consider it a great time to get things done, having meetings with other officers, and make plans for next year. Since no one was expected to be at the lodge last night, I thought it would be a great opportunity to have an informal meeting with the assistant Secretary about 2015. Essentially, all I wanted to do was to see if he was able to stay on in the same role next year and, if so, if he would be able to step in to my chair during a meeting if needed. With the way that my schedule has been this year and with an anticipated increase in the craziness next year, I just need to know that someone can sit in the chair, without question, when I am not there. This is all that I ask the assistant Secretary to do… he is my emergency backup.

Understand that my assistant for my first year has been a huge resource as he previously served as secretary and also advised my predecessor… let’s just say that he knows his stuff (probably still a lot more than me). Of course, this is in addition to being a great man and mason as well. So I headed into the meeting with the hope that I would be hearing the news of this brother securing permanent employment in the area that allows for a great amount of flexibility during the evenings so that he would have no issues attending lodge. What can I say, hope isn’t always a reality.

Well, things didn’t really work out that way. As it turns out, there is a bit more uncertainty headed his way at the end of this year as he is expecting his first child in December. Add the job uncertainty to the equation and we both agreed that it might be a good idea for me to look for another brother who would like to step into the assistant position. I will certainly continue looking to him as an advisor as well as a hugely valuable resource and I am still hoping that he will be able to stay on as assistant but I will now begin the task of looking for another Mason willing to step into the role of emergency meeting stand in.

There are a few brothers I have in mind but, as many of you know, it is one thing to know of someone who would be a good fit for the job and a completely different matter to know someone who is willing to take on the responsibility. I guess you could say that the fun part of all of this is finding someone who is willing to learn… fun because of the simple fact that I miss teaching and I enjoy seeing people learn something new in freemasonry. With this in mind, I think I will begin my search with the newer masons and work my way through the membership according to fit, availability, willingness, and, to a certain extent, eagerness to learn. As always, I will let you know how the search turns out.