Brethren, it gives me great pleasure to provide you with an important update about activities at Raytown Lodge.

I am pleased to report that at the regular communication of June 2, the following individuals were elected as lodge officers for the 2017 lodge year:

Bryan Cutler, Worshipful Master
Tony Mesa, Senior Warden
Tom Ballieu, Junior Warden
WB Hank Bedsaul, Secretary
WB Jim Thayne, Treasurer

Congratulations to the new officers for the upcoming lodge year. Their installation will be scheduled for a date to be determined in September.

As you may be aware, the tradition at Raytown Lodge was to go ‘dark’, with no regular communications in July and August of each year. This year, however, with the amount of degree work and other activities in process we have decided to conduct regular meetings in July on the normal schedule of first and third Thursdays. We will go ‘dark’ in August.

We have also scheduled a special communication for Saturday, June 18th, at 12:00pm for degree conferral. We will be conferring at least one and possibly two third degrees and encourage all interested brethren to join us. We are also in the process of scheduling a second degree.

The lodge is making good progress on our Gold Ritual Award work. We have completed two of the three segments toward this goal. The remaining section involves a great deal of work and requires 24 Master Masons to complete. We urgently need the assistance of all Master Mason members of Raytown Lodge for this important task. We meet every Wednesday during our normal Study Club session at 7:00pm to practice. We hope to test for the final segment in late June or early July.

I’m pleased to report that WB Hank Bedsaul and Bro. Tony Mesa have been working very hard to fill out the schedule for staffing the fireworks tent. This is the largest fundraiser for the lodge each year and it is important to fill as many of the shifts as possible with Raytown Lodge members. If you haven’t signed up to help yet please contact WB Bedsaul or Bro. Mesa to sign up for one or more shifts.

We have also finalized the schedule for the 2nd annual Raytown Lodge Barbecue Competition which will take place on August 19-20. We hope the event will be bigger than the first event last year and the committee is working hard to make sure it is successful. We are also scheduling a barbecue class to be conducted by Paul Kirk, one of the most well known barbecue chefs, to take place some time in late July or early August. If you are interested in signing up for the competition or class, or if you know of any businesses or individuals who would be interested in helping sponsor the competition event please contact me.

I am pleased to continue to report strong attendance at our meetings, study clubs and events. Your lodge is an active, vibrant group and we encourage all members to join us at our meetings and events and enjoy the fraternity, friendship and fun. We hope to see you at an upcoming meeting!

Fraternally,
Steven Holbrook
Worshipful Master

Greetings Brethren,

Raytown Lodge continues to be a very active and busy group with many exciting happenings. The lodge is busy preparing for our summer fundraising activities. Junior Warden Tony Mesa is coordinating sign-ups for staffing the fireworks tent. If you can assist, even with one shift, please contact Tony to sign up. The fireworks tent is our largest single fundraising activity and the more shifts we can cover with our own members and family the less we will have to share the proceeds with other groups.

The barbecue committee is also hard at work preparing for the 2nd annual barbecue competition. Activities so far are encouraging and we hope to have even better participation than last year from both teams competing and sponsors. Please contact our Marshall, Mike Gatchet or myself for any additional information or if you would like to assist in the preparations for this fun event.

On the membership front we recently conferred a second degree, and now have two Fellow Crafts who we are preparing to raise to Master Mason. We also have one Entered Apprentice awaiting his second degree, and one petition out for investigation. Look for a special meeting soon to confer degrees.

I’m pleased to report that the lodge continues to work toward our Gold ritual award. We are splitting up the qualification for this award into three blocks, and have successfully completed the first block and are working on the second. We hope to complete the second block in the next couple of weeks, and complete the entire process by the end of June. The third block requires the participation of at least 22 Master Masons who must be lodge members, so all active Master Masons may be called upon to assist with this important event.

The lodge held our annual picnic this past weekend. Although there was competition with many events including several graduations and other functions, we had a nice turnout and those in attendance had a great afternoon.

As always, we encourage all members to attend our stated communications. We usually have a very good turnout with great food and fellowship, and welcome our members and other brethren. Even if you haven’t attended lodge in some time, please join us. We can help you with meeting ritual if you are a little rusty. As a reminder, stated meetings are the first and third Thursdays of each month, except for July and August. Dinner is served beginning around 6:30 and the meeting time is 7:30pm. We hope to see you there!

Fraternally,
Steven Holbrook
Worshipful Master

Greetings, Brethren! I bring you an update on the latest happenings at Raytown Lodge.

We have continued to be busy on the membership front. Just today we conducted a special meeting and initiated a new brother. As of now we have one Fellowcraft awaiting his 3rd degree and two Entered Apprentices ready for their 2nd degrees. We also have one investigation still in process and several membership inquiries. We will have a good deal of degree work coming up this spring.

Our lodge has been busy on the ritual front. I am pleased to report that we completed the necessary proficiency to receive our Grand Lodge Silver Ritual award on Wednesday, April 6th. Thank you to all of the members who attended and participated in this great event!

We will now focus our attention on achieving the Gold Ritual award, which is the highest lodge ritual honor and a very rare occurrence. We will continue to meet each Wednesday at 7:00pm for study club ritual practice, focusing on the components of the Gold Ritual award. Our hope is to be able to complete the proficiency qualification by late May.

We have a social event scheduled for Saturday, April 16th. This is our annual Tax Day celebration. It will take place at the lodge starting at 6:00pm. This is an adults only event featuring food and adult beverages.

As an update on Lodge business, I will be establishing a number of standing committees to oversee important functions. These committees will consist of current officers, past masters and members. Some of the committees will coordinate the planning and activities involving the fireworks tent, the annual barbecue competition, building maintenance, ritual study club, social events and membership. More information will be provided at the next stated communication and in upcoming Trestleboard posts.

Tony Mesa, our Junior Warden reports that the sign-up sheets are ready for staffing our fireworks tent. These will be available at the next stated communication. We urge all members to sign up to help as your time spent helps the lodge keep a greater percentage of the money generated by this activity. The fireworks tent is our largest single fundraising event and is very important to the continued success of the lodge.

Planning for our 2nd annual barbecue competition is continuing, and we are seeing a very high level of interest from participants. In addition to individuals and teams, we need as many teams from other lodges as possible to join us as we will be awarding the Masonic Traveling Trophy to the lodge team scoring the highest in the competition. Please contact me for any questions.

I am pleased to report that through diligent fundraising, conservative spending and the generosity of a number of members we are making progress restoring the funds we spent to purchase the parking lot. However we still have a long way to go. If any member is interested in donating to this cause please contact our lodge Secretary.

We continue to be blessed with excellent turnout for our meetings as well as our study club practices and other activities. Your lodge is one of the most active in the Kansas City area and we would like for that to continue. As a reminder, our stated communications are the first and third Thursdays of each month at 7:30pm with dinner served by our Junior Warden and Stewards before the meeting. We encourage all Raytown Lodge members and any other interested brethren to join us. If you haven’t been to lodge in a while please don’t let that stop you; we are happy to help a brother get back into the swing of Freemasonry. We hope to see you all at our meetings.

Fraternally,
Steven Holbrook
Worshipful Master

Brethren, it is time for another update from Raytown Lodge #391. We continue to be very busy with lodge activities this winter.

Membership in our lodge continues to grow. We have added two members recently, one each by transfer and dual membership. We have another transfer in process. Currently we have one Entered Apprentice and one Fellow Craft who are working through the degrees, and two additional candidates in the process of investigation. This spring should be very busy for degree work!

The lodge continues to work toward achieving the Grand Lodge Silver and Gold awards for excellence in Masonic ritual. We have been regularly practicing every Saturday afternoon as well as at our regular Study Club meetings which take place on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month, the day before our stated meetings at 7:00pm. All members and interested brethren are encouraged to join us. It has been many years since Raytown Lodge achieved the Gold ritual award, and in fact has been a while since any lodge on our side of the state achieved it, so this is a major goal for us.

Also regarding ritual, seven members of Raytown Lodge are currently active members of the East Gate Travelers Club, which to our knowledge is the only certified third degree traveling club remaining in the state of Missouri.

Several members of Raytown Lodge have traveled to other lodges to attend and to assist with degree work. We encourage all members to visit other lodges and expand our fraternal circles.

Sheffield Lodge #625 will present a member with a 75-year pin on Thursday, March 24th at 7:00pm. The presentation will be made by Most Worshipful Brother C. Brent Stewart, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Missouri. A number of our Raytown members plan to attend and this would be a great event for everyone to observe and support as 75-year members are not very common. Sheffield Lodge meets at the Kansas City Masonic Temple, 903 Harrison Street in Kansas City Missouri.

From the social calendar we recently held a Pot Luck social event with great turnout as almost 30 members and families attended.

Our webmaster as recently updated the website with many photos of lodge events from years back. Thanks to WB Hank Bedsaul, our Secretary, for providing these photos. If you haven’t already please check out the photo gallery section.

Our members are busy preparing for the lodge summer fundraising events including the fireworks tent and the barbecue competition. We will provide more information on those events in the near future. In addition, we are trying to organize a barbecue class for sometime this spring. It would be taught by noted chef and barbecue expert Paul Kirk. If we can put this together it will be a tremendous event for anyone interested in furthering their barbecue skills.

We have been blessed with excellent turnout for our meetings as well as our study club practices and other activities. It is my hope that we can continue to grow the active base of our membership and attendance. We are one of the most active lodges in the Kansas City area and would like for that to continue. I believe this is due to a combination of a dedicated membership base, a team of officers who are committed to excellence and great food and fellowship at each of our events. As a reminder, our stated communications are the first and third Thursdays of each month at 7:30pm with dinner served by our Junior Warden and Stewards before the meeting. We encourage all Raytown Lodge members and any other interested brethren to join us. If you haven’t been to lodge in a while please don’t let that stop you; we are happy to help a brother get back into the swing of Freemasonry. We hope to see you all at our meetings.

Fraternally,
Steven Holbrook
Worshipful Master