Austin Valley Ambassadors

To Build, Stregnthen and Grow

Vision:  Ambassadors provide a vital link between the Austin Valley of the Scottish Rite and the other Masonic and affiliated organizations in the Central Texas area.  Ambassadors create a two-way flow of information between people and organizations; publicize Masonic education opportunities throughout the Valley; and proactively support Masonic activities.

Ambassadors provide a vital link between the Austin Valley of the Scottish Rite and the other Masonic and affiliated organizations in the Central Texas area.

Ambassadors establish and build the Austin Scottish Rite brand throughout the Valley.  Ambassadors show an active presence and support in other Masonic and affiliated bodies through regular attendance and participation in their activities.  Ideally, Ambassadors would be members of the other bodies.  In some cases, when there isn’t a member who can/will be the Ambassador, they would simply be frequent visitors.  They would facilitate collaboration between Masonic and affiliated organizations throughout the Valley through shared information and active participation.

Ambassadors create a two-way flow of information between people and organizations.

Ambassadors establish two-way communications between the Valley and other organizations. Ambassadors are the eyes and ears for the Valley, providing a conduit for information on activities, needs and opportunities.  Needs such as degree team members, communications such as invitations to special events, and activities such as speakers, programs, and fund raisers that would be important to share with other bodies and the members of other bodies would be collected and reported throughout the Valley.

With the permission of the various bodies, Ambassadors would be invited to report to the Valley on activities in various organizations.  Activities and programs of lodges, Eastern Star Chapters, York Rite bodies, DeMolay Chapters, Rainbow Assembles such as conferrals, speakers, family nights, programs honoring past masters, fund raising activities, etc., would be of interest across the Valley.

Ambassadors would present monthly “talking points” notes on programs and activities throughout the Valley.  The intent of the talking points would be to share relevant information with other Masonic organizations.  Information provided by the Ambassadors could also be posted on the Austin Scottish Rite web page.  (If we had nothing to say, that would be an indicator that we were either not getting two-way communications or nothing was happening in the Valley.)

Ambassadors publicize Masonic education opportunities throughout the Valley.

Ambassadors would provide information on education programs for members of other organizations in their areas and assist in arranging instructors.  Ambassadors would not be expected to develop programs or be instructors.  Examples of different educational programs include parts of the Scottish Rite education program that are appropriate for Masons who are not Scottish Rite members; educational programs that have been developed for non-Masons that could be offered to other bodies; Grand Lodge educational programs; and open forum programs designed to provide information to the general public about Masonry.

Ambassadors proactively support Masonic activities.

Ambassadors would offer support to other bodies, such as programs and speakers; communications through Austin Scottish Rite websit, newsletters and monthly “talking points”; degree team members; and instructors for educational programs.  Ambassadors would not be expected to “be” the program or teach classes; but would draw on Valley resources to respond to requests for help.

 

Lodge Ambassador
Austin Lodge #12 Brengle, John
Bertram Lodge #583 Brengle, John
Blazing Star Lodge #413 (Marble Falls) Smith, Richard Blake
Brady Lodge #628 Holley, John Marcus
Caledonia Lodge #68 (Columbus)
Camp San Saba Lodge #555 Holley, John Marcus
Colorado Lodge #96 Smith, John David
Eagle Lake Lodge #366
Fayetteville Lodge #240
Flatonia Lodge #436
Giddings Lodge #280 Early, Adrian Bruce
Goldthwaite Lodge #694 Farley, Gary
Hill City Lodge #456 Kinkade, Kent Dawson
LaFayette Lodge #34 (LaGrange)
Lexington Lodge #138 Early, Adrian Bruce
Liberty Hill Lodge #432 Brengle, John
Lockhard Lodge #690 Howell, Merlin
Lyons Lodge #195 (Schulenberg)
Mullin Lodge #806 Holley, John Marcus
Norton Moses Lodge #336 (Leander) Hammons, Craig
Onion Creek Lodge #220 Scully, Raul Javier
Parsons Lodge #222 Perry, Keye E
Rambo Lodge #426 (Dripping Springs) Shugart, Troy
Robert Burns Lodge #127 Ortiz, Alexis Roberto Ricardo
Round Rock Lodge #227 Ortiz, Alexis Roberto Ricardo
San Gabriel Lodge #89 (Georgetown) Shankle, Vernon Lee
San Marcos Lodge #342 Northcutt, Robert Allan
San Saba Lodge #612 Holley, John Marcus
Saratoga Lodge #546 (Lampassas) Smith, Richard Blake
Solomon Lodge # 484 (Taylor) Brown, Gary Reid
T. Neal Porter Lodge #1354 Moxley, George Duke
Texana Lodge #123 Wells, James
University Lodge #1190 Albornoz, Fernando
Valley Lodge #175 (Burnet) Smith, Richard Blake
Warren Lodge #56 (Caldwell) Early, Adrian Bruce
Weimer Lodge #423
Wimberly Lodge #1445 Cook, Hubert
Message to Austin Scottish Rite Ambassadors

The General Secretary has a number of Texas Flags in his office that should be delivered to lodges in the Valley for presentation to schools.  Please stop by the office and pick up flags for your respective lodges.  This is a great time, with San Jacinto Day coming up on April 21.  It’s a great day for our lodges to celebrate Texas history with schools by calling attention to the role played in early Texas by Freemasons.

As you can see from the list of lodges and Ambassadors, there are lodges in the Austin Valley that don’t have Ambassadors.  Please encourage your Scottish Rite brethren to join you in representing the Valley in their lodges.

We are reviving the Speakers Bureau in an effort to make it easier for you to assist lodges in finding programs to fit any event. The expectation is to list topics and speakers in a way that allows you to assist lodges in finding a suitable topic, based on their needs, then contact the speaker to see if he is available on the desired date. We want to have presentations for tiled meetings, open meetings with non-Masons, historical topics, uplifting topics, and general interest topics.  We don’t expect Ambassadors to be the ones delivering these presentations, but you may have a topic you’d like to offer.  This will be an on-going project as we add presentations and speakers to the list.

Thanks to Brother Marcus Holley 32⁰, the new Austin Valley website is now up and running.  With that, we will have the ability to publish your reports on your lodges about events and activities. Each of you is encouraged to write a paragraph on your visits and submit them to me.  I’ll put them together and submit them to Marcus.  Include such things as events (installations, family nights, Past Master nights, ladies nights, etc.) and activities (flag presentations to schools, meetings with other lodges, community projects and activities, special meetings, etc.). This will create a two-way flow of information as you communicate what’s going on in the Valley and then report to the Valley what’s going on in your lodges.

I look forward to seeing you at the next meeting!

Joe F. Schriever, 32⁰, KCCH