The Midnight Freemasons: Another Chapter Begins

by Midnight Freemasons Senior Contributor

Greg Knott, 33°

Midnight Freemasons editors current and emeritus: Robert Johnson (Emeritus), Greg Knott (Current), Darin Lahners (Emeritus), and Todd E. Creason (Current)  

As you saw on Todd Creason’s latest post, the Midnight Freemasons is in a period of transition.  The excellent work this blog has done over the last 17 years, is second to none in the masonic blogosphere.  Readers have been introduced to many masonic authors whose stories, experiences, travel, photos, opinions have been shared with fellow brethren and others across the globe.

My involvement here came about by chance, as many opportunities in life do.   I had written a small piece RMS: Titanic: The Amazing Story of Brother Oscar Woody, for a personal blog I had at the time.  Todd wanted to run it on the Midnight Freemasons website and I was excited to see it happen.  Thus I became the first guest contributor and later named the Senior Contributor to the Midnight Freemasons.

Being a part of this team has been an important part of my masonic journey.  Getting to know many of my fellow contributors has given me a sense of comradery with those who are seeking to make our gentle craft a better place.   The readers who have reached out to me from all over the world and letting me know about a piece they enjoyed, or asking if they could use an article in their newsletter or other publication, has been very humbling.

One friend recently talked about his own masonic journey.  He had joined the craft, quickly went through the degrees and took off on his career and didn’t attend another masonic meeting for 35 years.  He kept his dues up that entire time.  After retiring and moving, he found a local lodge and is actively involved now, going through the chairs, reading up on masonic history, etc.  He has been a frequent reader of the Midnight Freemasons.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Midnight Freemasons.  Let me take a minute to give a special thanks to  Todd Creason, Robert Johnson, Darin Lahners and the late Bill Hosler.  All of them have poured their heart, soul and time into making this the premier masonic blog that it is. I am a better mason and person because of their efforts and the opportunity to be a part of this amazing group.

Going forward, I intend to keep writing for this blog and helping to continue to contribute my experiences and journey with others.   I will be working with Todd Creason and helping shape the vision for the future.   As one of the founders of the Meet, Act and Part podcast and blog, I will also contribute there as well and of course remain one of the co-hosts for the podcast.

That’s the great thing about Freemasonry, you can shape the fraternity and experiences nearly anyway you want.  Like every organization we have some challenges, but so what that is just the nature of life in general.

In closing, let me thank you for your readership, friendship and support over the last 13 years I have been associated with this blog.  I hope you will continue to stop by not only here, but also over on the Meet, Act and Part website as well.

~GK

Greg Knott has been a Freemason since 2007 and a contributor to the Midnight Freemasons since 2012.  He is the co-host of the Meet, Act and Part podcast.

The Future Of The Midnight Freemasons Blog

by Midnight Freemasons Founder and Editor

Todd E. Creason, 33°

Remember me?  Probably not . . . it's been awhile.

Back in 2007, I created a blog called “The Midnight Freemason” and I used that blog to post research leftovers from the books and the articles I was writing about Freemasonry at the time.  Despite much conjecture over the years, the title of the blog doesn’t have any deep Masonic meaning at all.  It merely described my writing habits—working a full-time job, I often wrote late into the night.  A friend had once commented that when his phone alerted him to an email after midnight, he always knew who it was.  That was me—the Midnight Freemason.  Hence, the title of the blog.

I posted three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  For the first year, nobody seemed to notice.  And then a strange thing happened.  I’d go to a meeting somewhere and people would say, “I know who you are.  You’re the Midnight Freemason!”  And for the first five years it grew.  And it grew.  And it grew.  And I ran out of research leftovers, and began writing content just for the blog.  And that got harder and harder to maintain. 

By 2012 it was getting to be too much, and I called a few friends in to provide content.  Among the original contributors were Greg Knott (wrote the first contributor piece), Steve Harrison, Robert Johnson, Scott Niccum, Judy Gordon, Michael Shirley, and Brian Pettice.  I hope I didn’t leave anybody out. 

We retitled the blog “The Midnight Freemasons” (plural) and it has been a contributor blog ever since.  It was tremendous fun.  Many of us were friends, and every time we got a group of us in a room together we’d take a “Midnight Freemasons” picture.  And the blog grew, and more and more lodges found it, and were using pieces for their lodge education, and were asking permission to reprint pieces in newsletters and websites.  Over the years we’ve had more than 30 regular contributors and countless contributions we’ve published as “one time” articles. 

Robert Johnson took over as the first editor, and I began taking a step back.  He took the blog to a whole new level.  Later Darin Lahners stepped in, and has done amazing work collecting, and editing, and posting all this material.  Bill Hosler also played a huge role in managing the Midnight Freemasons.  Over the years we’ve gone from posting three days a week, to once a week, and then most recently to whenever we had a good piece to share.  And I think that was a wise decision to make—quality over quantity.  But now we’re in a new place.

Darin Lahners has decided it is time for him to explore some new projects and do some research into areas he’s interested in learning more about, and has stepped down as the editor.  And now it’s back to me.  And I’m trying to decide what to do with the blog. 

One thing I’m certain of—it’s not going away.  Too many people enjoy it.  We’re still getting 50,000 and sometimes as many as 100,000 hits a month.  That’s amazing!

If nothing else it will stay up as an archive of thousands of pieces that have been written and published over the last 19 years or so.  I’m leaning towards continuing it as a contributor blog, and being a more active contributor again myself.  But there might be some changes coming.  I’ll keep you posted.

I’d like to thank our editors over the years.  And all those contributors and the countless hours they’ve spent writing such amazing content!  That’s what’s made this work.  And, of course, our enthusiastic readers! 

Stay tuned!  There’s more to come!

~TEC33

Todd E. Creason, 33° is the Founder and (once again) the Editor of the Midnight Freemasons blog. He is an award-winning author of several books and novels, including the Famous American Freemasons series. Todd started the Midnight Freemason blog in 2006, and in 2012 he opened it up as a contributor blog The Midnight Freemasons (plural). Todd has written more than 1,000 pieces for the blog since it began. He is a Past Master of Ogden Lodge No. 754 (IL) where he currently serves as Secretary. He is a Past Sovereign Master of the Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees. He is a Fellow at the Missouri Lodge of Research (FMLR). He is a charter member of Admiration Chapter No. 282 and is a Past EHP. You can contact him at webmaster@toddcreason.org