Dear Fellow Noble & Ladies,

What an honor and privilege it is to be elected your Potentate for 2009.  Melissa and I have a great year planned ahead that we are excited about and look forward to sharing it with each and every one of you.

A big thank you to Illustrious Sir Ron Bell and Lady Marcia for a great year.  I know I can't fill his shoes (seriously, they are too small).  I only hope that I can keep up the pace and contribute to Abou Ben Adhem as Ron and Marcia have done in 2008.

Family, Friends and Shrine is our motto for 2009.  Our family, not only our personal families, but our Masonic Family, makes us all Friends in this wonderful organization we call the Shrine.

Having the honor of being in the divan line over the past several years, I have had the opportunity to travel to several other Shrine Temples.  One thing that I noticed that those temples have that Abou Ben Adhem does not have is the "Silent Messenger" or "editorial Without Words" statue in front of their temple.  So, as a special project for 2009 I am starting a campaign to have a statue, by the end of 2009, in front of our temple.  What better way to show Springfield and Southwest Missouri what Shriners are all about than to have this monumental statue standing in front of our beautiful building.  Holding the child with her braced legs on one arm and carrying her crutches with the other hand, this statue will tell everyone passing by what Abou Ben Adhem is all about and that we support the world's greatest philanthropy, Shriners Hospitals for Children.

Again, I am honored and very humbled to serve as your Potentate for 2009.  If there is anything I can do to help do to help you in any way, my door is always open.