Membership

Membership Mission Statement

The mission of the Texas Knights of Columbus is to bring men to the Church. The Knights of Columbus provides Catholic men the best opportunity in today’s world of following in the footsteps of Christ. The Texas State Council Membership Directorate serves councils, parishes, priests and religious by providing men a charitable fraternal organization dedicated to serving their families and the church. Membership in the Order fosters healthy, vibrant councils in every parish thereby enabling Knights to protect their families, serve the Church through service and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Knights know this is true. Viewed in this light, it makes sense to give all Catholic men the opportunity to join the Knights and become closer to Christ.

Goals

The mission is to bring men to the Church. While the membership goal for Texas for this fraternal year is 6023 members. To achieve this Texas membership goal, the diocesan level monthly goals are broken down as follows:

Goals for new councils and council reactivations for this year are as follows:

15 new councils (1 per diocese)

15 reactivated councils (1 per diocese)

Texas State Council is here to help you. How can the State Council help councils build membership?

The Membership Committee is structured to aid individual councils and be of service in helping each council grow. TSC membership committee is organized to help any councils wanting help. A few specific areas include:

Help councils make their councils and programs more visible in their parishes.
Help councils nurture relationships with parish priests.
Help councils create a membership building culture.
Help councils convert Online to council members.
Help councils conduct Exemplifications.
Help councils mentor and engage new members.
Provide parishes support and assistance to start new councils.
Provide support in reactivating suspended and inactive councils.
Create a welcoming fraternal environment that encourages service and programs benefiting the church, community, and families.

To assist you with whom to contact for help with membership issues:

24/7 Membership Recruitment Coordinator – Joshua Jones

We encourage and facilitate all councils to have active membership recruitment activities called 24/7 Recruitment.

Councils need to focus primarily on Christ and weaving our faith throughout everything we do. By doing this, we infuse our councils with the Holy Spirit and make them attractive to prospects and more rewarding to members. We then focus on making recruiting part of every activity. We hand out flyers during and have Exemplifications right after our Easter Egg hunt. We recruit at breakfast and Fish Frys. We recruit 24/7.

It is in the performance of activities in the parish that attracts men to the Knights. Strong, healthy, vibrant councils have no problems recruiting. Men want to belong to a group of Catholic men like that. We continually invite them to do so.

All councils must have an appointed Membership Director. This director coordinates frequent membership drives providing the opportunity to harvest the crop the council has sown. This provides candidates for the Exemplifications held each month in each district.

Josh will also head a committee that encourages conversion of online to council members. This committee will engage councils directly to facilitate rapid conversion of online members.

All Councils Active Coordinator – David Richard

Special attention is given to councils that have not recruited for an extensive period. These councils need more basic help. Working through Diocesan Deputies and District Deputies, this coordinator identifies issues at parishes and within councils that are preventing recruitment. He then helps the council implement ideas to aid in getting past these issues.

Church Drive Chairman – Ricky Servantes

Ricky records past and future weekend church mermbership drives.

Online Membership Coordinator – Sam Gonzalez

The coordinator promotes the online membership program available at kofc.org/join. He assigns all online members to the correct councils. He also assures that councils know who is on their online roster and that the council is actively recruiting them. He encourages conversion of e-members to council membership. In addition, he coordinates statewide initiatives to engage online membership in Knight’s activities.

New Council Development – Victor Garcia

Council Reactivation - Tony Gonzalez

These coordinators maintain a database of leads for new councils and reactivations throughout the state. Working closely with Diocesan and District Deputies, the coordinators make sure that the required steps for starting and reactivating new councils are followed. The coordinators serve as the primary points of contact with Supreme in getting these councils started.

Exemplification Coordinator – Tony Scarpa

The coordinator encourages every district to host one Exemplification per month. He also maintains a database of these Exemplifications and follows up with District Deputies who have yet to schedule one. He also disseminates the Exemplifications database to State Council staff and Diocesan Deputies to facilitate attendance at these events. When necessary, the online video at kofc.org can be used for an Exemplification.

College Councils/NEXGEN Membership Coordinator – Avery Murdock

This coordinator ensures effective college council and college programs across the State. He also ensures continuity within councils to sustain summer breaks. Also, he helps start new college councils and reactivate those that have gone dormant. The coordinator also helps arrange the annual College Council Conference in the spring.

For the health of the Order, we need to recruit younger members. We often tell councils to get the new, young members involved but leave our council leadership on their own to figure out how to do that. This coordinator provides ideas and relevant information to help council leadership and District Deputies, who may be a little bit older, know what to do to engage these men.

Online Follow Up Chairman – Rick Johnson

Rick ensures District Deputies and Grand Knights are making phone call follow-ups with every new E-member within 48 hours of assignment to the prospect tab.

Member/Council Retention/AMI Chairman – Michael Barnett

It is important to communicate with councils when their statuses are pending. Since Supreme billing statements are only sent out to Officers Online, too many GKs/FSs miss them. We need to give plenty of warning to councils when a suspension is pending. Information also needs to be provided to councils utilizing the Affiliate Membership Initiative program to assure compliance.

Round Tables Chairman – Manuel Gonzalez

To assist in generating a new council we will have Manuel help councils create and report Round Tables using Form #2629. He is an expert in helping councils get started via a Round Table at an existing council. This will also help a council to reactivate.

Religious Relics Chairman – Kenny Trochta

Kenny helps generate new members by coordinating with Diocesan Relics Chairmen and ensure the councils are maximizing the religious aspects of the relics and their ability to encourage young men to join our Order.

Hispanic Growth Co-Chairmen – Art Aguirre and Joe Jacobo

This committee will ensure our vibrant Hispanic and Spanish speaking councils have experts to assist them in running councils. Becoming an important part of our Order and their experiences in running a council are the same as our other councils. They just need some expert help in their language. Just as our other councils need similar guidance.

Incentives

Councils adding a minimum of 10 new members into their council for councils with membership quotas of 5 to 10; and 120% of membership goal for councils needing more than 10 new members:

COUNCIL - will receive an IGLOO 150-quart ice chest.

All new councils and reactivated councils will receive:

NEW & REACTIVATED COUNCILS - will receive an IGLOO 150-quart ice chest.

Ron Frerich Membership Director ronfrerich@gmail.com