I’m writing you as the new executive director of the Men’s Leadership Alliance. I’ve been aboard for a little over a month now and I’m still trying to figure it all out -- with much assistance from Keith, Tom and Jeffrey, along with a lot of other MLA folks. Shortly I’ll be sending you a more formal letter of introduction, along with MLA’s 2008 brochure, but I wanted to touch base with you sooner than that. A long-time nonprofit administrator, I recently began seeking a new career path — one that had more to do with spirit and soul. The Guide Council fulfilled that search in offering me this job and my mission now is to bring MLA’s incredible programs to a larger audience — to change the world, one man at a time. I cannot do this alone. I need your help.

This year we are expanding our program offerings and have over twelve programs scheduled for 2008. We have three brand-new programs - CrossRoads in the Wilderness a Christian language version of our program; Deepening our Soul Work: Awakening to Fierce Compassion, for men who have done prior soul work; and A Hero’s Passage, a new program for boys, spanning three months of evening meetings and including a rite of passage weekend. We also have two new spirit camps in 2008: one in Tennessee and the other Oregon. This comprises an ambitious agenda for any organization, let alone a fledgling nonprofit like MLA. Add in the Alumni Reunion and a fundraising event… well, if we spread them out evenly, we’d be conducting one every five weeks or so!

So I’m writing to ask your help us in this effort by contacting the men you are closest to in your life, and urging them to attend one of our programs. You’ll be doing them a huge favor and you’ll be helping MLA at the same time. With all of these new programs we can’t rely on our membership alone to fill them — nor should we. If you yourself have not yet had the opportunity to attend Art of Leadership — now is the time to consider making a commitment to join this week-long, life-changing experience.

Please see the Spring Newsletter Article for our upcoming pilot program, CrossRoads in the Wilderness, and see the new CrossRoads Program webpage. This program needs special attention, as we urgently need to conduct the pilot program this May and we’ll need commitments soon.

I had planned to write a short note and it’s already turned into five paragraphs, so I’ll close with this quote from Robert Bly: By the time a man is 35 he knows that the images of the right man, the tough man, the true man which he received in high school do not work in life. We at MLA have the opportunity to help men envision their true selves and in so doing, change their lives and those of all whom they touch. Please help me in this work. I would love to hear from you — your ideas, concerns, inspiration, blessings—and sincerely hope that I have a chance to speak with each and every one of you over the next year. I’m running MLA — you are MLA.