September Thread - Page 3 (2024)

Well now that all the touchy feely stuff is done...

Yeah!

That's me, Mister "Touchy-Feely".

(Peace, Love, Recycle, Y'all.)

I hate to say this but the bottom line is i just have not had the time to keep up with ranger chat on top of everything else.

We finalized the adoption of my son october 7, 2014. Isaiah is now a very busy 3 year old. God is so good to me.

Our church has doubled in size in the last year and a half. We have gone from 25 on sunday morning to about 60.

Outpost has had a 99% turnover. Good news there is almost all the new parents come to church regularly. Got a new commader out of the deal too.

Took 6 boys and 4 men to pow wow this past weekend. Pow wow attendance is up 20 % from last year.

Lets see, what else...

I got a promotion at work. My wife got a new job 6 blocks from home instead of 40 miles. This is really helpful since all my spare time this summer has been spent helping my little brother rebuild the 2nd bathroom in his house and he lives an hour away.

Oh, and i can quote just about every episode of Paw Patrol from memory...

Thanks for the update! Sounds like you've had a busy time of things. Glad to hear that everything is going well with your son!

How are the new parents that you've gotten with your turnover? We picked up a couple doozies with our new boys this year.... I guess it takes all kinds to make the world go 'round.

What we got was one really big family. Three generations worth. Parents and grandparents all strong mature christians. Kids all have their heads on straight.

Its amazing how different ranger meetings are when you have 4 or 5 "church kids" to go along with the ones whose parents think we're a babysitting service.

sreidelberger wrote:
the ones whose parents think we're a babysitting service.

Been there, done that.

The BEST kids are the ones who come to church BECAUSE of Rangers; not to be dropped off while Mom has a good time in the Wednesday Fellowship.

Good points, Phillip.

What does your church have for 8 to 12 year-old boys on Wednesday nights?

We don't do a traditional/formal Wednesday church service. We hold family life group meetings (small groups) on Wed nights at various homes and the kids either sit in with the families, or play together. Usually the older kids are helping the adults out by watching the younger kids and making sure nobody gets killed!

We have kicked the idea of a Wed night service around though, and I would like for it to happen one day for reasons of my own. The main one being that it would be a good opportunity for me to allow other people to participate on the P&W team without dislodging one of the regulars to see how they do. As it is now we only play on Sunday mornings and I'm really happy with the team that has been developed.

It's not as if I'm opposed to alternates, quite the opposite, but I'd hate to try someone out on Sunday morning who might not be quite up to speed. The other reason is that the current team members have put in a lot of time (read: paid their dues) and all really love to participate, so I'd hate to tell them they have to sit out so someone else can try it... That's why I'd personally love to have a Wednesday night service. It would be the perfect place to ease new participants in and give them experience and the pleasure of being part of the team. Maybe even develop a whole alternate team, or at least have a good many alternates available....

Might be a good night for Youth Service if we started doing a Wednesday night service too! I'd love to see a youth group established at our chirch. The awesome thing for RR and AHG is that we'll never have youth group meetings at the same time. We'll never create a situation for direct competition between ministry outreaches for kids. Instead we've already discussed that we want RR and AHG to work cohesively with the YG and vice versa. Now we know that not every kid will always do both, and that's fine, but they'll never be in direct competition.

Hey. Make your rangers coed and become the youth group in a rangers setting.

We already have American Heritage Girls, so I don't think a coed Rangers would be necessary. Also, I want to see a slightly different ministry to reach out to kids who might not come to a scouting program. Now it would be cool to see some of our regular boys and girls tell the new YG kids about RR and AHG and get them involved in both.

The good thing is that I know we'll never have that competition between the ministries at our church. Pastor is totally committed to RR and AHG and both Bryan and I are elders, so.... I don't think snarkiness from a youth leader towards the scouting programs would be tolerated at all like it is at so many other churches where YG is held on a pedestal while RR is relegated to a babysitting program.

It saddens me to hear of stories where youth group kids make fun of the RR's and it doesn't seem to be a big deal within the church leadership. I'm about to tell ya how something like that would go over at our church! Like a lead balloon...

On the other hand, I don't think that RR and AHG will be the answer for every child out there. As awesome as the programs are, I just don't think they're for everyone, and that's fine with me. I don't agree with recent RR national sentiments that RR must appeal to and have merits for every boy in the world regardless of his interests. It's ok with me if some kids don't like outdoor activities, uniforms, etc.

IMO, I think that trying to make RR a one size fits all program feeds into the competition with other ministries. What's wrong with accepting that as the body of Christ we will reach out to different people in different ways? We will operate our ministries (when we do start a YG) in cooperation instead of competition.

Phillip, I really think that you are on the right track with your programs.

It's true, many (most?) Royal Ranger/Missionettes Programs are a result of, "What do we do with the kids on Wednesday nights?".

A lot of us have to deal with that, and so we get kids whose parents are just looking for some place to put their kids for 90 minutes. That's why there is a considerable amount of chaff mixed in with the wheat.

But what do you do with those kids? Tell them that they can't come to Rangers? That's not "Christian".

I've even had boys play Rangers against Youth Group. They would go to Youth Group to eat Pizza and listen to Christian Rock for 16 weeks, then when the Rangers would have a Camp-Out or Field Trip, their names would be on the Ranger Sign-Up Sheet. (Of course, we had no weekly dues for Rangers, and the Church even provided uniforms at no cost, so they had no Financial Investment in the Program, and didn't even want to put a Time & Effort Investment into the Program.)

After this occurred about twice, I informed them that they were either in Rangers or Youth Group. They couldn't just go on the Field Trips when they didn't attend the weekly meetings. Their parents told me that these were Church Events, and that the boys could attend them as they pleased.

I informed the Pastor that it was not fair to the other 18 boys who were working on their advancements in Rope Craft, Compass, and Camping for 6 months, instead of eating Pizza. And if he didn't like my standards for attending "away" trips, he could replace me with someone else, and I wouldn't be a bit bothered by it.

I guess that I wasn't "Christian".

He didn't replace me.

Mark Jones wrote:Hey. Make your rangers coed and become the youth group in a rangers setting.

It has been done

Works too

Mentoring future adults. Doesn't quite have the same ring as Mentoring future men. Might have to change it altogether.

Prepareing future people perhaps?

I have a different take on this.
To me one campout or event is worth about 25 meetings. I always encourage them to bring their friends and if they want to do youth that is ok. They are still welcome on events. To me this is the time to minister to them. It's always been the events and the outings that I took folks on that has meant the most to them at least that is when they come back in 15 years and tell me.

The only time they are not welcome is when they won't mind what I tell them to do. Then there is no choice on it. They are not going with us pierod. Rarely a problem though.

The main thing is I teach them let your yes be yes and your no be no. If you tell me your going and not go at the last minute. I find that behavior highly frustrating and will tell them they need to stay home for a few outtings to think about there yes being yes and their no being. no.

Things come up that are legit and that is ok...but if it happens a bunch let someone else pander to the waffle in them.

My son was told by his supervisor a few days ago that he is the most honest man he has ever met. I like to live the life in front of them and lead by example.

Mark Jones

Claymore wrote:Phillip, I really think that you are on the right track with your programs.

It's true, many (most?) Royal Ranger/Missionettes Programs are a result of, "What do we do with the kids on Wednesday nights?".

A lot of us have to deal with that, and so we get kids whose parents are just looking for some place to put their kids for 90 minutes. That's why there is a considerable amount of chaff mixed in with the wheat.

But what do you do with those kids? Tell them that they can't come to Rangers? That's not "Christian".

I've even had boys play Rangers against Youth Group. They would go to Youth Group to eat Pizza and listen to Christian Rock for 16 weeks, then when the Rangers would have a Camp-Out or Field Trip, their names would be on the Ranger Sign-Up Sheet. (Of course, we had no weekly dues for Rangers, and the Church even provided uniforms at no cost, so they had no Financial Investment in the Program, and didn't even want to put a Time & Effort Investment into the Program.)

After this occurred about twice, I informed them that they were either in Rangers or Youth Group. They couldn't just go on the Field Trips when they didn't attend the weekly meetings. Their parents told me that these were Church Events, and that the boys could attend them as they pleased.

I informed the Pastor that it was not fair to the other 18 boys who were working on their advancements in Rope Craft, Compass, and Camping for 6 months, instead of eating Pizza. And if he didn't like my standards for attending "away" trips, he could replace me with someone else, and I wouldn't be a bit bothered by it.

I guess that I wasn't "Christian".

He didn't replace me.

Heading out for a 5 mile hike today with the Rangers. Should be a good day for a hike weather wise. Temps in the 80's and no chance of rain.

I've definitely got mixed emotions about that last part! Starting to put seed in the ground and I'd love so see some steady rain in the forecast, but there doesn't seem to be much. Some slight chances next week...

Phillip Gross wrote:I'm hoping that's just a preview of a good story to come. You can't go all over the country and then get away with ONE sentence!

2. The Mighty Mo (Missouri River)...too thick to drink, and too thin to plow.

3. The cousins are all die-hard Democrats, but they all like Trump a lot.

4. Picked up a 108-year old print of the USS Kearsarge (my boyhood Sea Cadet division was named after her).

5. Culture rot thought: A prodigal son can come back. A prodigal generation? Not so easy, as they validate each other.

6. (In case the new guy leaves)The wife and I volunteered to take the reins of children's ministries again.

7. Decided to take the next grand-daughter to Boston on spring break.

8. If you spend less than $100 on a hotel room, you're taking a chance.

9. I drove every mile, and I did all the homeschooling. My wife was on a vacation...I was on a trip.

10. The wife's new Jeep Compass was a trusted companion. Unexpectedly blowing through a stop sign at 65 mph, and simultaneously transitioning from blacktop to gravel was no big deal. Fortunately, the only witness was a cornfield scarecrow.