I tried to send this last night, but nothing
happened. If we get two of these, read this first, there's a few
additions from the other one. If you don't get the other one, ignore
this first paragraph! ;-)
O.K. In my first post introducing myself I said I had some
questions. So I think what I'll do is ask a few, read, digest &
process the info. Then, if necessary, do it again.
As a way of
leading into the first question(s) I think I should give a little background
about our outpost.
Once upon a time . . . . Way back when, we had a
very active outpost. Now mind you, this was before I moved here and
joined the church. My wife, who grew up in this church, tells me
there were a few GMA recipients. Not to downplay this, but all the
recipients were sons of commanders. Our Sr. Commander's son was the most
recent, about 3 or 4 years ago. Since then, there has been a lot of
Rangers talk by commanders, but little visible activity - from either them or
the boys.
At this time, I am cmdr. of Pioneers/Discovery Rangers (I am
already looking to the new program for help and ideas). There are about
5 boys who attend regularly, sometimes as many as 12. I know I have
enough boys for one regular patrol and possibly one irregular one.
However, out of 5 boys, 1 comes because his nephew comes for SA, one comes
because his parents work with the youth group at the same time. He and
another boy (my patrol guide) are only killing time until they go into Youth
next year. My patrol guide has a uniform, but doesn't wear it and only 2
of the others will wear a Rangers T-shirt.
Some of the kids just can't afford a Class B uniform, and I would like to
find a way to get them one. All I get from my Sr. Commander is "First we
have to see how much money we have in the account." I get the same line
when I talk about ordering the God and Me program for the boys. I'm
trying not to want a lot of stuff until we change over to the new program, but
the God and Me will, I think, stay the same under the new program. So I
want to start on that. My thought is: if we have the money - spend
it (on the boys!), if we don't have it, raise it. But I just can't seem
to get firm support from my Sr. Commander. When I've talked to my pastor
*very supportive of Rangers* he tells me I need to work with my Sr. Commander,
as that is the chain of command. The Sr. Commander is not necessarily
tight with money, in fact in Sept. all the boys who ordered a long sleeved
T-shirt got a free short sleeved one paid for from outpost funds. But
only 3 or 4 did.
Also, I have recently gotten my own Class B uniform (The Holy Spirit has
moved on me to be involved in Rangers properly or to get out, and He won't
release me to get out! I love the Lord's sense of humor.) When I
wear my uniform, every Wednesday night, the long time commanders (who don't
wear their uniforms) feel the need to tease me for wearing mine.
Attitude says a lot.
Now my question is this: how can I, with
lackadaisical (sp?) Sr. & other commanders and unmotivated &
disinterested boys create an environment to inspire a transformation within
our Pioneers/Discovery Rangers group? How do I change this from a
babysitting service to a true Royal Ranger Outpost to live up to our
charter? How do I motivate the boys to want to wear uniforms or
T-shirts? How can I impact the other commanders of the magnitude of
responsibility God has placed on our shoulders? How do I weasel funds
from our Sr. Commander for materials, uniforms and other necessities for the
boys?
I have not yet been through LTC, but will be
attending the first possible session when the new LTC is released. I'm
hoping to get some more ideas there, but for now I turn to you, my fellow
commanders and ministers of the Gospel to tomorrow's men and
commanders.
God has given me a burden, but this situation sometimes overwhelms me and
I find myself (once again) crying out to Him who sits on the Throne.
I
know this message is long - like my first one, but I promise they will get
shorter!
In His Grip,
DJ
