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
