This is true, Jonathan, and i'm glad that you brought this perspective into view, for it is one that I struggle with. For myself, I found that I was "neglecting my first love" so to speak, in that while being involved in the training of leaders ( which I enjoy greatly and am grateful for and humbled by the opportunity to do so) I was leaving behind the more important, though less acknowledged, job of training boys. Some of my greatest heroes are those who, like yourself, have blazed the training trails for this great training ministry. However, I have a feeling, that the real heroes are the ones who have chosen to stay out of the spotlight and work in the trenches, unseen by all. While both roles are important and necessary, my hat is off to those of you who will never wear a cluster, a campaign hat, or a star or eagle, (though you could have,) because you have chosen instead to do the less glamorous, thankless job of Outpost Commander. You, my friends, are the real heroes! As for myself, it is my hope that God can continue to use me to help train leaders. But I have made a conscious decision that, if it comes down to it, I'll stop whatever I'm doing to keep my church, family, outpost and friends first, right in line after God! ----- Original Message ----- From: Jonathan Trower Sent: Friday, May 03, 2002 11:37 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [RR] Where does all your time go? Some folks are called to different aspects of this ministry. While no commander should ever get to the point where he/she is not working with boys, their involvement with boys may range from 100% to something far less than that, depending on where God has placed them in this ministry. For example, a district commander will not be devoting more than 50% of his time with boys . . . he is in his position to facilitate the entire Royal Rangers ministry in his district, and that includes a lot of training events, Men's Ministries events, presentations at churches and sectional events, etc. Some leaders focus in the training side of Rangers, where their efforts go into training the other leaders who do spend closer to 100% of their Rangers time with boys. In order to have the balance between our relationship with God, our relationship with our family, our job, and Rangers, we have to be careful to spend the time in Rangers where God has called us at that point in time. Over the years my percentage of Rangers time devoted to the boys has certainly varied widely, depending on where God has placed me for that season.
Another point is this. Very few people have to be at everything that is going on in a section or a district. Your outpost doesn't have to attend every sectional or district event. Even as sectional commander I didn't make it to every sectional event . . . I had a staff that was well-trained, and I trusted them to execute events in my absence. We had a lot of sectional events, and I let it be known that sectional staff members were free to NOT attend, and to not bring their outpost, if they needed to be elsewhere or doing something else.
If a commander finds himself spending too much time involved in events and not having enough time for the boys and his family (and not in that order!), then it may be time to find others who can step in and help. Often there are other very qualified Royal Rangers commanders in the section or district who would love to help, but they are never asked -- perhaps they aren't part of the "good old boys network" in a district, or they don't live in the area of the district where everything happens, etc. Often, it's the same ones over and over who are asked to teach training classes, help with FCF Phase I and II, etc. And that means that a lot of potential talent goes to waste and the "chosen few" get burned out (and possibly their boys neglected).
Just my two cents on this subject.
Jonathan
At 06:10 PM 5/2/2002 -0500, clint grant wrote:
Well, I decided to find out, so I took a survey of nine sample districts (those starting with the letter "M"). If your the average Royal Ranger leader, your district's calendar probably looks something like this:
staff and leader's training events, geared at men only-49%
events geared at both men and boys- 27%
events geared at boys-23%
add to this your section's calendar and it look's like this:
events geared at men only-61%
geared at both men and boys- 12%
geared at boys-27%
Of the events geared at both old timers and young bucks, the ratio of leaders to boys in attendance is generally about two to one.
If you happen to serve on section or district staff, your calendar will likely look more like this:
events geared towards men only- 70%
events geared towards both men and boys- 12%
events geared towards boys- 18%
Now, supposing that you are one of the very elite who serve on staff at national training camps, wilderness vigils, etc., and your presence is required at regional staff meetings, national council, so forth and so on... your calendar will look a little more like this:
events geared towards men only-78%
events geared at both men and boys- 10%
events geared at boys- 12%
While I can stake no claim in the upper echeclons of the powers that be, the Royal Ranger Hierarchy, I must admit that my calendar has indicated a propensity for favoritism towards the leadership and a neglect of the boys I am to be serving. Now, if this ministry were a household such as Jesus spoke of in parables, would the master of the house be pleased with the fact that I was spending twice the time and resources on the needs of the other servants than I was on those whom I was to be serving? Would I be promoted? Would I get more pins on my chest? More plaques and certificates on my wall?
How many people do you know, who show up at every staff meeting, conference, seminar, training camp, etc, all decked out strutting thier stuff like a rooster, then never have the time to put on khakis on Wednesday nite for the boys? How many people do you know who wear a blue, gold, or silver cluster, yet haven't conducted an outpost meeting in years? I can name a few.
Training leaders is great, but when we are too busy training leaders that we are not reaching boys, then we are going backwards. Let's put boys back in the mix on some of these training and staff events, instead of excluding them, and watch this thing grow.
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