[RR] Attendance

[Mark W Jones]

I noticed several comments blaming apathy, other things that draw them away.  This has always been here and I agree is getting worse.  Many outposts are being reduced to 5-11 year olds as many churches are electing to keep lowering the age to go to youth where they no longer lead and show the younger boys in Rangers what it means to be a Patrol Guide, Sr. Guide, Jr. Leader etc.    How do we fix it?  Prayer and preparation and talking with your pastor and church board about this problem.   Make sure you have planned your weekly meeting and it has something that the boys are very interested in.  Make sure you have a calendar full of exciting events that challenge the boys.  If your lesson plan doesn't thrill you then it most likely it will not thrill the boys.     The Lesson plans are there for us to use if you don't have a plan.  If we get so programmed and forget to ask for the Holy Ghost to lead us and let him lead us individually then in my opinion we have lost site of what we are doing in Royal Rangers.  Don't forget that the leaders who designed the new program materials has God's Blessing and the materials are wonderful however it is up to us as Commanders and Leaders to take what we are given and being led by the Holy Ghost prepare something that will inspire our boys to get fired up about Rangers.    Use the new materials to pull the very best out for your boys.  With the new weekly meeting planners many are loosing site of the fact that our meetings need to be tailored around the events we are having.  The weekly meetings need to be building up to the events.    For example.  During pinewood derby season.  Several meetings need to be built around getting cars done a lockin planned and that month or so focused on Pinewood Derby.   Pow Wow season. A month needs to be taken out in getting your boys excited about Pow Wow, lashing, having the boys building displays, the whole month before pow wow should be a time of preparation and building excitement.   Yes we need to continue to do, devotions, prayer, patrol corners.    However working on a Bible merit just before a survival campout in my opinion is just not being focused and in on the plan.    One thing you can do to keep up on your inside merit work.. Hold a lock in and work your boys through 3 or 4 merits in a over night setting.  Yes you will need to have some fun built in there as well.    Just a few observations in my own outpost and section.   Reach em Guys and Gals.  Teach em Guys and Gals and the hardest part is Keep em Guys and Gals.   Holy Ghost empowered Leaders can do it.      On Wed, 5 May 2004 21:31:29 -0700 "Jim Hufferd" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: So far you are all right!!  There is apathy in leaders as well as parents.  I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one that has this problem.   "It's too far to drive, it's out of town" are common complaints.  We won't have a video to show but plenty of pictures should help and they were taken.    500 years of kids Janet?  Stretching it a bit?   We were a bit late in getting all the information out this year, but our turnout was essentially as flat as previous years.  The Staff has decided to help me take a little more in getting all the details nailed down & out to the leaders earlier on our activities.  If we have done our part, the rest is up to them to follow through.   Jim Hufferd   Download a Free Royal Ranger Database. It's packed with goodies and it will make record keeping fun! Over 33 related databases and 13 years of field experience.   Just like Salvation it's free! http://home.classicnet.net/mjones02/index.html Rangernet Picture Directory http://64.72.37.157/rangernet.pdf