[delayed - nonmember submission] Please forgive me if I'm late on the discussion, but I subscribe to the RRGold list, not the regular list, so I just recently received the "digest" copy of the discussion, posted on 8/3/99. I've been at Pow-Wow this weekend, so I'm just now reading my mail. I wanted to add my two cents to the discussion, and offer encouragement to a few commanders who may need it. To Noel"Spirit Rider"Bell: IMHO, it would be a disservice to your boy to try and rush him through his GMA requirements. Earning the GMA is a growing process through which a care-free boy becomes a responsible young man, and much of that learning would be missed if he were not allowed to earn his merits at his own pace. At NTC, we were told to "adjust and adapt". I've done this at my outpost. We meet on Sunday night during the evening service, so that our older boys (now 12-14) can earn their GMA and still be with the youth on Sunday night. Our church, in its twenty year history, has never had a GMA winner because of the same conflict you mentioned. If all goes well, we will have two within the next twelve months, because we adjusted our schedule to accomodate what the boys wanted (both rangers and youth). I agree with you in thinking that having a GMA winner will "totaly turn our Royal Ranger program around." At our church, we just had our first two FCF members called out this past Friday at Pow-Wow [my son, and his dad, who went kicking and screaming the whoel way, but agreed to go with him through Phase I and Phase II because he loves his son and would do all he could for him :) ]. The 5 older boys who were at Pow-Wow now all want to join FCF and do all that neat Frontier stuff. I don't know if this desire will grow, but the seed has been planted. If we see a similar increase in enthusiasm after two boys earn their GMA, our outpost, and the entire church, will change their perception of the Royal Rangers program, and then (possibly) we can get the same type of interest and funding that the youth gets. It's a slow process, but, as the boys get excited, the adults also get excited, and people are willing to help with an enthusiastic group. It has been my observation that, for the active participant, our youth groups develop strong Christian men and women. But in Rangers, we develop leaders. Youth group participation is important to our teenage boys. It is there that they get a firm grounding in the word of God, and learn spiritual warfare. (We give them some of this in rangers, but we do it as part of our overall program, while the youth group concentrates on it.) It is in youth that they practice the leadership skills they develop in Rangers. Our youth pastor is excited about the leadership qualities exhibited by our two almost-GMA winners. He's always had to grow his own leaders, just as we have to in Rangers. Now he and I both recognize that, by combining our efforts instead of fighting over the boys attention, we can grow strong committed Youth and Ranger leaders. It's our job to train the boys; God will place them where he wants them. If He wants to use one of my GMA winners to be a leader in the youth group, Praise God. If He wants my GMA winner to become a Junior Commander or Outpost Commander, Praise God. The youth group gets some of 'em, Rangers gets some of 'em, the devil gets none! I'll keep 'em in FCF, take 'em to Trace and on mission trips and such, and help 'em grow to be just what God wants 'em to be. Leaders, pray for your youth group and your youth leaders. They are the other half of our churches ministry to our teenage boys. Develop a working relationship with your youth pastor or leader, and find a way to help each boy grow all that he can in both groups. I'm excited about the future for our boys. --Alan Ogle _______ To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe rangernet" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Eat the hay & spit out the sticks! - A#1's mule" RTKB&G4JC! http://rangernet.org Autoresponder: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
