I would suggest simply putting the time while you wait for boys to arrive
to good use. In LTC (and in the example of my mentors), we learned to start
meetings with a "while the boys arrive" activity. This usually starts at
about 15 minutes before the scheduled start time, and goes until 5 or 10
minutes after (depending on the activity, etc.). At that point, we do the
"pledges" and "official" opening prayer. This activity is not lost time,
but rather time put to good use. For example, last week in Buckaroos, I
gave each arriving boy about 2 meters of rope, showed them a square knot,
and had them practice doing it themselves while our new Ranch Boss checked
the boys in and quized them on advancements. This "2-ring circus" was more
orderly than it may sound. Other times, we may have a game, start on a
craft, or any other good activity that people can join in at various times
without disrupting things.
An added benefit of having such an activity is that people learn that
exactly at the scheduled starting time, the meeting is in progress, and
they don't feel like they are wasting their time by coming on time or even
early. That way we don't have to deal with really late stragglers much.
Having many of the Royal Rangers have their parents go to our church's
Wednesday night services helps, too, because church always starts on time,
regardless of stragglers, with the musicians starting the worship precisely
on time. If your church runs less promptly, you simply have to have a
longer "while the boys arrive" segment of your meeting.
At 02:46 PM 8/22/99 -0500, Spirit Rider wrote:
>All,
>How would I tell my Sr. Commander the importance of starting
>the meeting on time? Church starts at 7pm. We always wait untell
>7:15 to even start the pledges. By the time the boys say the points,
>memory verses, ect it's about 7:30. That's 45 minutes of time that gets
>used even before the groups split up. The reason we wait 15 minutes is
>in case anyone shows up late. I think we should wait a little for late
>commers
>but not 15 minutes.
___
Michael Paul Johnson aka Soaring Golden Eagle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
http://eBible.org/mpj Rocky Mountain Outpost 207 New Creation Church
Jesus Christ is Lord! If Jesus came back today, would you be READY?
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