I agree with Duane that Honor Bound failed to pull thier weight. A quick
look at the brochure "Current Facts" published by GPH (item# 73va9086 $1 ea.
will tell you that. But the fact is, that RR was cut loose from Honor Bound
when Rich Marriott took over.
The current trend of putting RR under the auspices of the children's
ministry on a local level is the result of youth ministries everywhere
building thier own little kingdoms instead of God's. The original intent
of Rangers was, in 1960, according to the Rev. Burton Pierce, then Men's
Fellowship secretary, "...to get men involved (as leaders) in soul winning
and the discipling of boys."
This was seen as the solution to the problemm of teenage boys growing up
and leaving the church. The focus was on the boys in the age group that many
churches are excluding from Rangers today-12 and up. Up until 1989(?) we
didn't have Straight Arrows and Buckaroos; we ministered to boys 9-17.
85% of people who accept Christ as thier savior do so before the age of
14. As a result, RR has won more souls for the Kingdon of God than any other
A/G ministry, possibly all others combined.
We were getting to them before the youth pastor could. The average youth
pastor is also the associate pastor. He does whatever Sr. pastor does not
want to. He gets paid. When he looks at the numbers, two things happen: 1.
He gets jealous.
2. He starts to wonder about his job security, because a
layperson is winning more souls than him.
Now, as Duane says, there is a trend to turn ministries over to para
professionals. The childrens pastor can enjoy excellent job security by
having RR under his realm.
What is the result? RR has always been the underdog, for whatever reason,
it doesn't matter. I'm glad, because of 1st Corinthians 1:26-29. The result
will be that RR will thrive. All we have to do is keep the right attitude.
This is hard for me to do sometimes. I still believe that youth is youth. It
is great-we can't do without it. But it will never be more than what it
is-just another church service, nothing more. RR, on the other hand, is
something different. It is training. The Word says "train up a child in the
way that he should go". I don't think that churches should be cutting RR off
at age 12. Burns me up every time I look at the Schedule of Events on a
church bulletin
and see it: RR- boys 6-12.
But it doesn't matter what I think, I'm a little biased anyway. As long as
I can take some of these guys with me when I go through those pearly gates,
I'll be satisfied.
(Forgive me youth and childrens pastors, please!)
>From: Duane Wheeler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: Re: [RR] Chartering
>Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2001 09:45:45 -0800
>
>
>
>Chuck Graham wrote:
> >
> > Well, it is that time again of the year when we need to think about
>chartering.
> > As a section we have a goal to increase our percentage of outposts in
> > the section which charter, which recently has been abysmal. I have two
> > questions to pose:
> >
> > 1) On an outpost level, what persuasive arguments work for the Sr.
>Commander/Pastor
> > to forego the "Lone Wolf" outpost? Outposts in our section just don't
> > seem to care that they must charter to participate in events outside
> > their church. They don't care they can't go to Pow Wows. They don't
> > care that they don't get the High Adventure. They don't care their boys
> > cannot participate in ROY.
>
>
>"Lone Wolf" <G>
>
>*stepping out on thin ice...
>
>What I percive is a failing of backing for Royal Rangers
>by the sponsering group, Men's Ministries...
>
>As most churches move to "para-professional" staff to run
>church ministries, their is a move to combine the oversight
>of a Ranger outpost into the responsibilities of the Childrens
>pastor over administration by layity serveing under Men's
>Min. oversight. *AS INTENDED BY THE LTC!
>
> This *perhaps has worked to generate the original
>"need" for the RR "overhaul" to something more friendly to
>the combined mission of the "church staff."
>
>All that is good, except that the traditional Ranger organizational
>set-up is linked to Old School "Christ Ambassadors" that used
>combined sectional'rallies and events to build morale for efforts
>like "speed the light" and "Light for the lost".
>
>As a "CA" and a "RR" we would *expect to compete, and join other
>groups at churches and events off our church grounds... This
>was understood and backed as a good thing.
>
>
>It's my opinion that "sectional" oversight
>is not as valued anymore as it once was. In some areas it's just
>*ignored...
>
>MPJ and others might fault me for the opinion, that many
>Ranger commanders are out-classed by the core of "pastoral
>staff" who have the AG credentials, but the ethics of used
>car salesmen.
>
>I as a sectional staff member and a Sr.Commander that was told
>that the *sovern congregation administration ment that OP207
>was *not a part of anything beyond the walls of Glad Tidings
>Church, and to think it was... might be considered an affront
>to the work of the Childrens "pastor"....
>
>How is that for "raiseing the dust?"<G>
>
>-=A=-
>
>
>
> >
> > 2. Within an outpost, what arguments are persuasive to get the boys
> > to charter? How do you get the boys to pay their yearly dues? Or do
> > you? I've seen outposts that charter every boy, and they get all the
> > boys to pay a yearly subscription fee. I've seen other outposts that
> > only charter the boys that pay a fee, so maybe only 30% of the boys in
> > the outpost are chartered. I've seen other outposts that charter
>everyone,
> > and fund it through a fundraiser or some type of sponsorship.
> >
> > Yes, I'm trying to stir up a hornet's nest here, but I also earnestly
> > desire some inspiration and guidance.
> >
> > Chuck Graham
> >
> > ___________________________________________________________________
> > To get your own FREE ZDNet Onebox - FREE voicemail, email, and fax,
> > all in one place - sign up today at http://www.zdnetonebox.com
> >
> > _______
> > To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe rangernet" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > or visit http://rangernet.org/subscribe.htm
> > http://rangernet.org Autoresponder: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>_______
> To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe rangernet" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> or visit http://rangernet.org/subscribe.htm
> http://rangernet.org Autoresponder: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
_______
To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe rangernet" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
or visit http://rangernet.org/subscribe.htm
http://rangernet.org Autoresponder: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
