Introduction

Philip, you hit the nail on the head and explained why WCO doesn't work. There are some good things in WCO but the determine your personality to decide what job you should have is not biblical. Jesus wouldn't have passed man's test to determine his suitability for the job of King of Kings. Worship in Spirit and in Truth. Sometimes thats not who is most talented for the job or who has read the most leadership guru books but who has a heart for it. I'm totally not man's choice for Sr Cmdr but I have a heart to see Royal Rangers grow.

Yep! Like the old Petra song said, it's not my ability, but my availability...

Now growth SHOULD follow along,... Sometimes people can take the concept we're discussing and use it as an excuse not to dig in and grow. So there's got to be balance.

Def true. I know if given the chance they usually do grow. I know I have...

I know everyone has their own ways of doing things, but I try to get people plugged in ASAP. That's really how I advanced was by being on the praise team before I "should be". It created a NEED for me to push myself and you just naturally develop more (IMO) in situations like that because of the demand.

Since I've been leading Praise and Worship I've had a few people play on the team well before they "should have". The sound man just pulled their volumes back until they improved.

As a side note I've had people that can't sing a lick be on stage before if they were a praiser. One girl sang so bad (and she knows it) that her microphone wasn't even plugged in, but she praises unashamed and so helped lead the congregation into P&W.

I say all the time that I'd rather have someone who'll praise the Lord than someone who is just talented at playing an instrument or singing. We can work on developing a skill, but a heart of worship is valuable! Now if I can have both then....


Anyway, I hope you can realize your dream soon![/quote]
Thanks for the encouragement and Lord willing

Hi. I am new here and just learning about RR. I have a 6 year old boy. I'll be posting some questions soon.... :-)

Glad to have you here! Ask away as there are some guys here who've been around for a long time.

I've only been involved since last fall. We kicked off our outpost last November so I'm still learning a lot as I go.

Ask away. Welcome to the forum

Welcome aboard : cheers: 

Welcome to the forum!

Howdy,
Daniel from Texas here. I just recently got involved in RR after our previous Outpost Commander moved away. It seems RR was mostly used as Sunday School part 2 / Wednesday night baby sitting service.

The only hard copies of curriculum I found were from 2003 so I paid for a TracClub membership so I will have something more modern to work with. I intend to take the guys outside a bit more often than the curriculum seems to suggest. I am an Eagle Scout from about 15 years back so I have some useful outdoor skills. I am also a volunteer Fire fighter and have access to rope rescue gear, fire stations, and trucks.

I travel often with work so I will be leaning heavily on a few adults that have offered to help when needed / available. We currently have two RKs and two DRs so staffing isn't my biggest issue.

Prayer would be much appreciated...

Awesome!! RR needs guys willing to pour themselves into the boys instead of the proverbial "babysitting" time. Will definitely be praying for you.

And welcome aboard here too.

Howdy Daniel!

Yup, prayer for sure.

Thanks for your investment into your ministry! We can all relate

Daniel,

Welcome to the fire.

God Bless, small groups might be a good way to get the Patrol System going.

Insofar as R/R being used (abused) as a baby-sitting service, I think that many of us are aware of that.  I think that my way of dealing with it is to just try to make the meetings interesting enough that the kids being "dumped" are still getting some good out of it.

Another "trick" that I use is, at Roll-Call,  issue each kid a poker chip with a different number on it with Magic Marker.  The numbers are recorded on the Attendance Sheet.

I have a big box of door prizes from the Dollar Store, and at the end of the meeting, we put all poker chips in a bowl, I draw one, and the owner of the winning number gets to pick from the Door Prize Box.

If a boy "acts up" enough for a moderately severe correction, his name is written on the White-Board, and he is given a "strike" with 1 hash-mark.  If he acts up again, he will receive a second "strike".  After 3 "strikes", I take away his poker chip, and he does not have his number in the Door Prize Drawing.

Of course, the White-Board is erased at the end of the meeting, so each boy starts next week with a clean slate.

Almost every "strike" that any of my boys get can fall under a "Violation of the Ranger Code" (we talk about what he did, & which part of the "Code" it violates), or "FFI"/Fail to Follow Instructions.

The "FFI" may sound rather harsh.  But if you give simple, concise instructions to the boys and explain what "FFI" is, they will understand, are compliant, and responsible.  I also ask the boy what "FFI" is, and what he did that was a violation.  It has always been a positive correction, because the boy understands that he was in control of the outcome by his own actions, and that by issueing a strike, I am just following the meeting rules.

At my current Outpost, in 4 years, I have only had to take away 1 Chip.  As soon as a boy gets a strike or 2, he gets Real Serious about insuring that he gets to participate in the Prize Drawing.  

I also try to insure that I am not giving strikes just to push my authority.  In fact, I tell the boys what the rules are; that I do not want to give any strikes, and when they act-up, I ask them why they made me have to give them/him a strike?

Lastly, I will try to not give that third strike, unless the kid leaves me no choice; especially if it's 5 minutes prior to Closing Prayer, and maybe warn him that he is precariously close to getting that final strike.

(Getting 9 boys to behave for 50 minutes: Best Dollar I ever Spent.)

Welcome aboard Daniel.

My CE Director and I spoke about the issue of parents not buying into the program and just using us as a babysitting service.

I try to bear-in-mind that the souls of kids who are being "tossed" to us are just as important as the souls of the Merit-Achievers.

But I'll admit that it can, sometimes, be difficult.

Welcome Daniel!  

Lots of experienced folks here who would be glad to help

My name is Paul and while being new to Ranger Chat I was an old Ranger Forum guy. As someone picked up from my username yes I am an FCF'r. Abe Lincoln Chapter Scribe and Asst Oupost Coordinator and Discovery Ranger Commander in my outpost. Look forward to sharing around the RC fire.

What have you been up to since NTC?

Would you explain the name "Twelve Stones"?

Twelve Stones wrote:My name is Paul and while being new to Ranger Chat I was an old Ranger Forum guy.  As someone picked up from my username yes I am an FCF'r.  Abe Lincoln Chapter Scribe and Asst Oupost Coordinator and Discovery Ranger Commander in my outpost.  Look forward to sharing around the RC fire.

Welcome aboard Paul  

Twelve Stones wrote:My name is Paul and while being new to Ranger Chat I was an old Ranger Forum guy.  As someone picked up from my username yes I am an FCF'r.  Abe Lincoln Chapter Scribe and Asst Oupost Coordinator and Discovery Ranger Commander in my outpost.  Look forward to sharing around the RC fire.

Welcome Paul!  

Most of us here are old Ranger Forum folks too!

I'm not, but welcome just the same!

Welcome folks. I just noticed this topic. Woo whooo Rangers! Ranger On!

Claymor that is a good tip on the poker chip idea. Ideas like this make these forums valueable. Thanks

Mark Jones

Its a good idea just need a different token to use.

I would use a poker chip. The boys would really think they had something there. Just like the time we shot a machine gun...the boys tore the ground up trying to get the shells from a machine gun.

Mark Jones wrote:I would use a poker chip.  The boys would really think they had something there.  Just like the time we shot a machine gun...the boys tore the ground up trying to get the shells from a machine gun.  

That's fine if it works for you. I don't think that would fly here too well because poker chips are associated with gambling. I wouldn't care but some people would.