Waco Section Royal Rangers

This is the second article in our Week of Prayer series hosted by the Waco Section Royal Rangers blog. Please continue to be in prayer concerning the core values of the Assemblies of God as well as today’s prayer emphasis.

I have seen examples of Royal Rangers ministries that have had to tell their boys to stop bringing their friends, because the program has grown to large for their facilities and their leaders. I have watched as churches have been forced to shut Rangers down due to the lack of leaders or when the senior commander that had the vision for the program leaves the church, resigns, or dies. Yet, I have never heard a Royal Rangers ministry program complain about having too many leaders.

This is one of the biggest problems that we face in Royal Rangers today is the lack of leaders. With four groups, each group needing at least one commander, at a minimum you really need four commanders. Sure, there are Royal Rangers outposts that have fewer than that and either have to combine age groups, not offer some of the age groups, or have a couple of the age groups on Sunday nights and a couple on Wednesday nights so the same leader(s) can teach two age groups.

If your church is blessed to have an overabundance of leaders to where if a man were to come up and offer to help and you have to tell him, “I’m sorry we have more than enough help right now and we just don’t have anything for you to do,” you are blessed. This ministry does require leaders. While four age groups can each have one leader, if you only have one leader per age group, the size of the group won’t be able to grow too large before the leader will not be able to control the group.

Another problem that is faced in Royal Rangers is training of leaders. We know from past data, that a leader that has gone through training is more likely to continue with Rangers than a leader that has not gone through training. Therefore, we see a high turnover rate in leaders because the leaders haven’t been trained.

There are several reasons why training of those leaders hasn’t happened. One, they don’t know that training is available or how to get training. Two, they know that training is available but they can’t get anyone to offer the training or find where training is happening. Three, they know that training is available, they can find were training is happening, but it is too far for them to go to receive that training or it is offered at a day or time that doesn’t work. Recently, Jonathan Trower, North Texas district commander, recently traveled to Crockett to teach Ranger Basics to a group of men there that are wanting to restart Royal Rangers at their church. When he and Dick Harris, district training coordinator, looked at available certified instructors (CI) Jonathan was about two hours away, Rick Adkinson, Austin sectional training coordinator, was about two and half to three hours away, and there were no certified instructors that were closer.

In this district, we have seven sections that don’t have any certified instructors and two sections that only have one. We also have two divisions that each only have one certified instructor each. Looking at modules that are being offered, there were over a dozen Ranger Basics offered in 2007, yet one of the required modules for the LMA was only offered once and it had 12 people in the class. According to GPH sales, for every 6 Ranger Basics books sold only one LMA is sold. Training isn’t happening, and this isn’t just a problem in North Texas, the problem is occurring nationwide.

The district has decided to offer several module training days in the next few months. If a commander shows up to all three, they will be able to complete all the modules needed to earn their LMA. All they would need to do is complete a first aid/CPR course and attend an LTA Campout, NTC, or RKTC (all three of which will be held in North Texas this year). These module training days are going to be held at Lakeview camp. The pricing and applications will be available for these module training days soon. It is the hope of the district that sections or divisions will see how these are done, and will implement them in their area. Sections could also decide that for three hours every Thursday night, to teach a module and just cycle through the required modules. These module training days are going to be February 8-9, February 22-23, and March 21-22.

Royal Rangers, Girl’s Ministries, and Children’s ministries are joining together for three days throughout the year where they are going to be offering training together throughout the district. These Children’s Ministries Training Conferences are going to be held on May 17 (this is also our district Royal Rangers commanders conference), August 9, and October 25.

The South Central Region regional conference is coming up at the end of January and there are several modules that are being offered here as well as other really good classes for commanders. The Waco Section is going to be offering Ranger Basics on February 2, more details to follow soon. The district will be offering the Safety and the Church module and a couple of other one hour classes at the All Church Ministries Conference on March 8.

It is our hope that we will be able to get more training going in this district so we can see leaders receive the training they need to be successful.

Finally, we need leaders that have a heart and a passion for boys. We need leaders that when they see a boy playing in the streets on a Sunday or Wednesday night that their hearts are broken. We need leaders that have a vision and a dream to see Royal Rangers grow and to work out a plan of action to go into the community to take Royal Rangers and the gospel to these boys. We have a great opportunity before us and there is a mission field out there that Royal Rangers can help reach out to these boys and win them for Christ. As it says in Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Royal Rangers allows us to be a witness of Christ in our city, our state, and our nation.

Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you today and we thank you for your blessings that you have given to us, and for your provisions that you bestow on us. We thank you for this wonderful ministry that we have and can be a part of. We know that it is your desire for this ministry to reach the boys of the United States and lead them to you. Father God we ask that you will send laborers into the harvest field of Royal Rangers. You said in your word that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few and to pray earnestly for the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest. Therefore we are asking you, Father God, the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into Royal Rangers. Rise up leaders and place in them the burden for the lost souls of boys here in America. Raise up leaders Father God that desire to take this ministry, your ministry, into their communities to help reach more boys for Christ. We ask Father God that you will help leaders to be able to find a way to get the training that they need to be more effective in their ministry. Father God we thank you that even now you are going to start putting the burden and the passion of Royal Rangers and for the lost and dying boys of America in the hearts of leaders in Royal Rangers as well as in the hearts of men in our churches, that they will want to get involved in this ministry to reach the boys of this nation. Father God we thank you for all that you do to provide for this ministry and the blessings you have poured out. We ask all these things in your precious name, Amen.

David Trower
Sectional Web and Publications Coordinator