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Phase Two of the New Ranger Program Rolls Out at National Royal Rangers Council!
District FCF President, Eugene Bowman, looks over one of the Discovery Ranger displays at National RR Council. GPH set up an entire ball room with all of the new material available for purchase.
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The 2003 National Royal Rangers Council marked the launch of phase II of the new Ranger program: Discovery and Adventure Ranger age groups. After one day of business the council turned into a training session for the remaining 2 days. Several of the new modules were taught giving the district staff and others the resources to teach them in Mississippi.
The staff arrived on Wednesday evening in preparation for the National Royal Rangers Council business sessions all day on Thursday and Friday morning. Randy Ruez was the guest speaker for the devotion time. Randy is a nationally known speaker and singer. He has spoken at many churches in Mississippi as well as at some of our youth camps. His message reinforced this year's council theme: Every The business consisted of election of some council officers. Jim Barger, who was our guest speaker at last year's PowWow and current President of NRRC, was elected as Vice-president of the council.
Thursday evening the staff attended the Silver Eagle Banquet. This awards banquet is designed to honor district commanders who have earned the Silver Eagle Medal. Mississippi's own DC, Wesley Harmon, received his third award. Rev. G. Robert Cook, Rocky Mountain District Superintendent was the speaker for the evening.
Friday, Randy Ruez was the guest speaker for the devotion time. Randy is a nationally known speaker and singer. He has spoken at many churches in Mississippi as well as at some of our youth camps. His message reinforced this year's council theme: Reach Every Boy. The business session consisted of the election of council officers. Jim Barger, who was our guest speaker at last year's PowWow and current President of NRRC, was elected as Vice-president of the council. Reports were given by the various standing committees. Most of the reports centered around the new program.
Friday afternoon the new modules were given to prepare instructors to teach the elements of the Leadership Training Academy (LTA). These classes went on through Saturday. The District Staff was given a CD-ROM containing much of the new information.
Gospel Publishing House (GPH) set-up a complete store at the convention center with all of the new materials on-site. Discovery and Adventure Ranger Handbooks, vest, patches, posters, Gold and Red Merit Guides, caps, t-shirts, uniforms and many other new items were available for purchase.
National Commander, Rich Marriott and the National Staff has done an outstanding job putting the materials together for the new program.
National Council Report
March 12-15, 2003
Training Update
The requirements for the Leaders Medal of Achievement in the LTA (Leadership Training Academy) were modified by the national training committee because of the structure of the various modules. To receive the LMA, a leader must take the following modules:
- Ranger Basics (8 hours)
- Successful Outposts (4 hours)
- Discipleship I (3 hours)
- Discipleship II (3 hours)
- Safety and the Church (2 hours)
- One of the activity modules: RK Activities, DR/AR Activities, or Expedition Rangers Activities (3 hours)
- First aid/CPR
- LTA camp-out or RK Skills, or NTC or RKTC
- 2 elective modules
Thus, the LMA will require about 27 hours (depending on the length of the elective modules), plus the first aid course and the camp-out or RK skills.
Fourteen new training modules in all were released at council:
- FCF
- Outpost Council
- How to Start an Outpost
- RK Activities
- DR/AR Activities
- ER Activities
- Discipleship I
- Discipleship II
- Teaching Techniques
- Outpost Chaplain
- Working with Boys with Disabilities
- Child and Substance Abuse Prevention
- Safety and the Church
- Successful Outposts
Final copies of the Instructors Guides, Student Guides, and PowerPoint slides will be sent to the district training coordinators by the end of May.
Ranger of the Year
Last year the National Council voted to change Ranger of the Year from the calendar year to the school year. Thus, after the Ranger of the Year competition this spring, the next round of competition will be in the Fall of 2004. At that time an entire new set of rules will take effect for naming Rangers of the Year at all levels -- local, section, district, and region. The main change will be that at each level of competition, there can be multiple Rangers of the Year in each age group. No more need to choose just one boy; we will be able to recognize all of the boys who reach a certain level of achievement.
Pathfinder
The FCF missions program Pathfinder has been expanded to three levels of missions trips: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Gold will represent the current type of Pathfinder trips: construction projects in foreign countries where the FCF members advanced camping skills are required. Silver will be for construction projects to foreign countries or Alaska or Hawaii (assuming you don't live in those states) that do not require the camping skills, and Bronze will be for construction projects in this country (but in a different state).
Shooting Sports Championships
Materials were distributed for postal championships with the National Alliance for the Development of Archery (NADA) and the NRA, where your boys can take part in national championships by participating in local competitions, and then sending the targets to the NADA or NRA for scoring. Your district leaders should have more information on these opportunities. Competitions can be held in archery, trap shooting, BB gun, 3-position sporter air rifle, smallbore light rifle 3-position, and black powder.
National Council Officers
This was the year for election of new officers for National Council. Harry Hunt, district commander for Ohio, was elected Council President. Jim Barger, regional coordinator for the Great Lakes region, was elected as Council Vice President (he could not be re-elected as President due to term limits in our bylaws), and Dave Vincent, district commander for Southern California, was elected Council Secretary.
Thanks to Jonathan Trower, South-Central Region Training Coordinator, for this update.
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