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MS District Holds Annual Commanders' Conference: Great Fellowship, Very Informative
Ranger Trails Camp (November 3, 2007) - I want to thank all of you who came to Ranger Trails Camp this past week-end for the  2007 Commanders' Conference. Your attendance and participation made it a great conference. For those of you who couldn't make it we missed you, and I wanted to give you an update of what occurred.
Friday night was a great time of food and fellowship. Kelvin Dykes and Glen Carter showed out in the kitchen and whipped a wonderful meal consisting of Prime Rib, grilled potatoes and onions, snap beans, corn, toast and all the sweet tea you could drink. After a time of fellowshipping and sharing time we all slept good with some full bellies.
 Saturday morning started out with an encouraging devotion from Rev. John "Kuz" Fraiser from Caddo, TX. Kuz thanked us for what we do and let us know that God appreciates us also. He also used a skill saw as part of an analogy to let us know that unless we plug the saw in there is no power and nothing will happen. No work can be done. If we don't plug into our power source, the Holy Spirit, we are also useless. We have to have the power and support of the Holy Spirit to do the work God has called us to do.
After a hot breakfast of biscuits, gravy, grits and sausage we got started with the activities of the day. We started out by going over the calendar for next year. The calendar is posted on the district website, www.rangertrails.com . Some of the twists in this years calendar are the FCF spring trace. It will be a friend day to invite boys and men to come in and see what FCF is all about. The FCF fall trace will be a family camp. The whole family will be able to come and step back in time with us to see what a trace is all about. The National FCF rendezvous will be held this year also at Eagle Rock, MO. A JTT will be offered at the Junior Training Academy in April along with JTC, AJTC and Merit Camp. The theme for Pow-Wow next year will be "Boone and Crockett". This will be the first in a five year plan of "How the West Was Won". The five patches will circle a center patch to make up a large back patch. In the five year plan we will hit the 40th anniversary of Royal Rangers in Mississippi and also the 50th anniversary of the Royal Rangers ministry. Stay tuned to the website for further information on all of these events plus many more.
Berje gave an update on the Ranger of the Year Testing. We will be holding the testing for the 2006-2007 year November 17 at Ranger Trails Camp. If you have boys coming from your outpost we need to know very soon how many and what group they will be testing in. The cost will be $12.00 per boy competing. This will cover the cost of the meal, medal, etc. The testing will start at 10:00 AM and should be completed by 4:00 PM.
 Rev. Mark Thompson gave us an inspiring, spirit led talk on the importance of Spiritual Emphasis for Pow Wow. He and the Holy Spirit followed the morning devotion and lined right up with what had been said earlier. We should all have the power of the Holy Spirit in us and ready when we get to Pow Wow. We should know where are boys are with the Lord, and ready to take care of what ever comes up. We should be praying regularly for our boys and this ministry. Hopefully we can finish up the rooms at the main stage we started, and take part of one of them, and create a prayer room that can be used during Pow Wow and other events. It would be ideal to have someone praying there continuously during these times.
 After lunch we were honored to have Rev. Robert Bingham from the Mississippi District Emergency Response Department. He came and brought one of the response trailers for us to look at. He shared with us the purpose and vision for the department. He also showed us a power point presentation of a recent trip the team went on to Kansas after the tornados devastated that area. He wanted to talk with us because we are the men who will more than likely be the ones to go on these disaster trips. With the training we already have we would be ready to go at the drop of a hat. There is an application in the Commanders' Conference book or you can go to the link on our website an fill one out on line.
The afternoon classes consisted of a mixture of informative classes including two modules. The "Safety and the Church" and the "FCF" module was taught by Commander Kenny Richardson and Commander Perry Poole. Commander Mickey Howard taught a class on how to build a cubmobile. The guys in this class went over the information in the book and then went outside to actually build a couple of cars. Once the cars were complete the boys (I meant men) had to try them out and race them down the hill for a few test runs. We would like for every outpost to build one of these cars and bring it to Pow Wow to race in the first ever cubmobile race. We will be racing them just like the pinewood derby race. We'll have the computer program set up for it and race against the other outpost. This is going to be a great activity and addition to our Pow Wow. All of the information about the cars are in the Commanders' Conference book and we will have it on the website also. Ranger Kids Commander Karen Howard taught a class on Ranger Kids crafts. She showed several ideas on different crafts that could be done with Ranger Kids. She also had the guys in the class make Christmas ornaments out of Christmas balls and craft paint.
Commander Melroy Slider finished up the day with an overview of Ranger Trails Camp. He went over the list of projects that are being worked on and the ones that needs to be done. He also went over a list of projects that have been completed. Ranger Trails Camp needs your financial support just as much as it needs your physical support. There is a "Ready Club" form in the book that you and/or your church can fill out and be a part of this important tool we are blessed to have to continue to Reach, Teach, and Keep boys for Christ.
The conference was a great success with a lot of information shared. If you would like a copy of the Commanders' Conference Planning Guide just let me know how many you want and I'll send them out to you. The books will be $10:00 each. The book has all of the flyers and forms for all the events for next year. It also has all of the National Training Camp applications for 2008, the 2007-2008 Ranger of the Year Study Guides, a planner calendar, Pow Wow packet, How to plan a GMA service project, and the information about the cubmobile. Order your books now while I still have some left. |
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FCF Territorial Rendezvous
Ranger Trails Camp
October 25-27
District Commanders Conference
Ranger Trails Camp
November 2-3
District Ranger of the Year Competition
Ranger Trails Camp
November 17
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