The Adventure Continues...Remotely!

June 10, 2020

It now seems like a long time ago, but it has only been a few weeks since our nation and the world experienced the dramatic effects of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic. Business closed, schools were dismissed, and churches stopped having services to maintain social distancing and prevent the spread of the virus. As a result, traditional forms of Royal Rangers meetings and activities were cancelled. However, creative outpost leaders have been finding ways to stay engaged with their boys and continue the process of developing Christlike manhood through online meetings or in-home activities with parents.

Realizing the need to better resource parents and outpost leaders the Royal Rangers national office created “Remote Rangers,” which is a series of free resources to support outpost leaders in continuing their weekly meetings online or to assist parents in working with their boys independently at home. Outpost leaders are free to use the materials as they are or substitute their own content as needed to make their online meetings fun and engaging for their boys.

Outpost leaders across the country have been using these resources or creating their own to continue their outpost meetings in a variety of creative ways.

Javier Mendez at Outpost 11 at Cristiano New Dawn Center, Pasadena, TX states, “At the beginning of the pandemic, we began having our meetings on Zoom. We conduct them on a different night from our church’s regular Wednesday night service so our boys can use the cell phone or tablet their parents use on Wednesday night. We also use the Kahoot app for games where parents can be involved with their boys.” [translated from Spanish from Facebook]

Rick Beebe uses the JB Beaver puppet to present devotions to his boys online each week. He also delivers materials for craft projects to their homes where his boys are engaged in making beaded items for use with FCF outfits.

Dwight Walters, a leader at Outpost 284 in Delaware, also uses Zoom to meet with his boys. Dwight records parts of his meeting in advance, such as the videos he created for the Fire Craft merit, and shows them to his boys during the meeting.

Milo Tsukroff from Outpost 60 in New York conducts outpost meetings online for all four age groups. The leaders then hold a brief online meeting after the meeting where they pray for the boys and the needs of each leader.

The examples are numerous of outpost leaders who are determined to continue their mission of evangelizing, equipping, and empowering the next generation of boys regardless of the circumstances. Only time will tell the results of their efforts and their continued faithfulness to stay engaged “remotely” and serve the boys Christ has placed in their care during these troubling times.