Ideas---Chapter Meeting Outdoors

Sometimes the chapter meeting seems to drag on and on and it seems it's not going anywhere no time soon. This happens when spring shows up and the end of the school year is getting close. The boys are getting restless and antsie in the room where you have their chapter meeting.

This is and indication there's a change that need to be made. That change could be to go outside for a little while before you have your regular chapter meeting--studying about missionaries and God's word. When they get the nervous energy out, then you go inside and start their chapter meeting.

That isn't working anymore. The days are longer and warmer, and the weather is more favorable. It's time for another change.

Have the entire chapter outside. The first reaction to that is you won't get the objective and the plans achieved that are planned for that week. Wrong!!!

Here are the modifications you have to do:

Make ground rules about behavior
Plan for more activities (especially water activities)
Inform the parents and boys the exact location where to meet before the chapter meeting starts
Have extra help
Plan the main part of the chapter meeting in the bed of the back of a truck in or an open bed trailer
Be ready to change plans due to the spring and summer weather change become unfavorable

Doing this for the first time may a major adjustment to the way have been done in the past. But, give it a try. You may have to devise some creative ways to make it work. Think outside the box!!! Strongly encourage the boys to invite their friends to come to those days outside. You'll be suprised what will happen. But, the purpose of Royal Ambassadors is to teach the boys about missions around the world and the message of Christ and salvation he offers to all.

Here Comes Summer!!!

When you find out how to do the chapter meeting outside effectively, the next step to try is to continue R.A.'s thru the summer. This is a big commitment. In order for this to work you've got to have plenty of commited adults (men and dads) that are willing to come and do the chapter meeting on a regular basis.

This is where the delima lies. The summer is when families have plans to go on vacation for a week or two, you yourself and your family may want to take off and get out of town, the church may scale back on the scheduling during the summer to a crawl, and participation in the weekly schedule of church members is down.

Here are some suggestions to overcome some of these delimas of trying to find help to do the chapter meeting during the summer::

Have a weekly schedule of who wants to commit to what weeks during what weeks during the summer

Do not have a overwheling set of plans for your help to follow
Make sure your leaders will have plenty of time to plan their summer vacation before they commit to R.A.s during the summer
Be very understanding and very sensitive to the need for leaders of families wanting to go on vacation for the summer
As the one in charge, make sure you are really wanting to do Royal Ambassadors during the summer

If you have that strong desire to do R.A.'s during the summer and it won't go away, don't ignore the desire. Chances are that is what God wants you to do. Stick to that conviction. From experience, it took a couple of years for the summer R.A. summer program to work. This year (2014) makes it 12 years at my church to have R.A.'s during the summer without fail.

If you see it works, stick with it. It'll make a difference to R.A.'s in your church.