9 GMA’s in one year. Not bad for one Wisconsin outpost!
That’s right, Outpost 39 (Oak Creek AG) awarded nine out of the twelve Gold Medals of Achievement earned this year throughout our entire district at their annual medal ceremony held on November 9, 2016. We’re extremely proud of all 233 young men from our district that earned this prestigious award since it’s inception in 1964! But nowhere on record can we find a single outpost that awarded nine GMAs in one year! How did they do it?
With the latest changes in requirements coming into effect on December 31, young men all over the country are frantically working to earn their Gold Medal before the changes take effect. This undoubtedly gave the Oak Creek Rangers the drive to finish, but strong leadership had a lot to do with it too.
We asked Joe Tamblyn, the newly-appointed Outpost Coordinator at Oak Creek to explain. “I’ve been involved in mentoring Rangers since 2003, when my son Peter joined. My passion for the ministry runs deep, and when I was asked to serve as Outpost Coordinator a year ago I gladly and ‘with fear and trembling’ accepted. I knew I had the support of a small army of men that share my vision for Rangers: to help boys discover their God-given talents & abilities and to watch them become who God has created them to be.”
Joe’s hands-off approach to leadership helps his Ranger Leaders take ownership of the task on hand, empowering them to make decisions and take appropriate action. “I work to ensure leaders take ownership and function autonomously as long as they remain within the church’s overall vision for Rangers, and focus on building personal relationships with the boys,” Joe added. “This new program is phenomenal and we’ve seen a lot of positive growth in our outpost because of it.”
“In addition to doing exceptionally well in Adventure Rangers,” Joe added, “we also handed out six Discovery Gold Eagles and two Ranger Kids Gold Trail medals.” The outpost had to split their Council of Achievement to two separate venues to accommodate everybody. The Honorable Mayor Steve Scaffidi attended and District Director Jerry Krebsbach handed out the awards. “We couldn’t be prouder of all the hard work our boys are putting in,” Joe said in conclusion, “and what really pleases me is seeing these guys grow closer to God and their fellow Rangers.”
Sr Commander Joe plans to keep encouraging his outpost leaders to take whatever Ranger training is available and to attend the upcoming Leader’s Conference so that they can fully equip themselves to do even more for the extension of this incredible ministry.
Special thanks to National Director Karl Fleig for this encouraging video!
