Royal Rangers Edge Girls Ministries in National Giving Challenge

What began as a national giving challenge in August at General Council with Karl Fleig, the Royal Rangers national director, being covered in cans of Silly String spray, came to a slimy, goopy, gummy conclusion on Friday when buckets of a creative mixture of slime, glitter, beads, gummy bears, rubber mice and snakes — even live nightcrawlers — were poured over the heads of Mandy Groot, national Girls Ministries director, and her staff.

The national challenge? Who could give more to their missions project during the month of August — Royal Rangers (Master’s Toolbox) or Girls Ministries (Coins for Kids)?

At General Council in Anaheim, the two groups paired off for a weeklong mini-challenge held Aug. 7-11. Girls Ministries dominated the week, raising more than $10,400. The Royal Rangers raised nearly $3,600, a respectable amount, but seemed to be hopelessly behind.

However, in a Facebook live event, the final totals for August giving were revealed, and the Royal Rangers came from behind to outgive Girls Ministries for the month of August, $21,964.73 to $17,050.15, resulting in Groot and her team experiencing a slime shower.

“The girls really blew us away at General Council,” Fleig admits, “but the guys really came through in a big way — I was glad to have the Silly String then, rather than the slime now!”

The competition was held in good faith and fun. The Royal Rangers are working on their Catapult 700 Boys and Girls Ministries Challenge (BGMC) project that will result in 700 outposts being planted in Africa and Royal Rangers materials translated into Swahili over the next two years. Girls Ministries 2017 project is Caring for Baneasa (Romania), where a children’s center with a playground will be completed under the direction of AG missionaries.

What’s remarkable for both ministries is that they are on pace to break last year’s giving totals.

“We’re above our giving at this point last year [a total of $88,900 so far], if the trend continues, we hope to have a record-breaking year,” Groot says. “Our goal is to break the $300,000 mark and this will really help.”

Fleig is also excited about the Royal Rangers giving. “Last year our total giving was a record $101,000,” he says. “We’re currently just $11,000 below what we did all of last year and traditionally a bulk of our giving comes in the last months of the year.”

According to Mark Entzminger, senior director of AG Children’s Ministries, BGMC as a whole is up and looking to break another giving record by reaching $8 million this year.

“I love when I see the ministries working together for missions,” Entzminger says. “I love when kids can give to missions together, even though it may be for different projects. When national leaders go first — demonstrating their commitment to missions — they show that they’re as invested in missions as the local leaders are. I believe this kind of fun, positive leadership is easy to follow.”