What Makes Ronnie Roll: The 140 Pilots And The Rest Of The Players

Much is said these days, both in church and in business about need for “servant leadership,” the idea that a good leader must be willing to do the same things he requires of his crew. Another way of putting it is, rather than “Somebody’s got to lead, and somebody’s got to follow,” the concept of the gift of helps in good working order is well illustrated by what happens on an aircraft carrier, and could be described as “Somebody’s got to lead, and somebody’s got to help.”

On a carrier, typically if there is a crew of 2,000, there will be about 140 pilots, 125 planes, and about 90% of the rest of the crew is never in the air. They are moving in the gift of helps, and their role is crucial. From keeping the latrines clean to the crew fed, the hot shots are not just up in the sky, they are also the ones below that get and keep them there.
Mayor Ronnie has had a much bigger group of students for the Mayor’s Youth Commission, and the year is coming to a close. Many of the kids have sent him senior pictures and prom pictures, and what he wants most for the kids, past success in the usual sense, is that they learn how to have healthy, good, solid relationships.

We talked about the need for young people on up to realize that ultimately they are responsible for their own happiness, and as Tim Richardson in Jump Starts says so well, the real recipe for happiness is “to try, try, again.” This is the only antidote to allowing dreams to whither, and to prevent “settling” in general. Richardson asks, “Why don’t people pursue dreams? It is because they have no guts, no gumption, and no know how.” That’s straight talk, but it’s the truth. The idea of “try, try again could be reframed as “fail forward faster,” says Richardson in Mayor Ronnie’s marked up and dog eared copy. “To build our community and quality of life, failing forward faster is what we have to be willing to do,” he said. We prayed, and he was on to the Celebrity Waiters’ Night, being willing to serve, along with other leaders in our area, and all for a good cause, Relay for Life. Here are the results, as stated by Holly Hollman in her press release:
The April 14th annual City of Athens Relay for Life Celebrity Waiters Night at Applebee’s in Athens raised $3,726 for the fight against cancer

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Our Celebrity Waiters worked for tip money that goes to the American Cancer Society, and tonight’s competition was fierce with waiters singing, begging and joking to raise the most in tips.

Here is how our Celebrity Waiters did:
Athens City Council President Jimmy Gill – $882 with more donations pending
East Limestone Band Director Jennifer “Miss Sam” Janzen – $656
Limestone County Commission Chairman Mark Yarbrough – $650
Limestone County Revenue Commissioner Brian Patterson – $546
Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks – $535
WHNT co-anchor Greg Screws – $341
Miss Limestone Sheriff’s Rodeo Queen Kalynn Clinard – $116

Perhaps the Mayor didn’t win the competition, but he and the others were “rollin’” right over cancer while having a great time and moving in the gift of helps. Stuff like this is what makes me so glad to be an Athenian.
By: Ali Elizabeth Turner