 Programs
of Religious Activities with Youth Boy Scout News Bulletin Third Quarter 2008 Welcome to P.R.A.Y.’s Boy Scout News Bulletin. This Bulletin is how we share information about the religious emblems programs and ways to strengthen relationships with the religious community. ACTIVE IN A FAITH COMMUNITY? ENCOURAGE YOUR CONGREGATION TO OFFER A RELIGIOUS EMBLEMS COURSE Chances are that if you are reading this bulletin, you are active in a faith community. Does your congregation offer a religious emblems class? Whether or not your congregation sponsors a Scouting unit, perhaps it is time for your congregation to consider teaching a religious emblems course. And maybe YOU are just the right person to start the ball rolling. It is good to make presentations to other groups and encourage Scouts to fulfill their Duty to God, but it is even better if you organize a class and announce specific dates with a target deadline to receive the actual emblem. Start by getting the religious emblems booklets and talking with your clergy. When Scout Sunday/Sabbath comes along, you’ll be glad you did! Can religious emblems build membership potential? You bet it can! Click here for a story about how a religious emblems class led to a brand new Venturing Crew. THE EAGLE IS HERE! 
Eagle Patch Completes the Puzzle Set The Eagle Patch is now available from P.R.A.Y. It is the fourth segment in the Duty To God Puzzle Patch series. These patches are on a four-year cycle. If you missed one, don’t worry because it will come around again. If you’re brand new to the program, start with the anchor patch (the kneeling Scout). The key to the puzzle patch is the focus that it puts on Duty to God and religious emblems. Puzzle patches may be earned by both youth and adults. The requirements are simple: learn about the religious awards and make a commitment. Information on religious awards and sample presentation resources are available from P.R.A.Y. To purchase a segment of the puzzle, go to www.praypub.org.  Many
of you have been waiting for the eagle patch to complete your puzzle. Even
though you may have all four of the puzzle segments, we hope that you’ll
continue to promote Duty to God. The puzzle patches are easy to frame. They look
great against an orange or purple background. This makes a great promotion piece
for your presentations.
No one would think about operating a summer camp without a lifeguard, but there are plenty of camps without chaplains. Chaplains do more than deliver program. Chaplains can improve and help maintain the overall morale of camp through the relationships that they nurture with camp staff. A positive camp experience is a substantial factor in retaining boys. Chaplaincy as membership? It’s well worth considering. A Duty to God summer camp program typically has the following requirements: attend a religious service at camp, participate in at least three daily devotionals with your group, say grace before meals (or memorize the camp grace and recite/explain it to the chaplain, and the leader or Chaplain Aide must promise to make a presentation on religious emblems at a regular Pack or Troop meeting. Click here for more information (and a sample devotional booklet). TREAT YOUR FAMILY TO A GREAT VACATION IN NEW MEXICO and get some BSA training on the side!) Picture this … your young children riding ponies and going on day outings, your older kids doing the high ropes course or going on a trek in the back country, your spouse enjoying ceramics, horseback riding or a sunrise hike, while you – the lucky one – sit in a classroom and soak up the experience and expertise of outstanding faculty on a specific conference topic of your choice. We would propose Relationships Week  Here is a picture of the participants from the 2008 Religious Emblems Course. Click here to read their action plans. Wanted:10 Target councils for 2009 P.R.A.Y. is accepting applications for “Target Councils.” Target councils receive 2 scholarships to the “Religious Emblems Course” taught at the Philmont Training Center (at least one of the scholarships must be used by a professional Scouter). Target Councils also receive follow-up onsite training from P.R.A.Y. for council staff and volunteers. Target Councils must be interested in growing their membership through the religious community. If interested, click here for an application form. NEW DUTY TO GOD BROCHURE BSA has printed a new Duty to God brochure. This is the brochure that pictures the religious emblems and provides contact information for the national religious organizations. It is a key resource when promoting religious emblems. The new brochure has been expanded and can be used as a small poster. The bin number is 05-879. Councils may order this piece from BSA (it does not come from P.R.A.Y) but you may view it on the P.R.A.Y. website. UPDATES FROM PRAY 
Submitted by Cliff Mansley, Protestant Committee on Scouting, Cascade Pacific Council, Portland, OR The Protestant Committee on Scouting of the Cascade Pacific Council is about to embark on two experiments in promotion of the God and Country program. 1. Working through the Vice President of the Council for Religious Relationships we hope to have the Council send a letter and a Religious Emblem folder to every Scout who achieves First Class Rank encouraging the Scouts to consider the Religious Emblem of their faith. This program will cover boys of all denominations and will last for three years. 2. During the month of June and after camp we will fund the employment, on a contract basis, of an ordained minister who is an Eagle Scout to promote the God and Country program in Protestant Churches in the 3 pilot districts. This will be a short-term effort to see if we can boost the number of Scouts working on the God and Country program. While this is a large Council, Oregon is the least churched State in the Union and so we felt this extra effort was worth the try. The $5000 to pay for this promotional effort was raised through a matching grant from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Clackamas Oregon Chapter. Thrivent has hundreds of the chapters throughout the US and would be a good source for other Councils to obtain grants for chaplains, Religious emblem promotion and chapel renovation. This year the Clackamas Chapter gave us a grant of $1600 to renovate a chapel and the SW Portland Chapter gave us a matching grant of $1000 which when matched will give us $2000 to purchase 1000 New Testaments with Proverbs and Psalms. GOD AND COUNTRY FOUR-STAR RECIPIENTS God and Country Four-star recipients are individuals who have completed all four levels of the Protestant/Christian religious award series (i.e. God and Me, God and Family, God and Church, and God and Life). Congratulations to the following Scouts for achieving this prestigious four-star status!
Here are the 2nd quarter 2008 recipients:
Send an email to debh@praypub.org. We look forward to hearing from you and sharing your story with others! PLEASE SHARE THIS NEWS BULLETIN WITH OTHERS Please forward this email to other people in program, membership/marketing, newsletter/publications, council store, volunteers, etc. who may benefit from this information. Here is the link to sign up for our mailing list. Please pass it on to those who are not signed up. (If you received this in an original email, you’re already signed up!) Sign up for PRAY's Boy Scout E-Mail List UNSUBSCRIBE If you feel that you have received this email in error, or would prefer not to receive these emails, please reply to this email with “Unsubscribe” in the subject line or send an email to jenniferh@praypub.org to be removed. Thank You! |