Four Rivers District of Lincoln Heritage Council hosted its first ever Religious Emblems Day in Paducah, KY.  Baptists, Catholics, Episcopalians, Methodists, and Presbyterians from 7 different packs and 2 troops came together to work on the religious emblems appropriate to their age and faith. Scouts who had already earned their religious emblem were welcome and enrolled in the Bible Basics RP3 from P.R.A.Y.  In all there were 22 youth plus an additional 11 mentors. Maria Korte, District Religious Emblems Coordinator, served as the event chair and thought the event went very well, "It was awesome to see everybody from different faiths and units getting together to celebrate God's Glory." She is already looking at ways to increase attendance for future events.

Ron Flournoy, Cubmaster of Pack 1879 in Midlothian Virginia and Sunday school volunteer at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church, was presented with the Building Faith in Youth award on October 1, 2017. Not only has Ron taught God and Me and God and Family to his Cub Scouts, he has also worked with the pastor and youth director to bring the P.R.A.Y. classes to the youth of the church. While their primary goal has been to introduce children to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, a secondary objective has been to promote more membership in both Scouting and the church.  With their support, the P.R.A.Y. awards have grown from 8 to 24 in the last three years, and the P.R.A.Y. courses are taught during the Sunday school time slot so that families are present in church when both Sunday school and the Relevant contemporary service are available. Ron Flournoy personally knows the evangelistic opportunities that Scouting provides. It was because of Pack 1879 that Ron and his family joined St Mark’s UMC.

Congratulations to Ron Flournoy on receiving the Building Faith in Youth award! Thank you to St. Mark’s UMC for blending your Sunday school and Scouting ministries!

Photo: Rev. Fran Cooper, Ron Flournoy, Conference Scouting Coordinator Bill Chaffin

Trisha Morgan reports that her Girl Scout and Cub Scout have completed all 6 patches in the RP3 Series. Here they are completing the "Holes" and "Tents and Shelters" patches. Congratulations to the Morgan family!

St John United Methodist Church in Anchorage, Alaska conferred its 100^th P.R.A.Y. award on Boy Scout Sunday in February 2017, and exceeded the milestone on Girl Scout Sunday in March when the 114^th award was presented. The church offers all four awards (God and Me, God and Family, God and Church, and God and Life) and serves members of the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and its own youth group. The program started in 2003 by John Anderson, an Eagle Scout who earned his “God and Country” religious award as a youth. John, who has served as a teacher/counselor at St John UMC for nearly all of the awards, explained: “I feel called to this ministry because of the time and effort that was given to me by my pastor and scoutmaster when I was young. Our faith calls us to serve others––to be servant leaders––and, as my life was influenced in positive ways by servant leaders, I want to try to do the same.”

In addition to the youth awards, St. John UMC has presented 24 adult awards for exceptional service to youth.

Photo: The 2017 class of Scouts join their families after receiving P.R.A.Y. awards, along with the Rev. Andy Bartel pastor of St. John UMC (fourth row, third from left) and counselor/teacher John Anderson (third row, third from right).