Archive for Jason

sermon – Are you a Prodigal Son?

April 2014 Sermons and Devotionals No comments

Our district’s annual Camporee has many journeys taking place:

  • One of the first campouts for those new Boy Scouts who recently crossed over from Cub Scouts
  • New Leaders in place, since most troops just recently finished their elections
  • New OA Brotherhood members who are reaffirming their call to Cheerful Service
  • New OA Candidates being tapped out

 

We are all on journeys – some that need a little course correction, and others that need a 180 reversal.  This sermon starts with reading the Christian Parable from Luke 15:11-32 on “The Prodigal Son”.  When delivered to a multi-faith audience, as ours was, we explained that while the story being read comes from the Christian Bible, listen to the story as it relates to each of us.

 

CLICK HERE for the sermon of the Lost Son (or Scout)

 

Note: The inspiration for this sermon came through a breeze that I can only describe as the Holy Spirit in action — click here to read more about that experience.

How to deliver God & Church in Three Lock-Ins

March 2014 Religious Programs No comments

God & Church is the third phase of the PrayPub discipleship program that is recognized for Christian Protestant Scouts in the 6th thru 8th grade (including Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, etc.) and is the next phase of growth beyond God & Me (1st thru 3rd grades) and God & Family (4th & 5th grades).

Last year, I developed a guide for delivering God & Family as an overnight lock-in, instead of six meetings.

This year, we’d like to try delivering God & Church in three lock-ins.

The typical schedule for God & Church is eleven (11) meetings, including the introductory session, seven lesson meetings and three “Mile Marker” unit wrap-ups. Instead, OUR schedule will be three (3) single, overnight lock-ins and a closing party/event, spread over a three month period. Each lock-in will include multiple lessons from the program guide, small group time for discussion and project work, and free time.

Here is the first draft of the God & Church three lock-in format – God n Church Lock-In Guide 2014-01

“Feedback is a Gift” and “A Scout is Helpful” … so am hoping that you will take a look and let me know what you think, especially if you have experience with the God & Church curriculum.

Thank you for your time.

JTE Commissioner Impact Survey – now in Beta

March 2014 Blog No comments

I am working on a research project to quantify Commissioner Service impact on overall unit health and JTE attainment.

To accomplish this, I am using an online survey that is intended to understand and quantify the role of BSA Commissioners in service to units, including their impact on JTE recognition, their areas of contribution to the units, and the frequency and methods that are most effective. Within the Council, three different groups of individuals are being asked to participate, including:

  • Administrative Commissioners (e.g. District Commissioner or ADC)
  • Unit-serving Commissioners (including UC’s, RTC’s, ADC’s and DC’s)
  • Unit leaders, such as Scoutmaster, Cubmaster or Committee Chairpersons

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The online survey can be completed in less than 10 minutes — with 7 demographic questions which will then branch you to a series of between 8 and 24 additional questions, based on your role and unit activities.  Your honest and thorough participation is gratefully appreciated, as it will help all of our Commissioners serve all of our Scouts better. Thank you for your time.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JTEbeta1

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“Feedback is a Gift” and “A Scout is Helpful” = Your Participation is Requested (please try it out)

The online survey will be released to a broad range of Circle Ten Council respondents in April, but the survey is live now in order to gain feedback.  Please consider spending a few minutes going through the survey from the mindset of either a unit commissioner or a unit leader.  Feedback can be left in the final survey question or emailed via this website.  Thank you for participating in this Scouting research project.

DDCC – District Den Chief Coordinator (idea)

December 2013 Blog One comment

Here is an idea that I would like feedback on: a district (or sub-district) den chief coordinator (DDCC).

As a former Cubmaster/ASM and current Commissioner, I am a huge fan of Den Chief’ing, when it is done right:

  • The Cub Scouts see an ideal example of what staying in the program looks like
  • The Cub Leader gets an extra set of hands and ideas
  • The Troop gets an ambassador to the Packs that may join them
  • The Boy Scout learns leadership

But there are challenges that have to be managed:

  • Ensuring that the Boy Scout acts as a “leader” and not just “a big cub to be handled”
  • Ensuring that the Boy Scout participates and is able to receive coaching, just as they would if they were serving within the Troop
  • Ensuring that every Den gets a Den Chief (that wants one) and that every suitable Boy Scout gets an opportunity to serve/lead/learn.

As an Asst. District Commissioner, I serve 5 troops and 9 packs. At a minimum that would be 36 Dens (Wolf, Bear, Web1 and Web2 times 9 packs) that need Den Chiefs, but there are likely more like 45 dens in my service area. While I have helped many boy scouts find packs and vice versa, and am sure there are lots of other 1:1 matchups going on, I’d like to try something new:

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An Amazing Army Adventure for Boy Scout Troop 845

November 2013 Blog, Circle Ten Council No comments

This weekend, I had the profound honor to spend the weekend at Fort Hood, the US Army Post in Killeen, Texas. Troop 845, including my son and I, had the amazing opportunity to spend a weekend with several of our country’s finest soldiers.

Troop 845 at Fort Hood

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How should Packs re-charter Webelos II scouts?

November 2013 Blog, Cub Scouts One comment

Every year, as part of re-chartering, Packs ask about whether they should do the re-charter paperwork for their Webelos II scouts. Typically near the end of February, most Webelos II (W2) scouts will cross over from their Cub Scout Packs and become Boy Scouts – so why should the Pack pay for their entire annual dues?

Recharter Them: The question isn’t whether to recharter them, it is who pays for it

To be clear – YES, the Pack needs to renew the memberships of those W2 scouts.

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November = Wring-Out and Re-Charter

November 2013 Blog, Circle Ten Council No comments

It seems like we just got done with School Night for Scouting (see earlier Rally and SNfS blogs) and it is time to start thinking about the next phases of the membership process – wring-out and re-charter. And while they are very different, one helps the other (and you):

Wring-Out

Wring-Out is the very simple process of ensuring that everyone that you (the Pack/Troop leadership) thinks is on your rolls are actually registered with BSA and vice versa. It should literally take you 5 minutes to do, because typically, the only request is that you email a copy of your unit roster to your Commissioner or District Executive. From there, someone at the Council office will compare your roster to what is in the BSA system. Inevitably, BSA will find someone on your roster that they don’t have paperwork on but is active in your unit (solution: fill out an app).

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A Guide for Chaplains Aides

October 2013 Boy Scouts, Religious Programs 2 comments

In an effort to provide more structure and guidance for the Chaplains Aides (CA) in my district’s troops, I drafted a small guide that was intended for the Troops to consider, adapt and utilize if they chose to.  The guide draws out that CA is a leadership function, not just a service function, so the CA(s) should be leading, including:

– Preparing before campouts to deliver their Scouts’ Own Services

– Delivering the SOS itself, with the enlistment of supporting team members

– Debriefs after each SOS, as an opportunity to improve and grow

– If a CA is unable to attend a campout, they are still responsible for ensuring that an SOS still occurs during the campout, including the preparation and the debrief.

It also includes two signature sheets:  one signed at the beginning of the term of service (acknowledging expectations) and the second signed at the end of service for completion.

CLICK HERE to download the first draft of the Guide to Chaplains Aides

 

The Guide is a work-in-progress, with this being the first draft for considered use this Fall & Winter.   I will update the guide after lessons learned, as well as after suggestions offered by Scouters on the Internet.

As always, thanks for reading and your feedback.

I love Merit Badge Colleges

October 2013 Awards and Programs, Blog 4 comments

I really do !

There are a lot of folks out there that think that Merit Badge Colleges (MBCs) diminish earning the Merit Badges (MB), and they certainly do when the MBC is delivered with the intent to “Spend a Saturday, take home two badges.”

Similarly, there are folks that treat MBCs kind of like the summer community college where you took hard (aka Eagle) courses in an accelerated way, so as to avoid doing them during the traditional way. And that is equally bad.

Like most things in life, the problem is in the intent and the execution, not in the thing itself.

MBCs are not the problem – expecting to earn one or two merit badges in a day is.

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Ideas for how to deliver School Night for Scouting

September 2013 Blog, Cub Scouts No comments

There are lots of ways to deliver an evening recruiting event, but I’d like to share mine for those looking for different ideas.

School Night for Scouting (SNfS) actually begins a few weeks before the recruiting event itself.

See my earlier blog on the T-minus-two-week plan for recruiting and the mid-day Rally video.

 

So now, you’ve hopefully been able to send flyers home, your scouts helped deliver the morning announcements, perhaps your scouts wore their uniform at school, you’ve done a mid-day rally to get them excited, and now they are coming to the school cafeteria tonight.

Here are some ideas for the SNfS evening itself:

1. Recognize that SNfS is as much (or more) about recruiting adults, as it is the youth.  If a parent takes the time to get their son to the evening event, they intend to register him unless you give them a reason/excuse not to.  So, plan on collecting an adult application (and the fee) for every youth.  Make them all ‘MC’ members of committee unless they already know that they are willing to be a Den Leader – and you can figure out how to use them later (Pinewood, Food drive, fundraising, etc.).  You’ll have a few who adamantly refuse, but its likely that most of those parents would be your drop-off Baby Sitters of America parents, so handle how you see fit.

2.  Keep the boys with the parents.  It might seem easier to distract the boys with games while the adults do paperwork, but you’ll significantly increase the likelihood of the parent registering when little Johnny is tugging at their sleeve, being excited.

3. Keep the energy up.  The presentation and paperwork aren’t a lot of fun, so keep reminding them of all the fun that Scouting is (after tonight).

 

Here are a few suggestions for running the evening:

Seat them by grade-level when they first come in – so that the dens are already formed.

Have a sign-in sheet, to capture contact information before the event.  Some folks may leave early, so this gives you a chance to follow-up later if they are missing an application.  Also, use sticky nametags with a small number in each corner that corresponds to their number on the sign-in sheet (see newspaper game).

The presentation should include not only ‘information’ such as org-structure – but also fun parts (slide show from last year) and a little bit of selling the adult contribution.

 

Here is a PPT that I have used in several Packs:

Download the PPT here — SNfS PPT 2013A

  • Quick slideshow of last year.  Remember, you want them excited to join.   If you did a slideshow movie for last year’s Blue & Gold, use it.  If not, do a spontaneous opening poll of the boys on ‘why did they bring their parents to join Scouting?  Easy answers;  Shoot stuff … Burn stuff … Camping … Go see cool places … etc.
  • Quick overview on the character-building value of Scouting (don’t read every point).  Acknowledge that all of the parents in the room what their boys to turn into men of character, so Scouting is here to partner with them in that noble effort.
  • The Story of the Tape.   It starts with ‘Your boy may live to 100’ and ends with ‘your time to influence them is ages 7-15, which is the Scouting years.  This is your time together’   This part also works well with just a long strip of paper (3 feet or longer), but the PPT is narrated and fits within the PPT.  Use whichever, but it is a strong message why the parents should be devoting NOW to their boys.
  • The Newspaper game.  This is a great model of ‘Fun with a Purpose’ – and the purpose is seeing who the natural adult leaders are.  Ask a few non-uniformed leaders to walk around and note which new adults are being vocal, creative or are really participating.  Those are your best new committee members and den leaders.   If their nametags have numbers, it is easier to remember “#6” than “Sundar” or “Jacqueline”
  • The organization structure – which emphasizes the expansive national, council and district ecosystem that is here to support them, and all of the small adult roles that make the Pack work.
  • Den formation discussion – someone has to be the Den Leader/coordinator … someone should help them (Asst. Den Leader) and the rest of the folks are ‘on the Committee’
  • Paperwork instructions

 

After you have presented the information, walk around table-to-table for Q&A … but be sure that they have ‘alone time’ to figure out amongst themselves who will be the den leaders.  If they leave without a den leader, you don’t have a den – unless you are simply adding a few boys to an otherwise existing den.  In which case, you should still push for recruiting a new Asst. Den Leader, so that the Den scales with the new boys.

Once they finish their paperwork for both the Youth and an Adult, they can head to the back table, process out, and head home.

Be sure that they have easy instructions for the next month of meetings and how to get a uniform.  If there is an easy ‘patch-lady’ for sewing, provide that contact information too.

There are certainly other ways to run SNfS, and your Council may have its own formula.  If not, I hope this was helpful.

Thanks for reading

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