As the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) continues to relax standards related to homosexual behavior, many are looking to the faith-based outdoor adventure program Trail Life USA (TLUSA) as an alternative.
Based in Orlando, Fla., TLUSA was formed in July 2013, weeks after BSA voted in May 2013 to allow youth who identify as gay to join the organization. From the beginning, TLUSA’s mission has been to provide a “Christ-centered organization” where “faith is woven throughout the program,” according to its mission statement.
John Stemberger, chairman of the board of directors for TLUSA, calls it the “carrot cake analogy.”
“Everything in our organization has symbolism and spiritual meaning,” Stemberger said. “It’s like carrot cake. You don’t bite into a slice of carrot cake and get a big chunk of carrot. The carrot is throughout the cake. We don’t want people to choke on something too religious or churchy, but everything we do has meaning.”
TLUSA’s programs include Bible-based discipleship opportunities, ministry activities and outdoor worship. The group’s culminating rank, the Freedom Award, requires faith-building activities and servant leadership projects. The award signifies the real freedom that can only be possible because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Stemberger said.
That award, like the entire program, reflects TLUSA’s commitment to biblical values and an unapologetic Christian worldview, according to the organization’s website.
Churches or other organizations that charter a TLUSA troop must accept the basic tenets of Trinitarian Christian doctrine and be in agreement with the TLUSA Christian Statement of Faith and Values. In addition all adult leaders in a troop must be Christian leaders selected by the charter organization and they too must follow the organization’s statement of values which emphasizes purity, service, stewardship and integrity.
Appealing alternative
Those values have made TLUSA an appealing alternative for Baptist churches who could no longer support BSA’s policy changes, said Larry Morrison, minister of education and administration at First Baptist Church, Sylacauga, in Coosa River Baptist Association, who until February 2014 sponsored a BSA troop.
Another local church in Sylacauga took over sponsorship of the BSA troop there, but in Moulton the local BSA troop disbanded and has not restarted, according to Donnie Settles, minister of music at Moulton Baptist Church, in Muscle Shoals Baptist Association.
Moulton Baptist began a TLUSA troop in March 2014 when local Scout leaders left BSA.
Settles, whose son is in TLUSA, said they have26 student participants and 29 parent volunteers. The majority of the participants are from outside the church, he said, and the program continues to grow.
“We have seen some outstanding growth with Trail Life,” Settles said, noting that the troop has two Eagle Scouts who wanted to pursue the additional requirements for the TLUSA Freedom Award. They will be awarded the Freedom Award in June.
Stemberger expects TLUSA to continue to grow, especially if comments made by BSA President Robert Gates at the organization’s 2015 annual meeting in Atlanta in May become policy.
TLUSA’s approach to providing an outdoor adventure and character-building program for young men has been very successful. In the two years since its formation, membership has grown to more than 534 troops and 20,000 members by the end of 2014, according to CEO Mark Hancock. More than 300 troops are waiting to be chartered. Also last fall, TLUSA was given a 127-acre camp outside Greenville, S.C., where camps will be held this summer.
The fast growth of TLUSA happens as the number of troops and participants in BSA are declining, as reported in BSA annual reports (see graphic, this page).
In 1999, 3.19 million youth were registered in BSA troops. In 2000, 3.12 million youth were registered. In 2013, 2.3 million youth were registered.
Declining numbers
The number of troops has declined since February 2013, when 108,989 troops were registered nationally. One year later the number had dropped to 105,192. In February 2015, 100,926 troops were registered.
Gates, a former CIA director and U.S. secretary of defense, told those participating in the May 21 session of the BSA annual meeting that the longstanding Scout ban on gay adult leaders will no longer be enforced. Gates said he is not asking the national board to change the leadership policy immediately, but he said the Scouts must voluntarily accept gay leaders before a court forces them to do so.
Gates also said any new leadership policy should “allow all churches, which sponsor some 70 percent of our Scout units, to establish leadership standards consistent with their faith. We must … preserve the religious freedom of our church partners to do this.”
Gates’ comments concerning religious freedom do not match BSA’s increasing acceptance of homosexuality at all levels, however, which will continue to be a problem for churches, especially Baptist churches, said A.J. Smith, immediate past president of the Association of Baptists for Scouting and pastor of Bay Springs Baptist Church, Shelby.
“The BSA cannot pretend Trail Life does not exist or will go away. It will be a serious competitor,” Smith said. “Its strongest appeal will be to conservative, evangelical churches. It is an explicitly Christian organization with definite commitments to core Christian doctrine and morality. BSA is going to have a hard time competing with that.”
Below is a list of Boy Scouts of America national chartered organizations using the traditional scouting program in Baptist churches
October 2008 Total units: 4,243 Total youth: 100,739
October 2009 Total units: 4,175 Total youth: 100,955
October 2010 Total units: 4,121 Total youth: 102,726
December 2011 Total units: 4,121 Total youth: 110,131
December 2012 Total units: 3,981 Total youth: 108,353
Biggest drop July 2013 Total units: 3,573 Total youth: 74,606
Second biggest drop May 2014 Total units: 2,472 Total youth: 48,665
February 2015 Total units: 2,598 Total youth: 53,577
BSA units sponsored by Baptist churches have significantly dropped from 3,848 in February 2013 to 2,598 in February 2015 since the 2013 policy change. (Units equal the total number of packs, troops and crews.)
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