3 Reasons Why As An Eagle Scout I Fully Support The LDS Church Leaving The BSA.

My family has been heavily involved in scouting for decades. My older brother worked at scout camp for years and my younger brother met his fiancee while they were both working on the staff at a BSA summer camp this past year. We love the BSA. And I, along with all my brothers, am an Eagle Scout. But none of us are shocked by the announcement that at the end of 2019 the LDS Church will leave the BSA, and all of us support it. Why? Here are three reasons.

1st. Everyone can still get their Eagle.

First, when I talked to my oldest brother, (who is currently a Scoutmaster in Taylorsville, Utah), we realized that with the announcement being so far out any boy can still attain Eagle Rank before the sunset of the program. It takes at minimum 16 months for the “positions of responsibility” requirements to progress from First Class to Eagle. As long as a boy reaches the rank of First Class by August of this year they will have the necessary time to hold positions of responsibility to reach Eagle Rank. So every current scout can reach Eagle through their church troops.

Here is a time table for those who still want to reach eagle.

• By August of 2018 any scout they must have their 1st Class board of review.
• By December of 2018 they must have their Star board of review.
• By June of 2019 they must have their Life board of review.
• By December of 2019 they would qualify for Eagle.

Something else to note: If a young man misses the cut off time, he can always find a local non-LDS troop and join it for the last few requirements.

2nd. Cause vs Effect.

Everything in the news and most everyone would suggest that the church leaving the scouting program was a result of everything the BSA has been doing lately. Everything from accepting girls, to dropping the name Boy and just becoming “Scouts.” But I disagree. When discussing these changes with my brother, he pointed out that it was more than likely that the BSA was told by the Church that they were leaving well in advance and all these changes were done to prepare for the fact that the BSA will be losing their largest sponsor in the USA. The more I thought about that, the more sense it made: these changes were not the cause of the LDS church and the BSA parting ways but the effect.

 3rd. Discipleship- and addressing the missionary crisis (The heart of the issue).

So if the LDS church is not leaving the BSA because of the controversial things they have done, why then leave it? Simple, it is no longer fulfilling its purpose; preparing the young men of the church to fill missions and be righteous men of God. There is a larger scale problem afoot. The entire YM’s and YW’s programs of the church and, most importantly, the families are not adequately preparing the youth to be disciples, future leaders, and missionaries. This is why the focus of the church has turned to discipleship and why we are overhauling the entire Young Men’s and Young Women’s programs, and the Sr Primary programs. These sweeping changes are focusing on discipleship, leadership, and sharing the gospel.

We are witnessing the Church making the steps necessary to help prepare all the youth to be converted to Christ and preparing them to be better missionaries. Too often, Scouts just turns into basketball night, which defeats their goals. Also, Scouting often forces leaders to “fit the gospel in” to a program, rather than a program designed entirely to be the Gospel. I think we are witnessing the beginning of the fulfillment of the request of President Kimball:  “I am not asking for more testimony-barren or unworthy missionaries. I am asking that we start earlier and train our missionaries better in every branch and every ward in the world.”

The changes in these programs will ultimately help address a pandemic we are not talking about, less active Return Missionaries.

See, something we don’t like to talk about is the fact that missionary effectiveness dropping through the floor (convert baptism are at a 30 year low, missionary effectiveness at a 40, and growth as a percentage at a 50 year low. I personally complied these numbers from conference reports over the past 50 years, click HERE for an article I wrote about this trend). We literally had fewer converts last year than the year President Nelson was called to be an Apostle! To quote President Ballard from a recent MTC fireside “What we are doing is not working!” This lack of success leads missionaries to discouragement, often missionaries who never see success when they come home go less active.

We are witnessing thousands of youth going on their missions earlier than ever before. But at the same time, many are going on their mission with testimonies of the programs, like girls camp, trek, or Young Men’s, rather than the actual Gospel. Testimonies built on anything except Christ won’t be able to weather the storms of missions or even life?. So many have never read the Book of Mormon cover to cover. If it comes down to learning knots or learning how to be a disciple, I think it is clear that the Church is redoubling its focus on discipleship!

Reread that quote from President Kimball: “I am not asking for more testimony-barren or unworthy missionaries. I am asking that we start earlier and train our missionaries better in every branch and every ward in the world.”

That quote literally could’ve been included in the announcement of the new programs. We are going to be starting younger, training harder, and preparing young men who will be able to carry the kingdom off triumphantly. The more I realize that the current programs are not preparing the coming generation adequately, the more fully I support the Prophet of God with this announcement of new programs; programs that more adequately prepare our young men for successful missions, and to be life long disciples of Christ.