Scouting as a Quorum Training Ground
In 2003, I was serving in a bishopric in Edmonds, Washington. Before moving to Washington, I had spent six years in Tucson, Arizona, and had spent nearly 5 years working with Scouting and Aaronic priesthood quorums. I had spent a lot of time thinking about why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints commits so much effort to the Scouting program when so many times the results are somewhat mediocre. I had come to personally realize the power that is available through this program. Anyway, in response to a discussion on an e-mail list about Scouting, I wrote the following comments about why it might be good to charter all of the different programs, even if there aren't a lot of boys. Although I can't claim to be very effective at accomplishing these goals, I am grateful to be reminded of this vision. (I have edited my comments to make sense out of the original context.) I hope you don't mind if I talk a little about quorum integrity. The most common interpret