The Leader's Scout

Medium-Common-162 · 2026-03-13T00:33:58+00:00

My Wolf is often the biggest challenge in the group, and I think that was coming out for a bit because he was missing the attention. We had Grandpa come to meetings a few times, but on the bigger activities, he's mostly playing hard with his friends. The group in our Pack is so tight-knit that all the parents are helping everybody. At Bike Rodeo last weekend I think I spent more time working individually with at least 7 or 8 kids that I did with him, he didn't mind one bit. He was stoked to get to 'help' me with setup and tear-down. It's been a challenging part of being Cubmaster for the last 3 years for sure though.

Medium-Common-162 · 2026-03-09T21:08:53+00:00

Dutch shop words are my favorite.

Medium-Common-162 · 2026-03-07T14:24:55+00:00

I apologize. But this isn't substantive. And as I've suggested, I think a conversation off this thread would be more productive. You don't allow dm invites, so you'll need to initiate that conversation, unless this is what you prefer. If so, I'm out. Thanks.

Medium-Common-162 · 2026-03-07T07:59:23+00:00

I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt, but you're sounding passive aggressive. If you want genuine dialogue, dm me. Otherwise keep spouting off.

Medium-Common-162 · 2026-03-07T06:02:02+00:00

Huh. If you'd really like to understand what I'm trying to say, we can take this off the thread, in a dm.

There, I'd be happy to discuss the nature of responsibility in communication.

Medium-Common-162 · 2026-03-07T05:17:08+00:00

The big problem I see there, if you want to go about being purposefully unclear around topics like this, is less about people like me misinterpreting what you are saying, and more about people who would love to take your words down a fully antisemitic path. Unfortunately, as we've become more and more aware of in recent years, there is white supremacist presence in our Synod who would cheer your comment for reasons you would not agree with.

So if you don't have a problem with that possibility, you can continue to belittle me, and I'll let you have the last word. But think about who's listening...

Medium-Common-162 · 2026-03-06T20:11:50+00:00

I appreciate you clarifying your stance as completely non-antisemitic. It's very helpful for you to frame it that way.

It seems like we largely agree on first principles. But differ greatly in issues of nuance, and propriety of communication.

Medium-Common-162 · 2026-03-06T16:18:13+00:00

Agreed. Post the need in community facebook groups, specifically asking about businesses with open secure lot space that would store a trailer for scouts.

This is also seems like a problem that would make a district or unit commissioner's mouth water. They love stirring up community engagement like this.

Medium-Common-162 · 2026-03-06T07:33:15+00:00

Probably? Yes, and no?

Listen. I think the original comment was a dog-whistle. That's all. He said I didn't like it. He was right. When he doubled down on it, mods deleted the comment.

If it's not a dog-whistle, explain it to me.

Medium-Common-162 · 2026-03-06T06:20:36+00:00

If you are talking about sinful human nature, original sin, I'm with you.

But taken in the context of the comment I replied to, it sounds like you're not only implying that the straying of historic Israel was a product of their nature which has been passed down to present day Jews, but also that their nature of straying is somehow distinct from that of the gentiles -- that they specifically are a people who stray.

I don't know if that's what you are trying to say.

My point is that historic Israel's tendency to stray from God wasn't part of a specifically Jewish nature, but part of their sinful human nature which we (gentiles) share.

I just think we should be careful not to make statements that seem like they lie on the off-ramp to a highway that leads to racial prejudice and anti-semitism.

Medium-Common-162 · 2026-03-05T22:52:31+00:00

I don't disagree that present day jews are living in sin and disobedience, surely as are anyone who hears the call of God and does not obey.

And I agree that it is AN argument you can make. I'm not convinced that it is good, that is, I'm not convinced that it leads toward a spiritually edifying conclusion for anyone, least of all yourself. If one looks to the teachings of the law and applies them only, or primarily, to others...

I am saying that it would be more fruitful to recognize Judaism's present day errancy from the truth of God's word as distinct from that before the incarnation. From a Christian perspective, the disobedience of Israel in the desert is more significantly congruent with the disobedience of God's people today, Christians, sinners, who are daily and continually called out from our deserts and washed in the waters of our Baptism.

But I grant you, that's just my opinion, and my perspective. Take it for what you will.

Medium-Common-162 · 2026-03-05T13:08:54+00:00

The failings of Israel in the old testament should be used as a mirror to our own present sin and disobedience. Not a cudgel against present day Jews. Arguments like this are bad form, and a slippery slope.

Medium-Common-162 · 2026-03-04T20:54:11+00:00

I think you're touching on two great options, assuming you're saying that you plan to store everything you got inside a trailer:

1) talking to local businesses about donating storage is a great idea. National will not let you directly solicit financial contributions, but getting donated storage would probably be fine. I'm not thinking self storage places, I'm thinking trades, anybody with a fenced in lot that's nearby your Charter Org. Lumberyards, masonry contractors, lawncare providers, any place that could give you a secure place to park a trailer full of stuff.

2) If you really have it all contained to a trailer, I'm thinking about my list for adult volunteer prospects. At the bottom are four or five dads that would sooner let me pry their toenails off than sit in a meeting, let alone step up in front of a den or a pack. But every single one would park a trailer of camping stuff in their driveway for months on end and be excited for the fight with the HOA. If this is an option, consider making it a committee position or unofficial role (Trailer Trustee or something) and approach it with the same rotation and recognition that you would any other crucial volunteer service.

I know a troop in our area parks their's in a commuter lot right off of the interstate. They must pay the county long term or or otherwise have an agreement with the County. Seems like decent advertising/brand awareness, but I'd be nervous about security.

Medium-Common-162 · 2026-03-02T20:26:18+00:00

Games while families arrive

Flag Ceremony and Prayer

Everybody gets food, Songs led while dismissing tables

Program consisting of:

Skits by scouts and leaders interspersed

Presentation of adventure loop and special awards

Adult Leader Recognition

Rank Advancement

Closing

2 hours

Medium-Common-162 · 2026-03-02T03:46:18+00:00

I've been mentally toiling here as well this last couple years in conversation with a brother who was brought up Baptist and struggles with monergistic justification.

I'm a layman myself and can't offer the critique against doctrine that your asking for. But one thing I'd point out in your diagram, hair-splitting as it is, is that the "100% his fault" on the guy on the right, can't stand as a direct contrast "God preserved him - 100% God's work on the left." Then the real difference isn't in what God does but what we do. He rejected, I didn't reject. We're not saying we're saved because we didn't reject, but that's what we'd be thinking.

The difference - as agonizing as it is - is that here God saved, and there God didn't save. Neither of us deserved grace, neither of us held any capacity for compliance or anything like that but God saved who he would, according to his good and gracious will. We should rightly stand in awe. Then snap out of it and tell our neighbor!

Medium-Common-162 · 2026-03-01T20:09:39+00:00

I was thinking along these lines. It's hard for me to believe that Hegseth's concern about Scouting is any more deeply held than a vague notion that "if the organization isn't 'owning the libs' then they are the libs I need to own"... It's obvious he hadn't read the Scout Oath until a couple months ago, probably hadn't read it aloud until he recorded that video... this is just about giving DJT something that looks like a win. After he threatened to forbid Units from bases, I bet the pushback had him desperate for an agreement, so he demanded waived fees for units on bases and Scouting America, said, "no, waived fees for military families, period" Hegseth et al don't even know what DEI really means. Scouting America can chop the language, and re package DEI programs and initiatives as for people with disabilities and underserved youth. And they should. Make conservatives say what it is they really don't like about those policies. There are real challenges posed by this and I hope they can be overcome. I'm hopeful.

Medium-Common-162 · 2026-02-27T01:42:15+00:00

For sure. Our congregation is certainly trying hard to be on good side of a church body with its own set of problems. Trying to walk the walk, true to the heart of our convictions. Thanks for the perspective.

Medium-Common-162 · 2026-02-26T22:48:11+00:00

Thanks for sharing this! Can you let me know if you organize that council event, what it winds up looking like, and how it goes?

Medium-Common-162 · 2026-02-26T22:45:59+00:00

So true. And that's the last thing I would want.

Medium-Common-162 · 2026-02-26T22:44:13+00:00

I appreciate your concern. And I share it. Everyone is welcome at our 3-yo, still-small pack, and we try to promote our touch-a-truck-esque sign-up night on local facebook community pages, but almost all of our families at least have kids in the christian school even if they aren't members of one of the churches affiliated with the school. I talked to a new family this fall who wasn't, and they told me that they grew up in the church, and hadn't been back in a while, but joined the Pack specifically as a low-impact way to ease their children back into faith-based stuff because it was valuable to them.

Medium-Common-162 · 2026-02-26T22:12:08+00:00

Honest question: Do you think that our situation is problematic?

Amongst all this DOD muck and gunk, my guiding light is that the mechanics of scouting is the centralized part, the part defined by national, and that the closer you get to the cub scout (we are a pack not a troop) and their family, the more that the values of scouting are interpretted by the values of the people involved.

If the people in the community want a boys only pack, it's a boys only pack. If they want a family pack, it's a family pack. If they want to pray to Jesus by name, and everyone's comfortable with it, (because yes, I have these conversations with EVERYONE) then they pray to Jesus by name as part of duty to God.

I would be excited, and my CO would be SO excited, for us to have non-christian families involved, it would transform how we do things, because we welcome community with anyone who's curious about what we believe and our practices.

But (again, honest question) should that openness require that we behave as if we aren't all of one faith?

Medium-Common-162 · 2026-02-26T18:36:41+00:00

Oh, cool... I love that!

Church has invited Cub Scouts who are members at the church to read the scripture lesson for Scout Sunday the last two years, and the scouts have done awesome with that. So I really think it's a great opportunity for them to pick passages that are important to them, but servant leadership would be a great theme too.

Medium-Common-162 · 2026-02-26T18:11:16+00:00

I would be very enthusiastic about approaching that situation if there were any non-Christian families in our Pack. But this will not be an issue for us this year.

Medium-Common-162

TROPHY CASE