The teenager pictured in this photo is one of the more than 70,000 “Trailmen” in “Trail Life USA,” the Christian scouting organization which first launched back in 2014.
I snapped this photograph this past Saturday night up above Boulder, Colo., at Glacier View Ranch, a picturesque facility that’s owned and operated by the Rocky Mountain Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
Over the weekend, several hundred young men and their fathers gathered for the “Mountain Man” Camporee, an event where the Trailmen compete against one another across a series of outdoor competitions. On Saturday evening, the boys came together for awards, a bonfire and wholesome and humorous scout-led skits.
The multi-troop event concluded with a Sunday morning worship service held under sunny skies against the backdrop of quaking golden aspen trees.
“American Heritage Girls” is Trail Life USA’s sister organization, founded in 1995 by Patti Garibay.
Both scouting groups enjoy approximately the same number of young men and women and are spread out across all 50 states. They’re affiliated with approximately 1,500 churches.
While Trail Life USA and AHG are distinctive in their charters, they were both founded in response to the Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts losing their moral and spiritual way. They were created to give parents a Christian alternative. Patti Garibay recalled:
“When another girl organization that I served and loved changed their members’ promise to make ‘God’ optional in their program, I knew there was no way I could continue to serve as their ambassador.”
She then explained what happened next:
“The idea for AHG was birthed as a reaction to this change, fueled by the Lord’s leading, my husband’s coaxing, and my beloved, disabled father’s encouraging — ‘Why curse the darkness, when you can light a candle? Start something new!’”
Similarly, John Stemberger, who is currently president of Liberty Counsel Action and senior counsel for Liberty Counsel, grew frustrated when the Boy Scouts of America voted to allow openly same-sex-attracted boys to join the program.
“A boy can’t learn to be a man without a man to show him,” Stemberger suggested. “I started Trail Life at my church for that reason.”
The Trail Life USA founder rightly noted, “The biggest problem with masculinity in the world today is there’s not enough masculinity.”
From the beginning, neither Garibay nor Stemberger was looking to compete with the legacy scouting organizations. In fact, both had been actively engaged with them. Patti had been a former Girl Scout and served in leadership for 12 years. John was an Eagle Scout and former Scoutmaster.
At the time Trail Life USA was launched, John insisted, “We’re not an anti-BSA organization. We’re not an anti-anything organization. We honor the legacy of the Boy Scouts of America and the contributions it has made to us and our families. The men and boys we have left behind are not our opponents. They are our brothers and our friends.”
In a culture rife with difficult and discouraging trends, it should encourage you to know that nearly 150,000 young people are gathering each week to develop their faith, character and countless life skills.
AHG’s mission is “Building women of integrity through service to God, family, community, and country.” Trail Life USA’s mission is “To guide generations of courageous young men to honor God, lead with integrity, serve others, and experience outdoor adventure” with the result of producing “godly and responsible husbands, fathers, and citizens.”
The Trailman wearing the Charlie Kirk “Freedom” t-shirt in the picture may never have met the late Turning Point USA founder, but Kirk would have been proud of him. An Eagle Scout in his own right, Kirk once acknowledged that his boyhood organization was “a husk of its former self” and publicly endorsed Trail Life.
If you’re a parent and eager to connect your son or daughter to a wholesome and Christian-based scouting environment, Focus on the Family and the Daily Citizen strongly and enthusiastically encourage you to prayerfully consider Trail Life USA and American Heritage Girls.
