The scouting programs are essential parts of the Church's efforts with its young men.  These programs provide wonderful tools

1) to help adult leaders form strong relationships of influence with their young men, and
2) to help the young men to grow, to reinforce the importance of the quorum in their lives, and to help them stay close to the Church and their Heavenly Father.

Well-run scouting programs really do make a difference in the level of Quorum activity and in the lives of young men.

The scouting programs exist in the Church to support Aaronic Priesthood purposes.  Every YM leader, no matter what his specific assignment, should have a clear understanding and commitment to these purposes, which are, for each ordained Aaronic Priesthood holder, to:

1) Become converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ and live by its teachings.
2) Serve faithfully in priesthood callings, and fulfill the responsibilities of priesthood offices.
3) Give meaningful service.
4) Prepare and live worthily to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood and temple ordinances.
5) Prepare to serve an honorable full-time mission.
6) Obtain as much education as possible
7) Prepare to become a worthy husband and father.
8) Give proper respect to women, girls, and children.

The tighter the integration of a scouting program with its Aaronic Priesthood quorum, the better it can fulfill its purpose. Things work best if each quorum and its scouting counterpart are viewed and operated as a single program:

1) Boy scouting as an integral part of the Deacons Quorum
2) Varsity scouting as an integral part of the Teachers Quorum
3) Venturing as an integral part of the Priests Quorum

The scouting programs for Teachers and Priests are even more important than the programs for the younger boys, because between 14-18 young men are at the most vulnerable age for involvement in transgressions and/or to drift away from the Church. Some say that the strongest and best man in the ward next to the Bishop should be the Scoutmaster. But my choice would be to put at least equally strong men with the Teachers and Priests.

It's a myth that young men won't support the programs for older age groups.  Well-run Varsity and Venturer programs are just as attractive to their age groups as boy scouting is to 12 year olds.

It may take time and very strong leadership by a Bishopric to overcome the inertia of weak or non-existent programs and replace these with a tradition of strong scouting programs for all age groups.

Wards with effective young mens programs establish a ongoing tradition of strong scouting programs for all young mens age groups 8-18.

A tradition of strong young mens programs is hard to achieve but easy to lose. It requires a lot of maintenance by committed youth leaders, parents and, especially, Bishoprics.

Leadership activities by Bishoprics may include:

1) Provide enough quality leaders
2) Support and encourage (in fact, insist on) BSA training for adult leaders and youth leaders (and one of the best ways to do this is to find monies to pay at least part of the costs for men to attend these courses)
3) Get BSA scouting leadership training themselves for their age-group program (Bishop-Venturing, 1st Counselor-Varsity, 2nd Counselor-Boy Scouting)
4) Constant teaching/educating/promoting, with boys and their parents, of the importance and role of scouting programs in the Church's training of its young men.
5) Take a very personal hand in acquiring resources and supervising the program for each Bishopric members' assigned quorum and age group.
6) Attend activities and camps frequently.
7) Participate in or even chair the committee (Troop committee, Varsity committee, Venturer committee) which supports their assigned age-group program.
8) Wear the Aaronic Priesthood activity (that is, scouting) uniform for their age group with pride

Goals and emphasis
My first goal for the Aaronic Priesthood work is not to lose anyone. The Deacons Quorum is operating effectively if it sends on 100% of the 12 year olds who were ordained Deacons as worthy Teachers when they reach 14; the Teachers Quorum's first goal is to hang on to the 14 an 15 year old Teachers it gets and send them on as worthy Priests at age 16; likewise, the Priests quorum should strive to produce worthy Elders.  It is frosting on the cake if the quorums can also activate or convert some boy along the way.

All the programs should be operated so as to fit together in one progression of opportunities for growth, new experience, and excitement, something like the following:

1) Cubs: Exploration of new things, family activities, learning to achieve
2) Scouts: Basic camping and outdoor skills, advancement, basic leadership skills
3) Varsity: High adventure, enhanced leadership opportunities, personal development, sports, complete eagle rank and other recognition
4) Venturers: Career preparation, dating, more leadership responsibility, high adventure according to the group's interest, sports, complete eagle rank and other recognition

We should be careful that the younger boy programs (i.e., scouts) do not burn boys out on high-adventure activities (50 milers hikes, climbing mountains, long canoe trips, scuba, etc.) and leave nothing exciting for the Varsity and Venturing programs.  Our goal should be to make each scouting level more exciting, fun, and challenging than the last.  Each program should be so attractive that Cubs are excited to become 11 year old scouts, 11 year old scouts are excited to go into the regular scouts, scouts are excited to join the varsity team, and varsity scouts are excited to become Venturers.

Staffing
Each program needs three good men to work directly with the boys (more if it's a very large quorum, that is, more than about 15 young men):

The unit leader
(This is the Young Mens President/Priests Advisor/Venturer Advisor for the Priests, the Young Mens 1st Counselor/Teachers Advisor/Varsity Coach for the Teachers, or the Young Mens 2nd Counselor/Deacons Advisor/Scoutmaster for the Deacons)
Two assistants
(Both as Assistant Quorum Advisors/Assistant scouting unit leaders)

Less than three:

1) Invites leader burn-out
2) Limits the ability of the program to carry out planned activities if a leader is missing
3) Puts the boys and leaders at risk--may not allow the unit to comply with BSA's abuse prevention standards
4) Misses a great opportunity to train leaders for the future

There should be NO division or specializing of responsibility for anyone between priesthood and scouting. Every adult working with the quorum should be involved in the whole program. Priesthood and scouting should have the same lines of authority.

Advantages:

1) Lines of authority are simple and clear
 The unit leader answer to the bishopric member responsible for the specific quorum (Young Mens President to Bishop, YM 1st Counselor to Bishop's 1st Counselor, YM 2nd counselor to Bishop's 2nd Counselor)
The assistants answer to their unit leader
2) Complete coordination between priesthood and scouting
3) Scouting/activity arms answer to the priesthood line
4) Most efficient use of leader manpower
5) Helps leaders avoid burnout
6) Complies with BSA policy that multiple leaders are always present at activities
7) Trains/prepares good candidates to replace unit leaders when required--provides for continuity of programs.

Disadvantages:

None, except it requires the ward to commit sufficient resources to its YM programs to enable them to run well

Organizational Lines
The Bishop is the president of the Priests quorum and therefore is directly responsible for all of its programs and activities.  Typically the young men who are his First and Second Assistants in the Priests Quorum presidency operate the Venturing program with support from the Quorum Advisors, under the Bishop's supervision.

One of the Bishop's Counselors (usually the 1st) is the file leaders for the Teachers Quorum.  The Teachers President answers directly to him. All of the Quorum activities--priesthood, Varsity Scouting, sports, etc.--come under his direction.

The other Bishop's Counselor (usually the 2nd) is the file leaders for the Deacons Quorum.  The Deacons Quorum President answers directly to him. All of the Quorum activities--priesthood, Scouting, etc.--come under his direction.

A very effective organizational idea is for the members of the Bishopric to be the committee chairmen for their respective scouting programs. (But don't do it if you aren't trained, or if you lack the time and energy do it well.)

For most of its responsibilities, the Young Mens Presidency does not operate like typical presidencies do in the Church. In Quorum matters (perhaps 80-90% of their jobs), the 1st and 2nd Counselors in the Presidency answer to their respective Bishops Counselors.  (Different than most presidencies, it is not typical for wards I know of to release the YM Counselors when the YM President is changed). The Presidency operates as a traditional presidency in the Church only for combined young men and YM-YW activities.

Typically a "Youth" counselor in the Bishopric (usually the 2nd Counselor) is designated to oversee the Young Mens presidency and programs and represent the ward in meetings with the BSA programs.  This assignment applies primarily to overall youth-related efforts and to combined activities, and does not supersede the stewardship of each member of the Bishopric for their assigned Quorum and its programs.

Training
It is critically important that YM leaders take advantage of all BSA training opportunities:

1) Basic training for their scouting family
2) Round Table meetings
3) Wood badge or other advanced training

Ideally, all YM leaders get basic training shortly after their call.

The great advantage of wood badge and advanced training programs is that they are experiential rather than class-room based. They help leaders learn the mechanics of the programs by living them in the field, so that they become second nature. When the administrative mechanics of the scouting programs become automatic to YM leaders, they are better able to concentrate on the needs, guidance, and spiritual blessing of their young men.

Ideally, YM leaders complete wood badge training within a year or so of their call, and while they are serving as assistants, before they are called as the primary unit leaders (such as, Scoutmaster).  Ideally, all unit leaders (Scoutmasters, Varsity Coaches, and Venturer Advisors) have completed wood badge or some other advanced adult leader training prior to their call to that position.

It is extremely helpful to have a cadre of 5-10 wood badge trained men in the ward to draw from, when replacing Scoutmasters, Varsity Coaches, Venturer Advisors and filling other key scouting/young mens leadership positions.

Achieving the levels of trained leaders described above in a ward, may take several years and require considerable persistence and extra support by the Bishopric. Due to leader turnover, each year should see two or three or more leaders at advanced training.

Selecting and calling Young Men Leaders
Select exemplary priesthood holders (temple recommend, returned missionaries, men of faith and integrity) whom the boys will find attractive role models.

Also look for men who

1) Enjoy being with the boys and have an active spirit of adventure
2) Are relatively permanent in the ward (buying a home??)
3) Have job flexibility to take time off for camps and some personal resources to share (such as, owning a reliable vehicle)
4) Have or are willing to learn outdoor skills
5) Are willing to get trained
6) Have supportive wives and a home situation that will not deprive their families

Interview these men with their spouses.

Be up-front about the requirements and time commitments.

Communicate an expectation to get fully trained.

Challenge them to make a missionary-type commitment to work with the young men

1) Expect to give at least three years service.
2) Need to clear their schedules to the extent needed to be a part of all meetings, activities, training offerings, Round Table meetings, etc.

A good strategy for the Bishopric may be to pre-interview possible candidates for YM positions. Do these interviews with a number of men.  It may be very surprising how many qualified and available men you will find:

1) Explain the need for more good YM leaders and the rewards that come from this kind of service.
2) Explore with them their interest, time, resources, potential commitment, support of spouse, etc., for working with the young men.
3) If a man's response is positive to these things, then consider him for a specific calling and make the call in a second interview.

Robert Lewis
Taylorsville Gardens 1st Ward/Taylorsville Utah Central Stake