Scouts from Troop 43 Celebrate Scout Sunday at Chartered Organization AND Home Church
Scout Sunday was a joint endeavor by Trinity Lutheran Church and First Lutheran Church in Brainerd, MN. Scouts Noahh, Aidan, and Finn (Matthew was absent due to illness) were busy and on the go!
Their day started with a pancake breakfast which Troop 43 prepared in appreciation for their chartering organization, Trinity Lutheran Church. While the rest of the Troop stayed behind to do the cleanup, Noahh, Aidan, and Finn then traveled to their home congregation, First Lutheran Church, where they received their God and Family awards from their home pastor Rev. John Stiles, God and Family Counselor Loren Meinke, and Scoutmaster DJ Collins.
Blessings upon Noahh, Aidan, Finn, Matthew, and all of Troop 43!
Blessings upon Trinity Lutheran and First Lutheran churches for their scouting ministries!
P.R.A.Y. Program Usage by BSA Increases 7%
Thank you for your council’s promotion of religious emblems programs for the past year.  BSA’s usage of the P.R.A.Y. awards increased by 7% in 2016. P.R.A.Y. has posted each council’s usage figures online. Click here to see how your council did in 2016 as well as to view a 5-year history and the honor rolls citing the top users and the councils with the largest increases. Reminder: the usage figures posted on the P.R.A.Y. website are strictly from Protestant and Independent Christian Churches. 
Duty to God Promotion Patch  
The Duty to God Promotion Patch is designed to promote the religious emblems programs. Both youth and adults may earn these patches by learning about religious emblems and making a commitment. The four patch segments come together as a “puzzle.” Youth and adults are encouraged to build their own puzzle, piece by piece, by making presentations on religious emblems and encouraging others to fulfill their Duty to God by earning the appropriate emblem for their faith. If you are earning the Duty to God Promotion Patch for the first time, you start with the anchor patch (which is the kneeling Scout) and then add the other segments in any order. Here are some suggestions for using the puzzle patches:
Meet CEO Jason Noland at BSA National Meetings in May  

Jason Noland will represent P.R.A.Y. at the BSA National Annual Meeting in Orlando, FL May 24-26, 2017. Jason will be part of the National Alliances booth. Plan now to stop by the Exhibit Hall and visit with him. Jason is P.R.A.Y.’s third CEO in its nearly 40 year history. He is eager to help your council identify new opportunities to reach out to the faith community and encourage your promotion of Duty to God and religious emblems to your members. If you aren’t going to be at the National Annual Meeting, please introduce yourself to Jason by giving him a call at 1-800-933-7729 or sending him an email [email protected].
Visit P.R.A.Y.’s New Website 

On November 1, P.R.A.Y. launched a new dynamic and informational website which includes a BSA page, www.praypub.org/bsa. Many valuable resources for staff and volunteers can be found here on religious emblem coordinators, faith based initiatives, and direct links to the awards for all faiths recognized in Duty to God programming. Please take the time to become acquainted with these online resources. We encourage you to share them with others. 
Thank you for all you do in promoting Duty to God!