A week to value

 

By Steven Scheid

 

When an airplane takes to the sky, it starts by rushing down the runway. The plane accelerates until it reaches the point of lift off. As it mounts to the sky, g-forces push passengers back in their seats.

 

The trepidation and white-knuckle grips of passengers cannot alter the course of the plane.

They are not in control.

 

I have learned to lean into letting go.

 

Once money has been spent, privacy has been forfeited at a security checkpoint, and the rush to the gate is complete. It’s time to go.

 

My first week as the national director at the Center for Scouting Ministries has been much the same.

Interviews have concluded, background checks are finished and the long haul from South Carolina to Nashville is complete.

 

It’s time to go.

 

Change is a constant.

My first week in Nashville was full of changes.

The BSA had just changed the name of scouting units from “Boy Scouts” to “Scouts BSA.”

Then the Latter-Day Saints Church announced their departure from BSA, effective December 2019.

 

The core remains.

The corporate name, Boy Scouts of America, will remain the same, and United Methodists remain committed to our longstanding relationships with Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of the USA, Big Brothers Big Sisters and Campfire USA.

In the same way, we continue our commitment to growing the character and values of young people.

 

Change is a constant.

Not one of the youth I have met over the years has stayed the same.

Nashville, a city I used to know well, has changed.

I have changed.

 

The core remains

The heart remains the same.

Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts, said, “Look wide, beyond your immediate surroundings and limits, and you see things in their right proportion. Look above the level of things around you and see a higher aim and possibility to your work.”

 

Steven Scheid, director of the Center for Scouting Ministry

General Commission on UM Men

SScheid@gcumm.org