Trails to Testimony: Bringing Young Men to Christ Through Scouting

by Bradley D. Harris

In October 2006 an LDS Venturing Usage Survey was conducted by the Boy Scouts of America National Office Research Service. The Venturing Division of the Boy Scouts of America was interested in learning more about how wards of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the United States use the Venturing program and program tools in their ministry. Questionnaires were mailed to 2,941 LDS Bishops randomly selected from the database in the BSA National office. To verify wards that had registered Venturing crews and those that did not, the mailing list was cross-referenced with the BSA registration database. Surveys were color-coded; 1,474 wards with registered Venturing crews received a survey printed on buff-colored paper, and 1,467 wards that did not have a registered crew (yes, that many wards without a crew!) received a survey printed on white paper. Both surveys contained identical questions. A total of 522 completed surveys were collected. The survey revealed that nine years after Venturing was created, many wards were still unaware of the program and many had not implemented the program. 19 percent of bishops surveyed didn’t know if their ward had a Venturing crew. Only 47.6 percent of wards with Venturing crews know about the Venturing Leadership Skills Course. Only 9.4 percent of youth leaders in Venturing crews had completed the Venturing Leadership Skills Course. Fewer than 1 percent of Venturers had earned Venturing awards. The survey also revealed the ben...