Brothers,
Ok, who can believe Summer is almost half over already? Wow…it’s moving fast and we haven’t even had time to breath with so much to do for our Lodge membership. As of this writing, we are gearing up to leave for the National Order of the Arrow Conference (NOAC) in Indiana at Indiana University. We are taking 18 Arrowmen along with about 8 Lodge members serving on staff at NOAC. We will have plenty of news coming out of NOAC and hope to share as much as we can with everyone in the weeks ahead.
We are also finalizing all the plans for our Fall Service and Induction weekend with Candidate letters and Brotherhood invitations being dropped into the mail for an August 1st delivery, which will be just past six weeks prior to our event. I know all who are reading this edition of the Tom-Tom are actively planning on joining us for the Fall weekend. We are certainly in need of all our Lodge members to get actively involved in the months ahead as we prepare to host the 2019 SR-7A Section Conclave as part of our Centennial year. That’s right, it’s basically already here…our 100th year as a service organization and National Honor Society of Honor Campers. We will need so much support to put on the best Conclave our state and our Section has ever seen.
Our Centennial planning committee has been working diligently for the past 2 years to prepare us for this time in our schedule. From mid-August, when our Section Officers meet with us to start preparing for our April 2019 destiny we will be actively reaching out to every member of our Lodge, past and present, seeking your help and cheerful service and commitment to bring Conclave home to Nawakwa Lodge. We will need to have additional work days planned between February and early April in order to adequately prepare our camps for a records number of visitors to Conclave. I trust (and PRAY!) you will answer that call with open arms and an open heart.
We are also gearing up for our Fall Fellowship in November. If you have a creative and service oriented nature about you, please reach out to our special event committee (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) to lend a helping hand with our annual fellowship.
As we start to move towards the later part of this awesome year, I would like to remind everyone of a couple changes in our unit elections as it will continue to take all our efforts to facilitate getting unit election and unit visits completed in the shirt time period we have before we welcome in a new year of scouting. Our new unit elections policy sets the time period for unit elections between October 1st and February 15th. This is being done to help strengthen and utilize our Chapter infrastructure in the most beneficial way possible. In addition, in February 2019, the OA will officially welcome in all Scouts, male and female, who meet the criteria for election, this new policy will also include expanding unit elections to Venture Crews and Sea Scouts, each having their respective eligibility criteria for being elected into the OA. This is a positive change that we are looking forward to implementing as it will strengthen our program and provide many scouts the opportunity to be a member of an absolutely great organization. If you can, please join us as we prepare for these positive changes and help us embrace and prepare for a successful transition with these new policies.
Speaking of policies, we have just been officially informed by our National OA Office of a new ceremonies policy as it relates to supporting our Cub Scout units and families. We will have more information about this new policy as well as information about the new ceremony scripts for Arrow of Light and Crossover ceremonies in the pages that follow. Please join me as we work to implement these new policies and craft a new and exciting energy towards the implementation of the new ceremonies. I’m looking forward to challenging the chapters to see which chapter ceremonies team can adapt the new ceremonies into their chapter program and be willing to showcase their adaptation at Fall Fellowship. Maybe there will be something special for the Chapter who performs the best and closest adaptation to the National ceremony?
One last item, as a Lodge we must take a seriously take a look at our Brotherhood program. So far this year, we have only had 26 of our Ordeal members who are eligible to continue their journey from Ordeal to Brotherhood, actually take that next step to seal their membership in our Lodge and our Order. This is out of over 440 Ordeal members who are eligible since our 2017 Lodge year. We are doubling down on this effort starting immediately and will be focusing all of our attention on this unfortunate issue. There is an old song which speaks of “Who’s gonna fill their shoes…”, talking about old legends that have passed on and asking the question, who will step up to take their place and continue the journey and the legacy. Brothers, if Scouts units are not advancing their Scouts and learning the ways of the outdoors by going camping and learning the skills necessary to survive and prosper in the outdoors, then we do not have Scouts being elected into the OA; if you don’t have Scouts being elected, then you will not have candidates being inducted into the OA; if those that are fortunate enough to be elected and complete their ordeal are not continuing the induction journey and sealing their membership in Brotherhood; then you will not have members doing cheerful service or filling valuable Leadership positions and skills in the Lodge and no one to return to their units in service; If you don’t have those Brotherhood members then we will not have candidates for the Vigil Honor; if we don’t have growth, then we must ask the proverbial questions “Who’s gonna fill their shoes…” and what will become of our Lodge?
Well, Brothers, that’s about it for now. I do hope you have an enjoyable summer and take time to do something for another person each day of the remaining year. They say doing something consistently for 21 days in a row becomes a habit, what better habit to evolve that your health and cheerful service to others? As always, our Lodge continues its journey to excellence by improving our program, membership and funding options. This is only possible because we able to stand firmly on the solid foundation our brothers before us have provided through their unselfish dedication, hard work and cheerful spirit…our future is bright because of this legacy, but we must continue to nurture and kindle the fire within and cause the spark of Brotherhood and service to ignite in order to continue the long and lasting legacy for our next generation of leaders and Arrowmen.
In Brotherhood,
Michael W. Lynch
Nawakwa Lodge Adviser