On Wednesday, January 1, 2014, Trail Life USA (TLUSA) officially launched its outdoor adventure program for boys and young men nationwide. TLUSA is a Christian scouting-like program for boys and young men ages 5-24. The program focuses on outdoor adventure, character, and leadership and is starting with approximately 500 troops in 42 states.
Trail Life USA is being birthed on the same day that the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) officially implements its new membership policy of allowing “open and avowed” homosexual youth in their program. Around 60% of the new members of TLUSA are former members of the BSA and 40% have no BSA background.
As the Boy Scouts – an organization that I have long admired – trundles down a path that I believe is going to end up tearing the organization apart, a new group – Trail Life USA – has emerged. The faith-based group believes that they are set to become a premiere organization for boys and young men.
Their stated goal is to “counter the ‘moral free-fall’ of the nation, and ‘raise a generation of faithful husbands, fathers, citizens and leaders.'” As they become more and more public, the group has captured attention because of their open competition with the BSA. Their mission is to “provide a robust alternative to the Boy Scouts of America (BSA).”
The name of the group was chosen to avoid any political or controversial undertones.