Merit Badge Counselor

I wouldn’t classify merit badge counselor as an official church calling, it’s a volunteer thing within the scouting organization. Not to seed your thoughts in any one particular direction but non-members can be given “callings” within the scouting arm of the church. I only mention that to underscore the separation. There are callings related to scouts like scoutmaster, den mother, some YM callings have expectations that the person will also be active with the scouts, etc. but given the time commitment of a merit badge counselor I wouldn’t put it down as a calling. More of a responsibility that comes up from time to time.

As a merit badge counselor you’ll need approval from the local BSA council. It may vary from council to council but from what I’ve seen the approval process consists of filling out a form. As a BSA volunteer you will also be required to be current with their youth protection training. That may be the twice per year thing your BP mentioned. When I had a calling with a scouting element I remember training days coming up frequently. When I say training day I mean day. A big group would get together, drive 2 hours one way to the training location, watch training materials all day, then come home. Something to be aware of. If all you need is the youth protection training that might be a simple 30 minute video you can watch online. It’s been a while so I’m not up on the training requirements anymore.

As far as the “calling” itself, I hope you get to choose which merit badge you want to teach. If you don’t get to choose (e.g. we want you to be the environmental science MB counselor) then it has all the hallmarks of a calling. If you get to choose, pick your passion. Be the coin collecting MB counselor, teach kids the basics of coin collecting, and help the kids complete the requirements to earn the badge.

Here’s a link to the various badges, each has a pdf with the requirements that the boys are expected to master.

http://www.scouting.org/meritbadges.aspx” class=”bbcode_url”>http://www.scouting.org/meritbadges.aspx

Citizenship in the community might be a good fit? Bonus, it’s a badge that is required for eagle and all the boys hate doing it.

So time commitment.

1) Whenever a young man wants to take the merit badge you teach.

2) You may be asked to come in and teach all the boys your merit badge.

3) Every once in a while the church will run a MB clinic, a day set aside when many counselors are at church, the boys sign up for the classes they are interested in, and in one day they knock out a few MBs.

I think being a MB counselor is more like being a resource, meaning you are there for the scouts when there’s an interest in the MB you teach and when you are available. In other words just because you are a MB counselor I don’t think they would obligate you to attend a MB clinic or to teach your badge on mutual nights. I’d hope that they would work with your schedule.

Great advice. Sounds non-doctrinal, and except for some training requirements, not onerous. I have a lot of skills in a lot of areas — music, business, swimming, just about any camping-related activity (was a canoe trip guide and outdoor enthusiast for decades), was a former guitar-builder/luthier for wood working, and many other areas. It sounds like I would need to define the boundaries, and it doesn’t sound like it has to be a calling either if I limit the areas in which I do the merit badge counseling.

It sounds like my Bishop got the message I sent him about my boundaries and is working with me — a positive sign. The position is simply a modified scouting version of what I offered to do — be a supportive parent and put on an activity once a month is the YM leadership liked the idea.

Sounds like something I could consider…could give me some “membership” in the community without going back to the way I was three or four years ago.

I said I liked this Bishop, and this is one of the reasons why. He has pretty good judgment when he has the necessary background information. And he is not approaching this from the armchair of judgmentalism.

SD

…was a former guitar-builder/luthier for wood working…

I’ve got a guitar that has an action that is waaaaay too high… where do you live?

I’ll send a PM…but I will say this — I’m a bass-only luthier. I only rarely worked on six-string guitars, usually under duress. The extent of my 6-string work was to build a body with a classy finish to fit a custom neck once, complete with a tremolo unit though. That was fun and apparently successful, particularly since the guy who hired me was a guitar repairman but didn’t do building work.

My latest project is a 6-string piccolo bass. Taking a body I like and putting a 6-string neck on it to replace it’s already rare 5-string neck.

I think this is right down your alley as well. You seem to have quite a bit to offer as far as merit badges go – you might want to check with the Scoutmaster and see what areas they’d like to focus on and set your limits that way. However, for some more obscure merit badges it is sometimes tougher to find a counselor.

I think this is right down your alley as well. You seem to have quite a bit to offer as far as merit badges go – you might want to check with the Scoutmaster and see what areas they’d like to focus on and set your limits that way. However, for some more obscure merit badges it is sometimes tougher to find a counselor.

I wouldn’t mind trying to find someone with the right skills if there is a need. I can be quite resourceful that way and have a wide network right now. Thanks for the encouragement. I actually feel a tich of engagement with what he suggested, particularly since I would like to see my son do more than sit in front of Minecraft for 12 hours a day.