Boston Avenue Scouts achieve Bishop’s Award of Excellence
Tulsa’s Boy Scout Troop 20, based at Boston Avenue UMC, was honored May 30 at Annual Conference with the Bishop’s Award of Excellence.
More than 50 active Scouts currently are in the unit.
This troop and the church hold the longest continuous scouting charter in Tulsa; they have more than 90 years of service together. Scout families have become church members through this affiliation. And although not required, roughly half of the unit’s adult leaders are Boston Avenue members.
In 2015, the troop earned a Presidential Volunteer Service Award–Gold Level for over 1,000 hours of community service. Their efforts include the CROP Walk, Tulsa Food Bank, Restore Hope Ministries, and more.
Troop 20 also has received the Boy Scouts of America Journey to Excellence–Gold Award for providing an outstanding program in developing young leaders. More than 400 members have achieved the rank of Eagle Scout over the years, including five in the past year. Members also earned 92 ranks and 363 merit badges in the past year.
The Scouts plan and organize their events, including campouts across Oklahoma and Missouri; Civil War re-enactments; and skill, development, and patrol competitions. They annually attend summer camp at Hale Scout Reservation, where they grow together through hiking and aquatic activities.
At Boston Avenue, they participate in the PRAY God & Church Program, for elementary through high school Scouts, and serve as greeters, ushers, choraliers, offering bearers, and Communion servers.
The troop meets at the church in a newly renovated 3,000-square-foot room, designated just for them. The church also supports the unit in other ways, including purchases of camping equipment and a trailer and sending notes and care packages to the Scouts while they are at camp.
Cliff Duncan, who serves both as the church’s facility manager and the troop’s charter organization representative, received the United Methodist Cross and Flame Award for his work as a liaison. This is just one example of the special partnership between the Scouts and this congregation.
The Bishop’s Award of Excellence for scouting was presented to Tulsa’s Troop 20 during the Laity Session of Annual Conference on May 30. From Tulsa-Boston Avenue UMC are (from left) Senior Pastor David Wiggs; Audra Fogle, director of Welcoming Ministries; and members Braden, Christian, and Rob Wright; with Bishop Robert Hayes. The Wright family joined the church through their affiliation with Troop 20.