| Scouting nurtures call to ministry By David E. Bohnert UMConnection Correspondent  Unchurched until he was 17, the Rev. Christopher D. Owens, associate pastor at Hollywood UMC, Hollywood, found his call to ministry through Scouting. Owens said that his initial experience with the religious aspect of Scouting occurred as he participated as a Cub Scout in the God and Family program of the Boy Scouts of America. The Rev. W. Kenneth Lyons Jr., now superintendent of the Cumberland-Hagerstown District and at that time pastor of Baldwin Memorial UMC in Millersville, was the leader of the program.  Lyons had all the participants bring their Bibles and showed them how to read Scripture, beginning by explaining the chapter and verse structure, Owens said. He was very warm with us, and made me comfortable with the church, said Owens, who added that the God and Family program prepared him for a relationship with the church. He began to attend Mount Zion UMC in Lothian while working on his Eagle Scout rank. He credits Scouting with teaching him to have a concern for reaching out to humanity. Scouts are often thrown into situations and asked to find their way out. Many times pastors experience the same thing, he said. According to Owens, Scouting provides resources that bring boys and girls into contact with God and their faith. He felt a call to ministry after his freshman year at Towson State University, Owens said. He later attended Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. I cant say enough about how Scouting was instrumental in the formation of my faith and values as a young person. I believe that God used it as prevenient grace to lead me to a point in my later teenage years to receive Christ as Lord and Savior, Owens said. He was commissioned as a probationary elder in 2001 and assigned as associate pastor at Hollywood with primary responsibility for youth ministry, contemporary worship and small group discipleship. Lyons said that while he was studying for his doctorate at Drew University, he took the curriculum materials for the God and Me, God and Family, God and Church, and God and Life series to his dean and to the university library. They decided to classify the curriculum as confirmation material, declaring it the best confirmation material they had ever seen, he said. The United Methodist Church is the sponsoring organization for more children in Scouting than any other organization, Lyons said. We uniquely have a resource for bringing children to Christ. About the call of Owens to ministry, Lyons said, We never know what door a child will take in beginning a walk with Christ. Lyons said that during his 20-year tenure at Baldwin Memorial UMC, there were 35 to 50 participants each year in the God and Country programs, the largest enrollment in the nation. | 
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