By Mic Thurber

Some of my fondest childhood memories are of my years in Pathfinders. I loved the campouts, the activities, and the opportunities to earn honors. It was in Pathfinders that I first learned how to tie a tie—my leader was so impressed at the quality of my tie’s knot that he had me parade before all the guys to show them how their tie should look!

Somewhere, I have an old 8×10 inch black and white photo of my best friend me standing holding a kite between us. We made our kites together out of the same wood and paper, so they looked identical. We even got the same size ball of string for our kites.

Unfortunately, my friend’s kite broke in half in the strong beach-side winds that day in Southern California where the Pathfinder kite event was held that year, so he couldn’t compete in the “all kite” event. I had won the event for my size kite, and, when his kite broke, we added his string to my string, and found another ball of string that was added.

My kite flew so far that the judges at first thought my kite was being flown by a non-Pathfinder a couple of hundred yards away. They had to come over and watch me work at my kite so they could see that I was indeed controlling it before they would give me first place. Immediately after the event, one of our leaders immediately confiscated my string. He didn’t say why exactly, but at our next meeting he announced that my kite had flown 1,412 feet that day. He had wound my string around an 8-foot table to make it easier for him to tally the length.

Of course, I had no idea it had flown that far. All I knew was that flying that kite was fun beyond words. It was so rewarding to have made it and flown it. Whenever I run across that picture, I relive a wonderful part of my childhood.

Pathfndering gave me many chances to grow and learn, to make new friendships, and to cement older ones. It changed my life in many ways.

What a powerful punctuation point to my life would come years later when I would serve as Elder John Hancock’s pastor at the Calimesa Church near Loma Linda. Pathfinders was his brainchild, and it was such a joy to hear him tell stories about the impact Pathfinders had on so many. It brought him such joy to think that so many young people would be touched by it.

We’ve had some wonderful Pathfinder clubs here in the Rocky Mountain region for many years. Current leaders like Brent Learned, RMC Youth Department associate director, Sue Nelson, RMC Club Ministries executive coordinator, and Eli Gonzalez, RMC club ministries associate executive coordinator, help keep the flame alive. They and their wonderful team of leaders continue to promote and support the work of Pathfinders.

Of course, the decision on the part of the NAD Pathfinder Camporee’s leadership to bring the International Pathfinder Camporee in 2024 to Gillette, Wyoming, has kindled a new interest in Pathfinders in a number of our churches. That’s so wonderful!

Kudos to those of you who were able to either strengthen your current club or start a new one. Either way, we are blessed with more and more Pathfinders in our conference! I’m sure they’ll all have a great time in Gillette and far beyond. It’s also great to know that the host conference for this event will be well represented.

What if Your Church Doesn’t Have a Club?

Of course, not every church can sponsor a Pathfinder club at this point for any number of reasons. That’s ok. Perhaps your time will come sometime in the future.

But you can still help in a meaningful way. If your church doesn’t have a club right now, you can still be a HUGE blessing to another nearby club that, more than likely, needs some financial help as they gear up for Camporee. Why not take an offer up and share it with a sister church that is working hard to get their Pathfinders ready for the event. Your gifts, however large or small, could make a huge difference in helping their club get there.

There likely won’t be a bunch of 8×10 inch black and white photos leftover from this event, but I promise you that there will be memories made that will impact our youth for a lifetime. Let’s do all we can to help them forge those memories and characters for the kingdom of Christ!

—Mic Thurber is president of the Rocky Mountain Conference. Photo by Bill Fairs on Unsplash.