Ask any scoutmaster what’s the hardest part of the job, and one of the most common responses you will get would be coming up with the scoutmaster’s minutes. Week after week, over fifty times a year, the scoutmaster must come up with an inspiring, educational, and entertainment message for the Scouts.


Let’s face it. Not every scoutmaster is the most gifted public speaker. Research shows that the number one fear of people is speaking in public. Just because a scoutmaster loves to hike, camp, teach, lead, and motivate, doesn’t mean that they are comfortable speaking in front of a group. And how do you come up with inspiring stories, instructional words of wisdom and motivational messages, week after week?


Long-time Scout leader, Larry Carpenter, has written a book that can be a lifesaver for any scoutmaster. This collection of 100 of the best scoutmaster’s minutes offers brief messages that are themed to topics, including the Scout Oath, Law, Motto and Slogan. Additional minutes cover other topics, such as persistence, honesty, leadership, and other positive character traits.


This book makes a perfect gift for your scoutmaster. Or, if you are a scoutmaster who is on the spot once a week, make it a gift to yourself!

Or get it from these respective stores by clicking below.

B&N Review: “… A must read for those that have had experiences with scouting!”

Here’s a preview for you to get an idea of what to expect from Minute by Minute:

A SCOUT IS TRUSTWORTHY #1

A LACK OF TRUST PUTS YOU IN A CELL

One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century was Graham Greene. He once said, “It is impossible to go through life without trust. That is to be imprisoned in the worst cell of all, oneself.” You all know what to be imprisoned means. It means you are locked up all by yourself with no one to talk to and nobody to laugh with. Your freedom to play games is restricted. You can’t just go to a movie or hang out with your friends. It’s not a good place to be.

Graham Greene says that not trusting anyone is like being in prison. But it’s a different type of prison than the one with cells and bars. It’s like being imprisoned within yourself. You are surrounded by lots of people who you could talk to, laugh with, and cry with. But it’s like they aren’t there for you. Why? Because you don’t trust them. You are scared to tell them things. You think that they will betray you and tell your secrets to other people. In order to avoid this, we must learn to trust others.

But there is a funny thing about trusting others. Before you can trust others, you must first learn to be trusted yourself. This is what the Scout Law means by saying that we must be trustworthy. If you break the word trustworthy down into its pieces, you realize that it means that you must be worthy of their trust.

What does that mean? Well, people assign worth to everything that they do or come into contact with. We have limited time in life. So, we mentally assign a value to everything. If something is important to us, we give it a high value. If it isn’t important to us, we assign a low value to it. I’m not talking about physically assigning a value to it. Like placing a sticker with the price on it onto everything and everyone we come into contact with. But, it’s a mental value.

Let’s say that one of you likes to go to science fiction movies. If a trailer for a new science fiction movie comes out, you place a high value to it. You might stop everything else you are doing in order to watch it. But if you would prefer to read mystery novels, you would assign a low value to the movie trailer. You wouldn’t drop everything you were doing in order to watch the trailer.

Well, that’s how trusting others works. If someone watches the way you live your life and they decide that you can’t be trusted, they assign a low value to having a friendship with you. But if they decide that you can be trusted, they assign a very high value to their relationship with you. In other words, you are worthy of their trust!

What might cause them to think that you can’t be trusted? Do you repeat things that they tell you to others when you are supposed to be in their confidence? Even worse, do you make up things about other people to hurt them or to help yourself? Do you always tell the truth? Or do you tell big whoppers or even little white lies? Can they trust you to always have their back or support your friends when they need a helping hand?

Take a good hard look at yourself. Can you be trusted? Are you worthy of that trust? And, if so, can you trust other people?