Why Pathfinders?
The outdoor activities in Pathfinders tend to be the more photogenic and talked about parts of the Pathfinder program. This is understandable, but should not lead us to miss the point of Pathfindering. Pathfinders is a youth ministry of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. In this ministry we use games, outdoor activities, service projects, craft and practical instruction, and Bible based spiritual lessons to prepare the young people for lives of service.
These activities are designed to follow the grade level of each Pathfinder and are complimentary to that grade level. The classwork for each grade level is based upon the Adventist Youth (AY) requirements and follows a structure which was developed by the General Conference and is intended to be used at the local church level. These classes are as follows:
5th grade Friend
6th grade Companion
7th grade Explorer
8th grade Ranger
9th grade Voyager
10th grade Guide
The final two years of high school can be spent in completing the requirements for the Master Guide class.
Each of these classes follows a similar format with the requirements becoming more demanding as the grade level and assumed maturity level of the Pathfinder increases. This format is as follows:
Personal Growth
Spiritual Discovery
Serving others
Making Friends
Health and Fitness
Youth Organization
Nature Study
Outdoor Living
Honor Enrichment
Each class in Pathfinders follows this same format which allows a steady progression through the AY classwork and promotes a wholesome mix of physical, mental, and spiritual training. It is the hope and prayer of every Pathfinder leader to find his or her youth growing as did Christ in wisdom and stature and to see our precious gifts become acceptable for Gods service. This is the purpose of Pathfinders. We could each individually go on camping trips without the responsibility of other peoples children if camping were all we cared for. The camping and other club activities are all a means to an end, not the actual end in themselves. Or to put it another way, "While the Bible should hold first place in the education of children and youth, the book of nature is next in importance....In itself the beauty of nature leads the soul away from sin and worldly attractions and toward purity, peace and God." -Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, pp. 176-177.
By helping our young people become more self reliant and weaning them away from the television and the refrigerator and the sofa we show them that life can be lived on simpler terms with less of the encumbrances of modern life. It is our hope that at least some of our youth will find the prospect of mission service less daunting as a result of their experiences in Pathfinders. And again: "The children are to be trained to become missionaries; they must be helped to understand distinctly what they must do to be saved."-Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, p. 168
The NAD Pathfinder program has been called the largest lay ministry of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Pam Tuttle, the experienced and energetic director of the McDonald Road club, leads a staff of approximately 18 dedicated adult volunteers who do everything from teach to cook to drive the bus. Many sacrificial offerings have been given by the members of the McDonald Road Church to provide the supplies and equipment needed to carry out our activities as well as to provide a budget to help individual Pathfinders when need arises from time to time.
The McDonald Road
Seventh Day Adventist Church has made an investment in money
and time and physical resources and people in helping the parents to prepare their children for a
life of service on this earth and citizenship in the New Earth to come. This web page is our story
of how we hope to see this happen.
by Gene Roll