- Trail Life USA is achurch-based Christ-centered

boy-focused mentoring anddiscipleship journey that

speaks to the heart of young men.

Mark, why is this soimportant to have, right now?

- Well, you know, a lotof people would say that

boys are in trouble.

When you look at the statistics,

boys are twice as likelyto be in special education,

three times more likely to be ADHD.

Suicide, drug abuse arejust mowing boys down

in record numbers.

And so an organizationlike Trail Life USA that's

unapologetically Christianand also boy-focused is

one of the things we think'sthat a boys really need,

an opportunity to be around Christian men

being mentored by Christianmen in the outdoors

and enjoying thingslike hiking and camping,

and all kinds of outdoor adventure.

- This sounds great.

And Mark, what values does Trail Life USA

instill in these boys?

- Well, as you canimagine, in a troop setting

or patrol, we have nine, over 900 of them

across the country, 30,000 members.

In that setting, they're goin' out,

they're going in the outdoors.

And maybe they're outthere with their father,

or maybe they're outthere with a father-like,

somebody's who's mentoring that young man

who may not have a father.

But they're learning things like

self-sufficiency, responsibility.

It's opportunities for their character

to be developed, for leadership skills.

And of course, theycome for the adventure.

But the parents love that theircharacter's being developed

and their leadership skills are

being developed along the way.

- This is the second year

you're holding this type of event.

Tell us about last year'sevent and you already

sorta mentioned that the parents love it,

but how are people reacting to it?

- Well, last year was ourbreakout event on this.

You know, it was in the middle of COVID

and people were just, youknow, just ganged up indoors

and afraid to go out.

But the outdoors isthe safest place to be.

So one of our leaders, agentleman named Steve Pageant

in the northeast, a volunteer leader said

hey, why don't we get togetherour Trail Life families

all camp in their backyards?

Well, we decided to openup to the entire country

and we had over 10,000 families registered

to participate in the Backyard Campout.

And they camped in their backyard

or maybe they camped in their living room,

set up a blanket fortor something like that.

But we just love the fact that families,

Trail Life families andnon-Trail Life families

were enjoying that time together,

taking advantage of beingin the outdoors together

and growing in a new way as families.

So this year, we'rerepeating it but we're adding

the concert to with For King & Country

as the concert act for this year's event.

- Well, we certainly wanna talk about it

'cause this year on May 21st,families across the country

will gather again for Trail Life USA's

National Backyard Concert and Campout.

What can you, what can families expect

at this year's event?

- Well, along with the concertwith For King & Country,

we're gonna have some great speakers.

Dennis Raney is gonna join uswith a message for families.

Danny Huerta from "Focus on the Family" is

gonna join us with a message.

And we'll have some othersurprise guests, also.

So families can tune inthen go to our website

and get information on howto tune is and watch it.

It's free but it's, and ifthey wanna set up a fort

in their living room or intheir backyard or something,

an opportunity for the familyto gather in a different way,

we really encourage that.

- As you heard, we encourage you to gather

the whole family togetherand enjoy the evening

of music, fun, teaching,and nationwide fellowship

with other believers around the country.

You can catch Trail LifeUSA's Backyard Concert

on the CBN News Channel oron our digital platforms

this Friday, May 21st.

It begins at 9:00 PMeastern standard time.