- On my honor, I will do my best

to serve God and my country,

to respect authority.

- [Mark] Ryan and Elliot Parks,

recite the oath for Trail Life USA,

described as aChrist-centered, boy-focused,

character leadership andadventure organization.

- And I really liked being a part of it

just because there's a lot of fun like,

I love being outdoors andI love camping and hiking

and kayaking and there's alot of that in Trail Life.

- Instead of a periodic table of elements,

Trail men complete what's called

a periodic table of advancements,

dozens of skills with the goal of becoming

a freedom rangeman.

Younger brother Elliot describes

Trail Life's Christian focus.

- One time we talked aboutChrist being our cornerstone

and how we need to rely on him.

And so I thought thatthat's really important.

- [Mark] Their troop masteris also their father.

- We ruled out the Boy Scouts,

we just did not choose them

mainly because of a lot of decisions

that they had been making.

And we just decided that wasn'tgonna be a good fit for us.

We were looking for somethingthat really reinforced

our beliefs and how we read the Bible,

our understanding of God's word.

- [Mark] For years, the Boy Scouts

have been mired incontroversy that has caused

numbers to plummet,

issues ranging frombankruptcy due to lawsuits,

to opening the Scouts to girls

and gay youth and adultleaders to participate.

Those items combined with the pandemic

led to a membership drop from almost

2 million members in 2019to around 762,000 this year.

A Boy Scout spokespersontelling "The Hill"

like many youth serving organizations,

we saw an overall declinein membership in 2020.

However, most Cub Scoutpacks in Scouts BSA troops

that were registered atthe beginning of 2020

have signed up foranother year of scouting.

- The Boy Scouts kind of lost their way.

You know, there were anorganization that has given us

presidents and senators and astronauts

and community and civicleaders, they had a magic sauce,

they had a magic for how togrow boys into good strong men,

but they began to abandon those traditions

after the changes that they made

over the last couple of years,

and I think that families said,

no, we want an organizationthat understands

that boys and girls are different.

We want our sons to be raised

in an organization that's male-focused,

that helps them to understand,

and to be encouraged to growinto winning and godly men.

- [Mark] Hancock tellsCBN News, Trail Life USA

has seen a tremendous 70%growth in the last year.

And with more than 30,000Trail men across all 50 states,

he's not watering downthe Christian emphasis.

- It's who we are and it'sreally what makes us different.

If we cease to do that, there'sno reason for us to exist.

And we also, in our hearts, wewant to see the kingdom grow.

We want to see boys impacted for Christ.

We want to see boys and families

making decisions for Christ,

and we see that basicallyon a daily basis.

- [Mark] The founder of TrailLife USA's sister organization

says frustration over theGirl Scouts direction,

inspired her to startAmerican Heritage Girls.

- American HeritageGirls is Christ centered,

which differentiates us fromother scouting organizations.

We were started in 1995as a result of the changes

in the Girl Scout program.

I had been a Girl Scoutvolunteer for 13 years,

ministering into girlsalong that program path.

However, when they made achange in the Girl Scout promise

to no longer mandate and oath to God,

it was very concerning to me.

- [Mark] She's referring to the asterisk

that's now in the GirlScout promise that reads,

on my honor I will try to serve God.

It means members maysubstitute for the word God,

in accordance with theirown spiritual beliefs.

Garibay wanted something stronger.

- A character development program

has to be based on something,morality is involved,

and so what would it be based on

if God was now removed orallowed to be flexible?

And so I tried to make changeslocally in the Girl Scouts

and also on the nationallevel, but to no avail.

And as a result, theLord called me to start

American Heritage Girls.

- [Mark] After 26 years, troopsnow operate in all 50 states

with girls taking partin 15 other countries.

Like Trail Life USA,American Heritage Girls

is unapologetically Christian.

Garibay says it just makes sense.

- It is very important.

We always put God first, you know,

and our attitude integrity,everything about the creed

and our oath is centeredaround God and faith,

and just putting your trustin him above all else.

- It's nice because theother girls know Jesus.

- [Mark] The faith aspect clearly sets

American Heritage Girlsand Trail Life USA apart,

a critical component in a world competing

for the attention of girls and boys.

Mark Martin, CBN News,

Wendell, North Carolina and Amelia, Ohio.