Chiefly Speaking - March 2021

Section Leaders,

As we continue to lead our organization through the most challenging times, we must continue to focus our efforts on membership. This year, the national organization will be working extensively with lodge and section leadership to ensure that we are prepared to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic stronger than ever before.

As section leaders, you are uniquely positioned to have a significant impact on our local program. By continuing to facilitate inter-lodge collaboration and the sharing of best practices between lodge leaders, our organization will continue to evolve. 

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began affecting our programs a year ago, your drive and dedication have been incredible. With the dedication each of you have shown, it is proven that even in the most challenging of times our Order’s program will continue. As we begin to prepare for a busy spring and summer OA season, we want to continue to provide Arrowmen with life-changing experiences.

Momentum: Discover, the OA’s next virtual national event, will take place on April 23-24. As leaders of this organization, all of us need to continue to encourage Arrowmen, Scouts and Scouters to register as a premium delegate for this event. For a small cost of $25, premium delegates get to experience everything Momentum: Discover has to offer as well as receive some extra perks. For more information and to register for Momentum: Discover, visit momentum.oa-bsa.org.

Order of the Arrow High Adventure (OAHA) provides program-eligible Arrowmen with a unique experience focused around our Order’s ideals: brotherhood, cheerfulness and service. During the trek, Arrowmen get the chance to give back to one of the four BSA High Adventure bases through service and experience all the base has to offer through an itinerary created just for their crew.

The 2021 National Council of Chiefs (2021 NCOC) is an opportunity for our local leadership from across the country to gather as we begin to restructure our organization for the future. All lodge and section key 3’s are highly encouraged to attend this conference held from Aug. 1-5 at the Philmont Training Center. More information, including a delegate guidebook, will be sent to key 3’s within the next few weeks.

NOAC is back! The 2022 National Order of the Arrow Conference will bring thousands of Arrowmen together from July 25-30, 2022, at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. As promotion efforts for the conference begin, please encourage your lodges to begin identifying their contingent leadership. More information will be shared with lodges in the coming days and registration will open in October.

On Sunday, March 21st, we had a Zoom webinar with national leadership, where we discussed Thrive Connect, the OA’s largest-ever national initiative to support lodges. During this call, our national and Thrive Connect Leadership provided information about the program and how it will affect section leadership. Lodge leadership will be invited to a separate webinar occurring later in March. A recording of the webinar can be found at oa-bsa.org.

Over the past year, we have continued to adapt as the world changed rapidly. Seeing your resilience makes us confident that you all are the ones to lead us through these difficult times. As we continue to emerge from these challenges, we’d like to encourage you to reflect on why you have stayed involved in the OA and to use those reasons as fuel to continue delivering our mission.

In service,