Stephen Ashton

Stephen Ashton
Stephen Ashton is the National Director of Marketing for Trail Life USA and serves as an adjunct professor at Clarks Summit University and Anchor Christian University. Prior to his work at Trail Life, he spent 15 years working with at-risk youth in residential therapeutic wilderness programs and served as the Vice-President of the Wilderness Road Therapeutic Camping Association. An author and a speaker, he has written for journals and published a book chronicling the foundations of therapeutic camping. He frequently speaks on the topics of fatherhood, biblical masculinity, outdoor education, and wilderness therapy. Stephen lives in South Carolina with his wife and 4 sons.
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Stephen Ashton

Masculinity History

Eric Liddell

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to take the prize. Everyone who competes in the games trains with strict discipline. They do it for a crown that is perishable, but we do it for a crown that is imperishable. - 1 Cor 9:24-25
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Stephen Ashton

Masculinity History

God's Smuggler - Brother Andrew

"If your vision doesn't scare you, then both your vision and your God are too small." -Brother Andrew As a boy, Brother Andrew dreamed of being an undercover spy who worked behind enemy lines. As a man he found himself working undercover for God. His mission was filled with danger, financed by faith, and marked by the ...
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Stephen Ashton

Troop Adventures

All American Campout 2022

Around 450 Trailmen from across Texas gathered for a weekend of camping, adventure, history, challenge, and instruction at the 2nd Annual All American Campout held at the Museum of American GI in College Station, Texas.
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Stephen Ashton

History

Harry Hoosier

“I sing by faith, pray by faith, and do everything by faith. Without faith in Jesus Christ, I can do nothing.” -Harry Hoosier Born a slave in North Carolina, before the end of the American Revolution, Harry Hoosier was a free man, a follower of Christ, a nationally known preacher, one of the greatest circuit riders of ...
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Stephen Ashton

Troop Adventures

OH-0222 Loyalsock Trail Thru-Hike

Averaging more than 10 miles a day and making climbs of 11,000 feet, boys and men from Trail Life Troop-0222 Amherst, OH earned Trail Names like MANimal, Machine, Bear, Mighty, Bravo, Moose, Gazelle, and Rocky as they spent 5 days backpacking the 59-mile Loyalsock Trail in Pennsylvania.
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Stephen Ashton

History

William Wilberforce: COURAGE

“If you love someone who is ruining his or her life because of faulty thinking, and you don't do anything about it because you are afraid of what others might think, it would seem that rather than being loving, you are in fact being heartless.” - William Wilberforce
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Stephen Ashton

Troop Adventures

A Nine Day Cycling Adventure

16 Trailmen from Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia accepted the challenge and assembled at Point State Park in Pittsburgh, PA to make the 335 mile bike journey to Washington DC on the Great Allegheny Passage and C&O Canal Towpath. Months of planning, training, and long day rides were about to be ...
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Stephen Ashton

History

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Truth

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Stephen Ashton

In The News Parenting Let Boys be Boys

Struggling Boy Finds Hope, Purpose, and Self-Worth through Trail Life Mentors

Trail Life mentors inspire young boy not only to find the will to live, but to help others around him In a society where the lines between masculine and feminine are constantly blurred, brash boyish bluster and boisterousness is losing its place. Feeling unappreciated, too boys are losing their identity. Traditional ...
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