NBC News recently elevated critics of LifeWise for a report that suggested the organization was trying to indoctrinate children.
A Christian nonprofit that offers free Bible-based education to public-school students during the school day recently caught the attention of mainstream media outlets which elevated critics who believe the organization is out to indoctrinate impressionable young people. But the educational program’s leader insists it is only trying to teach the gospel to students and impart moral values to the next generation.
LifeWise Academy founder and CEO Joel Penton spoke with National Review after NBC News and MSNBC ran skeptical reports which suggested the Christian group has a political mission that relies on “influencing the minds of public-school kids” across the country, as MSNBC host Alex Wagner recently said on her nightly news show. Wagner’s segment was preceded by an NBC report which highlighted critics who accuse the program of “using schools to draw children into an evangelical faith tradition whose members overwhelmingly vote Republican.”
LifeWise is not a political organization, Penton told National Review. Despite the negative press, he said the LifeWise team is “hopeful that American families will see through all the politicization and see that here’s a way that kids can have Bible education as part of their school day.”
Founded in 2018, LifeWise has experienced rapid growth in the past six years. It had an initial goal to reach 25 schools by 2025. LifeWise is now teaching roughly 35,000 public-school students weekly Bible lessons in 320 schools across a dozen states, including Ohio, where the academy got its start.
Penton was inspired to create LifeWise when someone from his hometown of Van Wert, Ohio, introduced him to released-time programs — a concept he was unfamiliar with before doing his own research. (Released-time programs provide religious instruction to students at an off-campus location during school hours.) The Ohio native became so invested in the idea that he decided to start his own released-time program with the long-term goal of serving “every school district in the country,” he said.
With that goal in mind, Penton first brought LifeWise to two Ohio school districts in 2019 as a proof of concept and then built upon that foundation. The Covid-19 pandemic slowed down the process, he recalled. But soon after, the initiative steadily grew larger until its reach skyrocketed to more than 130 schools during the 2022–2023 academic year. The number of schools participating in LifeWise more than doubled the following year.
“I don’t think we realized how much pent-up desire for a program like this was out there,” Penton said. “For decades, there have been communities that, if only they knew and had the tools, they would have done this long ago.”
From his conversations with school administrators, Penton discovered that a religious portion of the local community has been frustrated with the “silence on religious matters” in education, he said. LifeWise empowers communities to bridge that gap.
“Every now and then, somebody asks, ‘Is LifeWise coming into this town?’ LifeWise doesn’t go in anywhere,” Penton noted. “A town community brings LifeWise. We just provide the tools, and they pick up the tools.”
LifeWise’s one-hour Bible lessons, which are offered for free to schools and families, are designed to coincide with lunch or a non-core class such as art or gym class. No students miss mandatory courses while enrolled in LifeWise. Moreover, participation in the program is entirely voluntary.
LifeWise supporters emphasize that the Bible-based education is only offered to children whose families want it. On the other hand, opponents argue the program is a form of religious indoctrination that should be kept out of state-funded schools.
LifeWise and other released-time programs like it operate under a 1952 Supreme Court ruling that allows religious teaching during the school day in a public-school context as long as it’s off school property, privately funded, and approved by parents. Penton said LifeWise meets all three stipulations, arguing the separation of church and state is upheld by physically removing children from public schools.
Beyond their legality under federal law, released-time policies have been further strengthened through state legislation. Governor Eric Holcomb (R., Ind.), for example, signed a bill into law last month ensuring public schools will respect parents’ right to permit their children’s participation in released-time programs.
Critics also claim LifeWise students pressure their non-Christian peers into attendance by wearing matching red shirts and promising incentives such as ice cream or popcorn parties. Sarah Myers, the mother of a third grader, told NBC this makes students feel left out.
“They’re using the children to proselytize,” said Myers. “I just think that’s so wrong.”
Other parents think these aspects make it fun for the kids to learn. Jessica Cappuzzello, whose two sons attend the popular released-time program in New Albany, Ohio, said she loves that LifeWise teaches children about the Bible and important character traits.
“My boys come home with not only greater biblical knowledge, but tangible ways to implement character traits like humility, courage, and thoughtfulness,” she told NR.
As a result of the Bible lessons, Cappuzzello has seen her sons showing greater empathy, helping more around the house, and exuding overall joy.
She also loves that LifeWise takes place during the school day because, otherwise, it would be difficult for her fourth-grade and second-grade sons to participate in sports or other extracurricular activities after school.
“Not only is it one less thing that I am caravanning to, but I do believe that the content that they are learning is arguably some of the most important lessons they can learn during school hours,” she said.
Like Cappuzzello, most parents find the program beneficial. According to an internal poll, 96 percent of 1,123 parents say they would recommend others to enroll their children in LifeWise. Within the same poll, 76 percent of 495 educators believe their school and students benefit from LifeWise.
Concerning those positive benefits, an independent study conducted by national consulting firm Thomas P. Miller & Associates found the attendance rate goes up as the number of in-school and out-of-school suspensions go down when LifeWise is implemented in a school. Neither NBC nor MSNBC mentioned the study results in their reporting.
But both media outlets did cite an interview in which Penton bemoaned the passage of Ohio’s constitutional amendment protecting abortion access in the state. He said the amendment’s approval last fall was “incredibly sad,” though “incredibly motivating” for LifeWise. “What other hope do we have but to inject the word of God into the hearts of the next generation?” he asked.
NBC and MSNBC pointed to these comments as examples of LifeWise’s conservative leaning; Penton clarified he only spoke of abortion during the interview as a moral issue, not a partisan one.
Regardless of the politically oriented hit piece, as Penton called it, he hopes the public recognizes his organization is a grassroots movement that aims to address moral decline in the U.S. through the hearts of students rather than influence local, state, or national politics.
“We’re not a political organization,” he reiterated. “We exist to provide Bible-based character education for students. We expect that as we plant the seeds of the gospel in the hearts of young people, their lives will be transformed, just as the Bible says.”