In a revealing interview from November of 2024, leaders Joel Penton and Craig DeRoche describe schools as Christian “mission fields,” laying out a national plan to turn public education into a tool for evangelism.

In an interview hosted by the Family Policy Alliance, CEO Craig DeRoche sat down with Joel Penton, founder of LifeWise Academy, to discuss their vision for expanding released-time religious instruction (RTRI) programs across the country. The conversation, which ran nearly 25 minutes, offered an unusually candid glimpse into the ambitions, strategies, and theology driving LifeWise’s rapid growth. Although LifeWise markets itself publicly as a “character education” program, the video makes clear that its true mission is evangelism—and the target is the public school system. Both men repeatedly describe public schools as “mission fields” that Christians “already own,” erasing any pretense that these programs are neutral or optional.

At the heart of the conversation is a striking claim of ownership. DeRoche tells the audience, “We’re Caesar. We own the school district. We own the city. We own the state. We own the country as Christians. And we need to not cut ourselves off from our own assets.” This is not just rhetoric but dominionist theology — the belief that Christians have a divine right to rule public institutions. Think about what that means. Caesar isn’t a pastor or a teacher. Caesar is the state, the government, the authority. When he says ‘we are Caesar,’ he’s claiming that Christians should not just influence government, but actually become the government. Public schools belong to the entire community — students of all faiths and none — not one religious group claiming conquest.

Penton recounts his first encounter with released-time religious instruction, a practice upheld in Zorach v. Clauson (1952). Students are pulled out of public school during the day, walked to nearby churches, and taught the Bible before being returned to class. He admits he initially thought the model was illegal, but quickly realized it was constitutional. What he does not emphasize, however, is that this was far from a brand-new idea. Released-time has been around for more than a century and has always relied on majority-faith dominance: Protestants in small towns, Catholics in parish-centered cities, Jews in dense neighborhoods, Mormons in Utah and Idaho. Minority faiths like Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs never had the numbers or infrastructure to make it work. It has never been neutral or equally accessible; it has always been an exercise of majority-faith privilege.

Penton also presents himself as if he stumbled into the concept by accident, but his own history suggests otherwise. Years earlier, he founded Stand For Truth, a ministry openly devoted to “taking the Gospel to students in America’s public schools.” The strategy was to bring in athletes, make them appear cool, and then use their platform to evangelize — the same playbook LifeWise now uses, only scaled up. Even more telling, Penton’s sister, Sara Spath, served on the board of Van Wert’s long-running release-time program, Cross Over the Hill, years before LifeWise began. Today she is Vice President of Program Health at LifeWise corporate. Taken together, these facts cast doubt on the claim that Penton had “never heard of” release-time before 2018.

LifeWise has since developed what Penton calls a “plug-and-play” system: a ten-step process designed for easy replication. What stands out is not only that the practice exists but also the scale and intent. In just a few years, LifeWise has expanded from two schools in 2019 to more than 600 schools in over 30 states, and Penton compares the model to McDonald’s franchising—systematized evangelism packaged for mass rollout. In Ohio, that number now includes more than half of all public schools.

The video also reveals how LifeWise navigates resistance. When the Westerville, Ohio, school board voted to end its district program after parental concerns, Penton described the decision not as a defeat but as a “pause.” He explained that the organization amped up their efforts in working with legislatures to rewrite release-time laws, shifting authority away from schools and into the hands of parents who support their mission. This is a distortion of precedent. The Supreme Court in Zorach upheld release time on the understanding that schools could allow it if it worked for their district — it was never a matter of parental entitlement. By re-framing it as a “parents’ rights” issue, LifeWise undermines local democratic authority.

The strategy is already bearing fruit. In Ohio, lawmakers changed release-time statutes from “may allow” to “shall allow,” stripping districts of their ability to say no. LifeWise boasts of replicating this model elsewhere and says 20 more bills are planned for the next round of legislative sessions across the country. The difference between “may” states, where communities retain discretion, and “shall” states, where schools are forced to comply, shows the national goal: a mandate for evangelical programs inside public schools.

LifeWise also presents off-site instruction as safe and orderly, but in practice, locations are often troubling. In Butler, Indiana, elementary students were slated to be bused across a highway to a conference room at Color Master, Inc., a plastics and dye factory that recently had a fire and employed a violent child sex offender. In other districts, classes have been held in garages, makeshift rooms, and even gun clubs. Unlike schools, these locations lack secure entry, locked doors, or visitor protocols. However carefully LifeWise may screen its staff, it cannot control the risks of every off-site facility.

DeRoche frames many of today’s social issues as spiritual failures that only LifeWise can fix. Addiction, violence, and LGBTQ+ identity are portrayed as misguided “solutions” children turn to in the absence of the Bible. The logic is stark: public education is broken without religious instruction, and students who do not conform to conservative Christian beliefs are pathologized rather than respected. This ties directly to another telling remark — that LifeWise should focus on “particularly elementary students in their formative years.” That phrase is not casual. It echoes the 4/14 Window, a missionary strategy that identifies children ages 4 to 14 as the most impressionable and easiest to convert. LifeWise’s preference for the youngest grades is not about scheduling; it is a deliberate choice to evangelize before critical thinking skills develop.

The partnership with Family Policy Alliance makes the broader agenda unmistakable. FPA is a powerful Christian nationalist organization that works in statehouses to push anti-LGBTQ+, anti-abortion, and pro-theocracy legislation. In the interview, DeRoche boasts that FPA is “throwing the weight” of its $60 million infrastructure, 400 employees, and 50,000 affiliated churches behind LifeWise expansion. What LifeWise presents as a local grassroots effort is in fact a coordinated national campaign with heavy political muscle.

The implications are serious. This video should erase any lingering doubts about LifeWise’s intentions. They are not merely offering “optional Bible classes.” They are building a nationwide evangelical campaign designed to reshape public education to align with their theology. For students, this creates exclusion, peer pressure, and stigmatization of those who don’t participate. For schools, it disrupts instruction time, undermines secular governance, and invites costly litigation. For democracy itself, it reflects a coordinated effort by Christian nationalist networks to privatize and religiously dominate public institutions. Even many Christians and clergy have spoken out against LifeWise, pointing out that opposition to the program is not opposition to scripture but a defense of fairness, safety, and constitutional principles.

The Secular Education Association stands firmly against this entanglement of church and state. Every child deserves a public school environment that is inclusive, secular, and rooted in evidence-based learning—not one that pressures them into religious conformity. LifeWise and the Family Policy Alliance are not hiding their agenda; they are openly celebrating it. Parents, educators, and community members must remain vigilant, informed, and organized to defend the wall of separation that protects both public schools and religious freedom. SEA will continue monitoring these programs, supporting communities where LifeWise seeks to expand, and advocating for policies that preserve secular, inclusive education. The future of public schools—and the principle of religious freedom itself—depends on it.