We lost support over this. Two years ago, people unfollowed our page and left our private group because we would not stop talking about Ohio State Football and Christian nationalism. We heard it all.
“They’re adults.”
“They chose to be baptized.”
“It was student-led.”
“What does this have to do with public education?”
Because we weren’t investigating the mass on campus baptisms. Or the Christian football players. We were investigating what was AROUND it. And we already knew what the cultural power of Ohio State football could build…👀
LifeWise founder Joel Penton was an Ohio State football player. After football, he founded Stand For Truth — a ministry created to reach public-school students with the gospel.
👉LifeWise Academy was born from that ministry.
Jim Tressel spoke at LifeWise’s 2019 launch banquet — on Ohio State’s campus. Jim and Ellen Tressel later became honorary chairs of LifeWise’s First 1,000 Schools campaign.
Other Buckeyes followed…
Their names brought credibility.
Their platforms raised money.
Their connections opened doors.
Today, LifeWise has surpassed 1,000 public schools. In 36 states. So when we saw ministries, money, political influence and organized Christianity converging around Ohio State football, we paid attention.
🚨We had already watched the cultural power of Ohio State football help build LifeWise Academy.🚨
Now Pablo Torre and D.J. Byrnes are pulling apart another piece of that ecosystem — following the money, ministries, access and influence surrounding Ohio State football into Life Surge. And here’s one more piece of that picture.
👇That’s LifeWise Academy at Life Surge.
We’ve documented LifeWise promotion at more than one Life Surge event. And THAT is why we kept telling people to zoom out.
Follow the people.
Follow the money.
Follow the ministries.
Follow who lends their name and credibility.
Then watch where that power goes.
We’ve already watched one road from Ohio State football lead straight into public education. It was called LifeWise Academy.
You can bleed scarlet and gray and still demand accountability for who gets to borrow the power of that Block O.
We weren’t speculating. We were watching.
And we’re still watching.
Follow Secular Education Association.
What people are saying:
- Secular Education Association: 📌 GO DEEPER:
Mother Jones investigation:
The Gospel of High Yields: Inside Tim Tebow’s Favorite Wealth Seminar
D.J. Byrnes / The Rooster:
https://www.rooster.info/p/lifesurge-urban-meyer-kirk-herbstreit🎧 Pablo Torre Finds Out — “Tim Tebow, Urban Meyer and the Christian Nationalist Surge at Ohio State”:
- Facebook User: 😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬
- Facebook User: 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮
- Secular Education Association: Facebook User Right?! 🤢 And the deeper you go into the reporting, the worse it gets.
- Facebook User: Love OSU sports. Hate the shady shit surrounding it
- Secular Education Association: Facebook User Same. We love Ohio. We love the Buckeyes. But loving something doesn’t mean looking away when the story gets uncomfortable. If anything, integrity demands the opposite. Buckeyes shouldn’t be afraid to look at what’s happening around our own institution — even when it’s not what we want to see.
- Facebook User: Surprised with the connections to The Ohio State, they don’t call themselves The LifeWise.
- Facebook User: All of sports across the country has been co-opted by Christian dominionism. God watches every game and every individual player, and then picks his own winners. How embarrassing that people believe this stuff.
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