214 School Series (Legal) Gospel Sharing During School Hours with Joel Penton

214. School Series (Legal) Gospel Sharing During School Hours with Joel Penton

 

**Transcription Below**

 

John 17:20-21 (NLT) "“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me."

 

Joel Penton is the Founder and CEO of LifeWise Academy, a program that provides Bible education to public school students during school hours. After its launch in 2019, LifeWise has quickly grown to serve more than 300 schools across the US.

 

Before starting LifeWise Joel founded other nonprofits including Stand For Truth and Relevant Speakers Network, an organization that has touched more than 3,000 public schools and 2 million students nationwide. As a speaker, Joel has presented to more than 2,000 live audiences and over 1,000,000 people across the country. He is also the author of three books.

 

Joel is a graduate of THE Ohio State University where he played football on three Big Ten Championship teams and one National Championship team for the Buckeyes. Joel lives in Columbus Ohio with his wife, Bethany, and their five children.

 

LifeWise Website

 

Questions and Topics We Discuss:

1. What is the single greatest missed opportunity to impact our next generation of public school students?

2. Historically, public school students used to have religious and moral teaching as part of their expected schooling . . . how has this broken down over time?

3. What positive impact do you see religious education having on students and on schools?

 

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Gospel Scripture: (all NIV)

 

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

 

Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

 

Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.” 

 

Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” 

 

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 

 

Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” 

 

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

 

Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” 

 

Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

 

Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”

 

Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession- to the praise of his glory.”

 

Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”

 

Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“

 

Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“

 

Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

 

**Transcription**

 

[00:00:00] <music>

 

Laura Dugger: Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here. 

 

[00:00:18] <music>

 

Laura Dugger: Thank you to an anonymous donor to Midwest Food Bank, who paid the sponsorship fee in hopes of spreading awareness. Learn more about this amazing nonprofit organization at MidwestFoodBank.org. 

 

Today is the conclusion of our school series. I hope you've enjoyed hearing from all of these fabulous educators, and I pray you have clarity and confidence to discern what form of education God is leading you to choose for your family at this time. 

 

Joel Penton is my guest today. He is an author and founder of LifeWise Academy, which is a program that provides Bible education to public school students during school hours. After reading his book entitled During School Hours, I was shocked and pleasantly surprised to discover this process is legal. [00:01:23] Joel is going to share all the details. 

 

Here's our chat.

 

Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Joel.

 

Joel Penton: Thank you for having me.

 

Laura Dugger: Well, it would be great to get to know you a little bit better first, so will you tell us a bit about yourself?

 

Joel Penton: Absolutely. So I am from a small town in northwest Ohio called Van Wert, Ohio. Met my wife at college when she and I attended The Ohio State University. We were both athletes there. I played some football for the Buckeyes. My wife was a gymnast. We got married while we were still in school. Just couldn't wait. 

 

After time at Ohio State, we went into full-time ministry, spent a dozen years traveling and speaking full-time, doing evangelism in public schools, until we started LifeWise Academy, which I know we'll chat about. But along the way, the Lord has given us five wonderful children, four boys and a girl. [00:02:26] The kids are now ages 13, 12, 11, 8, and 6. So if I sound a bit tired, that's why.

 

Laura Dugger: Well, that's incredible. I love hearing the family life stage. Right at the beginning of your book, you address the single greatest missed opportunity to impact our next generation of public school students. Will you share what that is?

 

Joel Penton: Yes. We say we believe the single greatest missed opportunity is something called "released time religious instruction", which most people have never heard of. That's a legal term. Here we are in 2023, and so many of us Christians are wringing our hands about what's happening with our schools and with the next generation, and how the word of God and prayer have been removed from the public schools in our nation. 

 

And little do most of us realize that in 1952, so over 70 years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that public school students can be released from public school during school hours, in the middle of the school day, students can be released to receive religious instruction, can be taught the Bible, provided the program is off school property, privately funded, and students have parental permission. [00:03:48] That's what this released time religious instruction is. Students can be released from school and attend religious classes. 

 

So this has been around for over 70 years, this opportunity that's right in front of us, almost no one has ever heard of it.

 

We started a program in 2019 to take advantage of this really amazing, almost hidden or under-the-radar opportunity, and it's really starting to take off, and we're excited about it.

 

Laura Dugger: How did you even discover this and even get personally passionate about students learning the Bible during school hours?

 

Joel Penton: Well, I'm passionate about it, about anybody learning the Bible during any hours ever since I became a Christian. I came to faith when I was in high school, as a freshman in high school. And so Jesus has been the center of my life ever since. That's why I went into ministry and to share the gospel with others. [00:04:45] Now that my wife and I have children, we want the Bible to be at the center of education for our children. So that's why I'm personally passionate about this.

 

However, I kind of... well, I didn't really stumble onto this release time thing. It kind of found me in the sense that people in my hometown of Van Wert, Ohio, started a released time program back in 2012. They discovered they could do this. Not only as the Supreme Court ruled on this, but now 26 states in the nation have laws about release time. Ohio is one of them. 

 

So they started a program in 2012 and saw incredible impact. Over 95% of the entire public school student body for the elementary school enrolled in the program. Nearly every kid in town, even though only 30% of them attend church, nearly every kid attends this program to be taught the Bible as part of their public school day. 

 

So that was 2012. In 2018, they reached out to me, being the hometown guy. I live in Columbus now. But they said, "Joel, you started a ministry to public schools. [00:05:49] So you're in ministry. The ministry is growing. We have this incredible program. We'd like you to help us figure out how come more communities don't have a program like this? Why hasn't this spread?" And so they kind of enlisted me to help them figure out why hasn't something like this spread coast to coast. It's been around for almost 70 years at that point.

 

I tell people that's the day I gave up sleeping when they called me to ask that question. That set me on the journey of trying to figure out, yeah, why hasn't this spread? Which led me to conclude that, well, you know, there's not a plug-and-play replicable model. Or there wasn't. So that's why we started LifeWise Academy.

 

Laura Dugger: Historically, public school students used to have religious and moral teaching as part of their expected schooling. So how did that break down over time?

 

Joel Penton: That absolutely was part of schooling in our country. Not only was it part and not only was it central to public education in our country. [00:06:50] In fact, biblical literacy was one of the driving motivations for even the start of broad education in America.

 

You could go back to the 1600s and there's a famous act in Massachusetts called the Old Deluder Act in the very early days of this, I guess we weren't even a nation at that point. But a law was passed saying that communities had to teach children to read so that they could read the Bible.

 

Much of early education was for the sake of children being able to read the scriptures. However, as the decades wore on and as sectarian differences from community to community began to be flattened and everything began to be more and more standardized across states and then ultimately across the nation, denominational distinctions were removed. And then with the rise of science and the scientific revolution and secularism, ultimately religion altogether was just removed. [00:07:55] 

 

The courts finalized that in the 40s and 50s, removing the Bible and prayer from public education altogether. However, the piece that most people miss is that in 1952, that's when the Supreme Court did rule, Well, religion can be part of the public school day, but it just has to be off school property, privately funded, and with parental permission. That's the opportunity we've missed and that's what we're trying to reinstall.

 

Laura Dugger: And it's an understatement to say that it's unfortunate for the direction we've moved. But for those schools who are implementing this, what kind of positive impact are you seeing this religious education have on the students and the school in general?

 

Joel Penton: Oh, well, we're seeing an incredible impact. I mean, it's the word of God and the word of God is powerful. It's active. It changes lives. It's spiritual and it's supernatural. And while we don't understand all of it because it's God's word and His spirit working, we see it. So we see kids coming to faith. [00:08:55] We see families being impacted. 

 

But there are some things that are just, I mean, so obvious. Well, for one, the stories that roll in, honestly, on a daily basis are incredible about families getting reconnected to the church, about lives being changed. I was just speaking in a church this past week, the week before, and a woman came up to me and said, "Hey, I want to thank you for what's going on with LifeWise. My family and I are in this church because of LifeWise. We enrolled our daughter and it was through that that we got reconnected to the church, and my daughter and I were just baptized two weeks ago." 

 

So hearing stories like that over and over, we see the impact. The schools are seeing it as well. The feedback we're getting from educators, administrators, and teachers is that they are seeing the impact. We had one school that did a study of the students who were sent to the principal's office for disciplinary reasons the most. They did a study and found that in that group of kids who were most sent to the principal's office for disciplinary reasons, those who attended LifeWise, their trips to the principal's office actually dropped from first semester to second semester by 60%. [00:10:03] Whereas the students who were not a part of LifeWise, their office referrals actually went up from first semester to second semester. And so we're seeing the positive impact.

 

It doesn't really surprise us because studies have shown that when kids have Bible education in their lives, their academics improve, their character improves, their mental health improves. All the things you want to see in the life of a healthy young person you see as a result of Bible education.

 

Laura Dugger: Well, let's focus in on one of those areas that you addressed, specifically mental health. Do you have any stories or examples to share of how this program has improved the mental health of students?

 

Joel Penton: Well, we are working with an agency right now that is doing some of those studies and compiling some of that data from our programs. However, there are many studies that show the connections between positive mental health and just religious activity altogether, all of the risk factors, things like anxiety, depression, suicide, or thoughts of suicide, all those things go down when somebody has religion in their lives, specifically Bible education. [00:11:21] And all the things of satisfaction, happiness, contentment, these types of positive mental health attitudes, all of those things go up.

 

Laura Dugger: Let's take a quick break to hear a message from our sponsor. 

 

[00:11:38] <music>

 

Sponsor: Midwest Food Bank exists to provide industry-leading food relief to those in need while feeding them spiritually. They are a food charity with a desire to demonstrate God's love by providing help to those in need.

 

Unlike other parts of the world where there's not enough food, in America, the resources actually do exist. That's why food pantries and food banks like Midwest Food Bank are so important. The goods that they deliver to their agency partners help to supplement the food supply for families and individuals across our country, aiding those whose resources are beyond stretched.

 

Midwest Food Bank also supports people globally through their locations in Haiti and East Africa, which are some of the areas hardest hit by hunger arising from poverty. This ministry reaches millions of people every year, and thanks to the Lord's provision, 99% of every donation goes directly toward providing food to people in need. The remaining 1% of income is used for fundraising, cost of leadership, oversight, and other administrative expenses. Donations, volunteers, and prayers are always appreciated for Midwest Food Bank. 

 

To learn more, visit MidwestFoodBank.org or listen to Episode 83 of The Savvy Sauce, where the founder, David Kieser, shares miracles of God that he's witnessed through this nonprofit organization. I hope you check them out today.

 

[00:13:06] <music>

 

Laura Dugger: Well, and Joel, personally, we have some neighboring towns who are a part of LifeWise Academy, but I had never heard of it until a couple months ago. When I read your book, I just kept wondering, how did I not know about this? Maybe somebody else listening feels in the dark like I did as well. So will you explain exactly what LifeWise Academy is?

 

Joel Penton: Yes, absolutely. And don't feel bad. Don't feel in the dark. For one, we just started this in 2019. It is growing very quickly, very rapidly. But a year before that, in 2018, I was completely unfamiliar with released time religious instruction.

 

Here I was, I was in full-time ministry to public school students, and I had never heard of it. I should have been an expert when it comes to ministry to public schools. But yes, I will explain it. 

 

So LifeWise provides Bible education for public school students during school hours. [00:14:07] And those last three words are the critical words there. During school hours. Oftentimes when we say that, people think they either misheard us or they think that that sounds illegal or something. But it's very real because of the Supreme Court ruling that I've talked about because of the state laws. Students can be released from school to receive Bible education during school hours. 

 

And we're able to see such a large participation rate among students. Many times over 50%, sometimes upwards of even 90% of the entire school will enroll. And we know it's in large part because of the practical logistics, the practical opportunity that being during school. And so it's fairly simple.

 

Our program will operate alongside a public school, whether it's in a church down the street or maybe we meet in a YMCA or a storefront or maybe even the local community builds a building dedicated to this program. [00:15:07] Many communities do that. 

 

But we have volunteers, our staff who pick students up at the school, whether it's in a big red LifeWise bus or maybe they're even walking to an adjacent property. They'll take them off site, teach them a Bible lesson, and bring them back to the school. 

 

We teach the students through the entire Bible, Genesis through Revelation, over the course of typically five years, typically grades one through five is our focus, although we do serve in some schools all the way grades K through 12. But we'll teach them using a wonderful curriculum called The Gospel Project, where each and every lesson we talk about the head, heart, and hands. The head meaning what's the information on the page? What does the word of God say? Heart: how does it connect to the bigger picture of the gospel message? How is Jesus the hero of every story? And hands: how does it transform our character?

 

So we take kids off of the school property, teach them a Bible lesson, bring them back, usually just one or two classrooms at a time. Then we rotate until everybody in the entire school has an opportunity to take the lesson. [00:16:12] And what we're seeing is, again, incredible impact.

 

LifeWise provides all the systems, processes, resources, training, and curriculum so that local communities like yours can just follow the process, follow the steps, and implement a program to teach local students the Bible.

 

Laura Dugger: And then the teachers themselves, would these be lay volunteers or do you see mostly pastors stepping into this role?

 

Joel Penton: You know, it varies from volunteers to paid staff. Usually, it's paid because these programs can grow very large. For example, our largest program, there's a thousand students in the elementary school, over 900 of them are in LifeWise.

 

So two classrooms at a time, five times a day, five days a week, we're picking kids up, taking them to the YMCA, and teach them the Bible lessons. So we have two full-time teachers that teach through. 

 

But yeah, it can be local pastors. Oftentimes it's local individuals who have a background in teaching. Sometimes it's a young mother that doesn't necessarily want to teach five days a week. [00:17:15] Other times it's retired teachers. But ultimately it's local people. We give the communities the templates and the documentation so they can post jobs online and then people locally apply and we select the best candidates.

 

Laura Dugger: And when you say it could be a paid position, are they paid through community dollars that are raised for this? Because it does have to be separate from the school, correct?

 

Joel Penton: Yes, it does have to be completely separate from the school and it is local communities. Yes, they raise the funds. We give them all the templates and all the training, including training on how to raise money. How do you do your initial campaign to raise the first year's budget? And how do you do the fundraising to raise your monthly and ongoing annual contributions? But yes, it's a local project, funded locally. We're just providing the resources.

 

Laura Dugger: And then if there's more questions arising in people's minds, probably one of them would be, what does this take the place of during school hours? [00:18:18] Like when is this an option?

 

Joel Penton: That's a great practical question. It varies from school to school. Oftentimes, I think I would even say typically, we're able to work and chat with the school and create a way that they actually add a special to the rotation. So in the same way that students get art class once a week, gym class a few times a week, music class, oftentimes they'll add another special and it'll be an optional special of Bible class. So it's not necessarily taking the place of something. 

 

Other times, it'll be during maybe a lunch period or during a library time because that's typically an ungraded time and students can find other opportunities to check out books. That's where it becomes a little more art than science. And it really is dependent upon each unique school building, which has its own unique kind of bell schedule and classes rotation.

 

Laura Dugger: I'm sure I'm definitely missing some important angles. [00:19:18] So what are a few of your other responses to the most frequently asked questions you receive?

 

Joel Penton: Yeah, great question. Well, you've hit a couple. How does the schedule really work? That's a big one. Another one is funding. And then I did mention our curriculum. That question comes up a lot. One question we get often is have we been experiencing pushback? Sometimes people hear this and they think, holy cow. I bet this gets people riled up to think about pulling kids out of public school and teaching them the Bible. 

 

I would say that we've received some pushback, of course, but honestly, much less than I would have ever expected. I live in now a large suburb of Columbus, Ohio and I thought, "Boy, it's going to be really hard for this to work in, whether it's the large inner city or the suburban communities. I bet people are going to maybe get upset or push back." But we haven't really seen that very much. [00:20:17] 

 

What we're finding is that schools know that there's a great need in the lives of students and they're excited to see the community coming alongside the school and investing in the lives of students. We see that the case for it, that legally speaking, it's so unambiguously legal that, you know, schools don't feel like they're going to get in trouble or they're going to get sued.

 

And when you consider that it's entirely optional. Parents, you know, they sign their kids up if they want to. And if they don't want to sign their kids up, then they don't. So there's really not too much to get upset about. By and large, we're seeing, like I said, huge participation. 

 

What we're finding is that while there are some people that think Bible education is a bad thing, that actually that's very, very few people. That most parents, even if they don't have their family in church, see Bible education, character education as a positive thing. In fact, they're often thinking, "You know what, I haven't been taking my family to church. I haven't been investing in this way in my family. This is a great opportunity for me to do that." [00:21:22] And so they're signing their kids up. And then that becomes the first step in the whole family getting reconnected.

 

Laura Dugger: I want to take a moment to say thank you. You are the reason our team gets to delight in this work, and we appreciate each of you so very much. If you're benefiting from the lessons learned and applied from The Savvy Sauce, would you take a minute to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts? Five-star ratings and reviews help us reach more people around the globe. And that promotes our goal of sharing joy. So join us in that endeavor with your valuable feedback. Thanks again for being here with us. 

 

You've alluded to this a little bit, but can you clarify why this is still legal when people ask questions about the separation of church and state?

 

Joel Penton: Oh, yeah. Great question. That is often one of the first things people mention is, what about the separation of church and state? What we try to point out is that this is actually a very beautiful manifestation of the separation of church and state in the fact that students are literally separated from the state school to receive this religious instruction. [00:22:33] Because it's off school property, because it's not using any public funds, because it's not compulsory, that makes it very separate from the state school. 

 

And so this is something that any religion could do. You know, there could be a Muslim program or a Hindu program or whatever. You know, our program is a gospel-centered Bible education program. But in many ways, it is a great example of the separation of church and state.

 

Laura Dugger: And what kind of impact are you seeing in communities that have implemented this?

 

Joel Penton: Well, we're seeing broad impact. We're seeing impact in the lives of students. We're seeing impact in the schools themselves. And then we're seeing the impact in the communities, in the churches. I just heard from a school that it was a brand new startup program. Most of our programs have well over 100 students involved. But this is a small startup program that just at this time had 50 students involved. [00:23:33] And they were saying that over half of those students were already... the families were getting connected to that church, the church where the building where they were hosting the program. 

 

One of the most exciting things is to see how it is affecting the culture. We started this, Laura, because, you know, we wanted students to hear the gospel. We wanted students to come to faith. And that's happening. But then it's the other things that are also exciting, like the unity among churches. We hadn't really thought about how exciting that would be. But it is exciting to see the unity among churches, churches coming together for this common gospel-centered cause.

 

Also exciting to see the culture change in the school that we're hearing it's no longer weird in these schools to hear kids talking about Jesus. It's no longer weird to see kids carrying around their Bibles and reading their Bibles during reading time because now it's part of the school day. [00:24:34] This whole thing of silence when it comes to religion is not a thing in these schools because so many kids are involved. It's really changing the culture.

 

Laura Dugger: I love one of those words that you chose to use, unity. That's been a buzzword in our home. And even recently, my husband was just saying after his quiet time how he had never really considered that one of Jesus' last prayers was for unity. So as Mark was studying in his quiet time, he was in John 17. And I'll just read verses 20 and 21. He was reading in the New Living Translation. This was one of Jesus' prayers.

 

He said, "I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me." [00:25:33] 

 

And this idea that Jesus had the urgency to pray for unity and to be one, I love that this is a very practical way that the churches in the community can come together to share the love and light of Christ.

 

Joel Penton: Yeah. You just used the word "practical". We are now consistently hearing that from pastors. They're saying that this is the first time we as a community, the churches have really come together in a meaningful and practical way.

 

There is one pastor that was saying, over the years we've done things in an effort for unity but they all seem kind of forced. You know, we'll do a community service or we'll do something together at the fair once a year, but it seems a bit forced. Whereas this is something that is very meaningful. We are coming together for a mission, for a purpose. And that's to teach our public school students the Bible. In the same way the community is coming together in this public school, we as the churches are coming together and we're united in teaching our kids the Bible. And it's very exciting to see. [00:26:41] 

 

Laura Dugger: Well, and for anyone still kind of trying to wrap their mind around this or hopefully wanting to implement this, how do the logistics actually work then? Can you go into that a little bit further?

 

Joel Penton: Yes, absolutely. Now it might get a bit nerdy, but I will get into it. There's kind of two things to consider when it comes to logistics.

 

The first one is how to get a program started and then the second would be how is a program run and operated on a day-to-day ongoing basis. When it comes to starting a program now that we've done this, which, by the way, I don't think I've mentioned, we just launched the program in 2019 and this year we'll be serving over 320 schools across 12 states. So we anticipate well over 30,000 students to be enrolled. And so we're really excited.

 

But that's in part to say that now that we've done it over 300 times, we feel really good about our very simple and clear 10-step launch process. And that 10-step process is kind of divided into three phases. [00:27:42] We have an interest phase where we establish with the first few steps that there's adequate interest in the community to launch and sustain an effective program. 

 

And then we have a planning phase where a steering committee works with one of our staff members. We assign them and they put together a plan. That's the plan that's taken to the school to discuss how can we see this implemented locally. Ninety percent of the time, the plans we present to the school are approved. 

 

And then we have an execution phase where all those plans that are brought to life with a T minus plan. 

 

But it all kicks off with that interest phase, which is really driven through what we call our community interest list on our website. And I'd invite everybody listening to go there, LifeWise.org, at least learn more. But even more so, click "Find your school".

 

Every school district is listed on our website. And you can find out if there's already a LifeWise movement underway and whether or not there is. You can add your name. You can voice your support on the community interest list. Once we see 50 signatures on the community interest list, which is basically a petition that signals to us, Okay, people in this community want to do it. [00:28:51] So that's actually step one. And then we move on through that 10-step process.

 

So get to LifeWise.org, click "Find your school", add your name to the list and you'll be in the loop and you'll be voicing your support.

 

So that's the 10 steps to get it started. And then ongoing maintaining a program. There's a local director. There's a local board. And then, of course, there's other local leaders and teachers and volunteers. 

 

But we talk about and here's where it might get nerdy, I apologize, Laura. Or you can cut this out if it's too boring. But we talk about the five L's of LifeWise operations, the five big operational categories that keep things going.

 

Leadership. So there's the people element, your volunteers, teachers, leaders. 

 

Location. So that's where you hold the program and a necessary transportation.

 

Logistics. So there's your school schedule, your enrollment policies, that type of thing.

 

Loot. That's my personal favorite, which is the money thing of fundraising and finances, that type of thing.

 

Language is the final L. That's communicating with parents and the school and donors, that type of thing. [00:29:55] 

 

There's a board member that heads up each of those five things. And the director kind of holds all that together. By focusing on those operational categories, communities can continue moving forward and reaching more and more students.

 

Laura Dugger: That's actually really helpful to hear it laid out that way. I'm just curious, do you have any favorite stories that come to mind?

 

Joel Penton: Yeah. Oh, boy, favorite stories. Absolutely. Well, I think of one story that actually your listeners could kind of see for themselves, we have a video on our videos page called Christian's Story. And this is a story that the chapters continue to be written. 

 

A couple of years ago, we launched a program in a suburb of Columbus and a mother signed up her child who almost ironically is named Christian because they weren't part of a church, not necessarily a Christian family. But she got the flyer in the mail and she said, "Hey, Bible education." And she thought what I think many of our parents think is, "Hey, this couldn't hurt." And so she signed up Christian. [00:30:56] 

 

Of course, Christian fell in love with Jesus, fell in love with the Bible, asked his LifeWise teacher if she would call his mother and invite his mother to church. So the LifeWise teacher said, Sure. So she called her up and invited her to church. The whole family went. And to this day, the whole family is plugged into that church. Christian's in the class to be baptized. His mother's in a weekly Bible study with the LifeWise teacher. 

 

And the latest chapter I just heard is that the family is actually moving to a different part of town. And so they're actually moving out of that school district. Christian was really sad when he found out that the school he was moving to didn't have a LifeWise. And so he and his LifeWise teacher started praying that they would have a LifeWise. 

 

And sure enough, when Christian went just a few weeks ago to the open house day at his school, he saw that there was a LifeWise table at the open house because they were starting a LifeWise this fall. [00:32:00] And so Christian is already back at school and back in LifeWise at his new school. 

 

I think that story for me just shows.. It's like almost all the different awesome things all at once. It shows the power of the gospel and the life of that child. It shows what changed Christian's life. I think it shows also how it can then spread to the family and get the entire family engaged. Then lastly, I think it shows that this thing of LifeWise academy is spreading and it's really possible to implement in any community coast to coast.

 

Laura Dugger: Well, Joel, that is incredible. The gospel practically lived out through this program, it is changing lives for eternity. If anyone wants to take that first step, where would you like to direct us after this conversation?

 

Joel Penton: I'd really direct you to our website, LifeWise.org. Of course, you can find my book on Amazon or Barnes & Noble, but I'm really not that interested in selling a lot of books. [00:33:01] I'd much rather prefer everybody find their way to our website, LifeWise.org. Jump around, watch some of our videos. But before you leave, click "Find your school" and add your name to your local community interest list. Or maybe there's even already a program in your area. Get connected and at least voice your support. And then you'll be in the loop and you'll get our communications if you go to LifeWise.org.

 

Laura Dugger: Wonderful. We will add the links to that in the show notes for today's episode. You may be familiar. We're called The Savvy Sauce because "savvy" is synonymous with practical knowledge. And so as my final question for you today, Joel, what is your savvy sauce?

 

Joel Penton: Oh, my goodness. My savvy sauce, practical knowledge, getting super practical. Can I say two things? 

 

Laura Dugger: Absolutely.

 

Joel Penton: I'll say one thing. And that is... and I don't know if you're looking for productivity, but I believe in rising early in the morning. When I was a child, my dad taught me that. He basically said that if you want to be a great something, then you better get up early in the morning. [00:34:04] So I like to start my day very early and I encourage my boys to do the same and my daughter — my kids. And I just invite everybody. That's a very low-hanging fruit and a very simple thing. 

 

The second thing, another thing my dad taught me, he said, "List your work and work your list. Otherwise, things will get away from you." And so I lead now this organization and we have... I think we just eclipsed 800 employees. And I tell people, I know it should be more complicated than this, but I'm a simple person. Whatever you do, list your work and then work your list. I should be able to see your list. You should be able to show me your list anytime. It really is that simple.

 

Laura Dugger: So good. Joel, your energy is inspiring and I just appreciate your zeal to reach the lost for Jesus. So thank you very much for being my guest.

 

Joel Penton: Ah, thank you so much for having me. It's a real honor.

 

Laura Dugger: One more thing before you go. Have you heard the term "gospel" before? It simply means good news. And I want to share the best news with you. [00:35:06] But it starts with the bad news. Every single one of us were born sinners and God is perfect and holy, so He cannot be in the presence of sin. Therefore, we're separated from Him.

 

This means there's absolutely no chance we can make it to heaven on our own. So for you and for me, it means we deserve death and we can never pay back the sacrifice we owe to be saved. We need a savior. But God loved us so much, He made a way for His only Son to willingly die in our place as the perfect substitute.

 

This gives us hope of life forever in right relationship with Him. That is good news. Jesus lived the perfect life we could never live and died in our place for our sin. This was God's plan to make a way to reconcile with us so that God can look at us and see Jesus. 

 

We can be covered and justified through the work Jesus finished if we choose to receive what He has done for us. [00:36:11] Romans 10:9 says that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 

 

So would you pray with me now? Heavenly, Father, thank You for sending Jesus to take our place. I pray someone today right now is touched and chooses to turn their life over to You. Will You clearly guide them and help them take their next step in faith to declare You as Lord of their life? We trust You to work and change their lives now for eternity. In Jesus name, we pray, amen. 

 

If you prayed that prayer, you are declaring Him for me, so me for Him, you get the opportunity to live your life for Him. 

 

At this podcast, we are called Savvy for a reason. We want to give you practical tools to implement the knowledge you have learned. So you're ready to get started?

 

First, tell someone. Say it out loud. Get a Bible. The first day I made this decision my parents took me to Barnes and Noble to get the Quest NIV Bible and I love it. [00:37:16] Start by reading the book of John. 

 

Get connected locally, which basically means just tell someone who is part of the church in your community that you made a decision to follow Christ. I'm assuming they will be thrilled to talk with you about further steps such as going to church and getting connected to other believers to encourage you. 

 

We want to celebrate with you too. So feel free to leave a comment for us if you made a decision for Christ. We also have show notes included where you can read Scripture that describes this process. 

 

Finally, be encouraged. Luke 15:10 says, "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." The heavens are praising with you for your decision today. 

 

If you've already received this good news, I pray that you have someone else to share it with today. You are loved and I look forward to meeting you here next time. [00:38:17]