Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
LifeWise Academy, a program that teaches Bible-based character education during school hours, is getting underway in Oregon City Schools this fall.
And they’re not alone.
The program had a soft launch in the Lake school district this past spring, and several other schools are either in the exploratory or early stages of implementing the program.
“We’re still in the signature phases in Genoa,” Brandi Billingsley, the program director for LifeWise serving the Lake district, said. “Gibsonburg is in the process of getting a program director. Rossford is starting this fall as well. I have a meeting with Northwood (this week). We're looking to launch the beginning of 2026 right after they come back from Christmas break. Even in Toledo Public, they have a program director and are looking to launch in the next couple of weeks at Keyser Elementary.”
In Oregon, the LifeWise program launched Sept. 9 at Coy School with the third graders. Jerusalem Elementary is next on the list Oct. 16, and then Starr Elementary on Nov. 5.
“We're just starting in third grade to get our feet wet and make sure we have all the kinks out before we open enrollment to all the grades,” LifeWise’s Oregon-area program director Cathy Burson said. “We are hoping to open to all the grades after Christmas. “
The LifeWise Academy was created in 2019 by Van Wert native Joel Penton, who played football at The Ohio State University and was a member of the 2002 national championship team. It relies solely on private donations, so those who participate in the program can do so for free.
The program is currently in 34 states throughout the country with over 1,100 schools either starting or in the process of doing so. Almost 47,000 students are being served as of September.
“It just continues to grow and grow every year as people hear about it and want to get the word out,” Burson said. “And it starts with a community interest list. You have to get at least 50 signatures from the community that says, ‘Yes, we want to see this in our school system,’ and Oregon had well over 100 right away. We had a steering committee, and then I was hired as the director, and now I have an advisory board and lots of volunteers that are helping with the program to get it underway.”
Since the program isn’t allowed to take up core curriculum class time, Oregon is doing lunch and recess hours. Students will be picked up from the school, where they’ll have about 55 minutes of time with the LifeWise program, which has a paid teacher, Traci Lewis, who previously taught at Clay.
Coy students will go to Prince of Peace Lutheran Church at 4155 Pickle each Tuesday. Starr students are slated for Spirit and Truth Church at 525 S. Coy on Wednesdays, and Jerusalem students will go to the Jerusalem Township Hall on Thursdays.
Burson said they’ll be adding additional grades after Christmas, and they hope to add setups at Eisenhower, Fassett, and eventually Clay over the next few years.
As of Sept. 9, Burson said 10 third graders from Coy are signed up, but she expects that to grow once the students start coming and inviting their friends.
“The word just has to get out because we're not allowed to advertise through the school,” she said. “We need to advertise through social media, word of mouth, and things like that. We're anticipating more people to sign up as the program gets going, and we just opened enrollment for Starr (on Sept. 8), so we know that the program will pick up once the word gets out.”
During that time, Lewis will have Bible study and other fun activities for the kids. They’ll eat lunch and get some physical activity before heading back to school for their core classes.
“We do teach the Bible chronologically, but we also have relevant character traits for the students that are taught, just to practice with their families and in their communities,” Burson said. “I know the schools will often teach character traits as well, so we're trying to partner with them in that effort.”
Parents must sign participation slips in order to participate, the program runs during the school year only, and the classes cannot take place on school property or use any public dollars.
Burson also said the program supplements church. They use the Gospel Project curriculum, which she said a lot of students use, and all of their volunteers including Lewis have been trained and subjected to background checks.
“The kids have fun,” she said. “We not only do the lessons, but we do activities to help reinforce the lessons. They have activities that they take home and can do with their families, things that they can discuss as a family and reinforce what they've been learning. We try to make it where it's a fun place for kids to come and a place where they'd want to bring their friends.
“I think it's important not only to learn about Jesus, but to just learn about positive character traits that are going to affect their lives, their families, and their communities. It's just a positive program all around.”
Participation growing at Lake
Billingsley said Lake did a soft launch in the spring with fourth graders because the elementary school was in a transition process with hiring a new principal, and 14 students participated.
LifeWise Academy had the students for the back half of the school year, and they just relaunched last week with second through fifth grade students.
“It's actually been very well received and a good experience for us,” Billingsley said. “Part of the reason we did the soft launch in the spring was because they were in the process of hiring a new principal, so we just kind of did a soft launch with the fourth graders to just see how well the program would be received, and what their response would be for parents.
“We were then able to meet after we did the launch in the spring, just to get feedback — what worked, what didn't work, any changes that needed to be made. And to be honest, everything was extremely positive for both the parents and the administration and teachers.”
Billingsley said the program is fairly new and that there is a lot of misunderstandings about what the program is, what they’re trying to do, and whether what they’re doing is a good or bad idea. She wanted to emphasize that the program is completely voluntary.
“We want to add to these children's academic and educational experience,” she said. “We’re just trying to get the information out there, answer all the questions and get information to the right people to help them just understand this is completely voluntary and (if) the kids don't want to participate or the parents don't want them to, they just participate with normal school as the day progresses. If they do participate, this is just an elective thing to enhance their education.”
Sign up info
If anyone is interested in having their kid(s) participate in this program, visit LifeWise.org, select “Find Your School” in the top navigation bar, and search by name or zip code. Once selecting the school district you’re interested in, it will tell you exactly where they’re at in the process and who the contact person is.
At some places, it’s grown exponentially, like Liberty Center Local Schools, where more than 400 students are enrolled throughout the district from kindergarten through 10th grade.
“It's just kind of taken the nation by storm in the last five or six years,” Billingsley said. “It's a good alternative for the public schools, especially financially with some of the changes that have happened with parents being able to choose where their tax dollars go public school versus private. That allows people the alternative to have some type of religious education in the public school system and keep those tax dollars in each of the school districts. There are some benefits not only to the kids as people and individuals in progress we're seeing in the schools with our kiddos having better behavioral marks, doing better in testing and those kinds of things, but there are also benefits for the district financially. It’s a lot of win-win.”
