The line separating church and state in Texas public schools has been significantly blurred in recent years. Federal court battles over the forced display of a particular Ten Commandments are well underway, state legislators called on school boards to vote on requiring time for prayer, and now a private organization (with ties to the Southern Baptist Convention) is trying to bring bible study to the school day.

For several decades, the line has been clear in Texas public schools. Supreme Court rulings found public schools couldn’t require bible study or prayer. The limits of that ruling have been challenged, with Texas leaders asking public ISD boards to weigh in by March 1 on whether they would allow students to attend devotional periods during the school day. It would be a time during “noninstructional” hours to pray or read religious texts.

Most school districts have opted out, including Alamo Heights Independent School District – one of several San Antonio school districts listed as a possibility for school-day bible study under a mysterious Ohio-based nonprofit, LifeWise Academy.

“Alamo Heights ISD only needs 28 more signatures to hit their goal,” the LifeWise website claims.

The wealthy San Antonio-area school district isn’t alone. The LifeWise website claims a Northside ISD program is “in the process of launching,” though NISD officials told MySA they’ve heard nothing of it. But LifeWise’s South Texas Director Aaron Braswell tells a different story, saying his team has been communicating with an NISD staffer at some unnamed campus. It’s a similar story across San Antonio ISD, North East ISD, South San Antonio ISD and East Central ISD. But each of these campuses is in a different step in a 10-step process for developing a program, says Braswell, and it’s usually not until the tail end of this when districts may even become aware.

Though, Braswell says this isn’t uncommon. He says overwhelmed school districts with dozens of campuses may have individual schools involved and aware in the process before it reaches the districtwide headquarters.

The company is accepting donations to fund these programs at each specific school district despite many ISDs saying there’s no program being developed that they’re aware of. Braswell assures, however, local funds remain local. Even if it takes several years to collect 50 signatures at a particular school or district to get a program off the ground, the money will remain tied to that particular program awaiting launch.

Essentially, LifeWise Academy is a registered nonprofit advertising a nondenominational bible study, though it does have ties to the Southern Baptist Convention. The organization uses The Gospel Project curriculum, a work developed by LifeWay – a Southern Baptist offshoot that develops Sunday school curriculum. Several folks in leadership positions, including LifeWise Board Chairman Steve Hubbard and Chief Operating Officer Steve Clifton, have worked at churches listed on the Southern Baptist Church Convention directory.

The organization has been labeled many things by detractors, pointing to its curriculum and other concerns, but Braswell says LifeWise is aiming to tear down walls dividing different denominations.  

“We’ve got people in our organization, even at the national level, that come from all different denominations,” Braswell told MySA. “That’s something we are actually trying to dissolve — some of those barriers between some of the churches and have them work together to serve their community.”

According to their website, LifeWise drives a big red bus onto campuses, collects children with parental consent and drives off public property to read a bible verse and discuss. Laws allow this to happen so long as it’s done off school property with parents’ express consent, but it cannot last more than an hour and more than five cumulative hours in a week. Organization officials confirmed every volunteer or employee who works with children undergoes a background check.

The nonprofit was founded in Ohio, but it’s made a concerted effort to expand into Texas in recent years. In August of 2024, LifeWise posted a job opening for a statewide director over Texas. Staring at $90,000 a year, the company was looking for a person with five years or more of management and leadership experience with a “mature personal Christian faith” to, in part, help “identify ‘low-hanging fruit’ communities and schools to begin and accelerate the 10-step launch process and develop and participate in the “donor pipeline.”

They seemingly found that in May of 2025 in an ousted South Carolina high school football coach, Aaron Braswell, who had been working as a program coach for LifeWise since May of 2024, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The company currently has at least 119 job openings across Texas, according to the company’s website, including teachers, board members, volunteers and program directors from San Antonio to Austin.

LifeWise funds are also growing rapidly. In the past five years, the nonprofit’s contributions climbed from just over $6 million to nearly $35 million in 2024, according to filings with the U.S. Department of Treasury. The first huge spike in contributions came in 2022, when the figures doubled from $6 million to $13 million, and LifeWise has raked in more than $30 million each year reported to the feds since.

Braswell, acknowledging the massive growth projections, says a big chuck of this money is attributed to donations at the local level. But he says there are larger donors at the national level, which helps fund training for new employees and other high-level programs at the organization’s Ohio base. There is no clear break down of how much of this money is contributed locally or nationally on the organization’s state filings, audit report or annual impact report for 2025 shared on the LifeWise financial page.

Community response to Bible study, LifeWise

“Decades ago, our nation systematically removed Bible education from the public school day. LifeWise Academy is bringing it back. Under a little-known Supreme Court ruling, LifeWise empowers communities to provide Bible education for their public school students DURING SCHOOL HOURS. Tens of thousands of public school students attend LifeWise Bible classes each week,” the job posting for a leadership board member states, noting the company is trying to build a board of three to nine members representing at least three different churches.

In turning to the community, opinions on this program seems entirely split. While some argue for staunch separation of church and state, repeating that parents can take their children to a church of their choice, others remind their neighbors the program is entirely voluntary and conducted off campus. Though recent cherry picking of religions allowed to participate in Texas-approved educational programs was not lost on everyone.

“I don’t mind, however religion shouldn’t be pushed on children,” Patt Rodriguez told MySA. “If there was a separate party of the school with their parents permission to join, then I don’t see a problem with letting children learn about religion. Also, there should be all types of religions readily available.”

This article originally published at Nonprofit targets Texas for public school-day Bible study. San Antonio ISDs respond.