{"id":43043,"date":"2025-11-10T10:40:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T10:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/43043\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T10:40:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T10:40:09","slug":"a-fort-worth-churchs-online-class-trains-christians-to-run-for-office-now-it-may-go-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/43043\/","title":{"rendered":"A Fort Worth church\u2019s online class trains Christians to run for office. Now it may go national."},"content":{"rendered":"

This article is co-published with ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for ProPublica\u2019s Big Story newsletter<\/a> to receive stories like this one in your inbox as soon as they are published. Also, sign up for The Br<\/a>i<\/a>ef<\/a>, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.<\/p>\n

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy <\/a> , and give us feedback <\/a> . <\/p>\n

This article is also co-published with Fort Worth Report<\/a> as part of an initiative to report on how power is wielded in Texas.<\/p>\n

Texas Rep. Nate Schatzline<\/a>\u2019s energy was palpable as he gazed out from the video on the computer screen, grinning ear to ear, the sleeves of his white dress shirt rolled up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Republican legislator from Fort Worth had a message to share with people watching the prerecorded video: As a Christian, you have an essential role in politics and local government.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no greater calling than being civically engaged and bringing the values that Scripture teaches us into every realm of the earth,\u201d Schatzline said.<\/p>\n

The legislator was teaching a section of Campaign University, a series of online lessons he and others associated with Fort Worth-based megachurch Mercy Culture created to raise up so-called \u201cspirit-led candidates.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The course, created in 2021, is an extension of Mercy Culture\u2019s increasingly overt political activities that have included candidate endorsements<\/a>. The church\u2019s political nonprofit, For Liberty & Justice, houses Campaign University.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Campaign University builds on Mercy Culture\u2019s growing political reach as Schatzline, a pastor at the church, joins President Donald Trump\u2019s National Faith Advisory Board and as t<\/a>he course now is offered at other congregations across the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The lessons emphasize that would-be candidates don\u2019t need to be experts in government or the Constitution to seek public office or a place in local government. They also train potential candidates to \u201cstand for spiritual righteousness\u201d and teach them how to build a platform and navigate the campaign trail while maintaining a strong family and church life.<\/p>\n

At the core of Campaign University is the idea that there is no separation between what happens within the church and what happens in the government. Students are taught to interpret the First Amendment\u2019s establishment clause on the separation of church and state as a protection against government involvement in religion, rather than vice versa.<\/p>\n

Previously, churches risked losing their tax-exempt status by discussing or engaging in politics. Then this summer, the Internal Revenue Service decided to allow religious leaders to endorse political candidates<\/a> from the pulpit, a decision Schatzline took as a green light for him and other pastors to ramp up political activity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Programs such as Campaign University serve as the \u201cnext stage\u201d of this religion-driven political movement, said Eric McDaniel, a government professor who researches the intersection of race, religion and politics at the University of Texas at Austin. Past movements encouraged churchgoers to become activists, he said, but Campaign University stands out for training Christian conservatives to seek public office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things about this movement that\u2019s really important is that they started winning local elections, then started winning state and then now they\u2019re winning at the national level,\u201d McDaniel said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s how you\u2019re able to build a movement and maintain a movement \u2014 you start locally.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an attempt to better understand Mercy Culture\u2019s approach to recruiting candidates, two journalists from the Fort Worth Report purchased and completed the more than five-hour Campaign University course and listened to hours of the For Liberty & Justice podcast. What became clear in the course is For Liberty & Justice\u2019s mission to push Christian conservative values beyond church doors and into the public sphere.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The nonprofit states on its website that it vets and supports \u201ccandidates who are willing to do whatever it takes to protect our God-given liberties and take a stand for Biblical Justice!\u201d Its leaders have said they stand against LGBTQ rights<\/a> and abortion access, and they have pushed for the ban of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives<\/a> in government and public education.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For $100, Campaign University provides its students the knowledge, practical skills and spiritual guidance \u201cto make an impact for the kingdom in government\u201d \u2014 not \u201cjust in a way that\u2019s passionate but in a way that\u2019s calculated,\u201d Schatzline says within the first five minutes of the course.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Fort Worth Report identified at least 10 people \u2014 through social media posts, press releases and podcasts \u2014 who completed Campaign University. They included Texas GOP Chairman Abraham George; an unsuccessful candidate who ran for a Dallas City Council seat this year; Tarrant County Republican precinct chairs; campaign managers; and a number of people who work for or previously worked for Mercy Culture or For Liberty & Justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

None returned the Fort Worth Report\u2019s requests for comment.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Reporters Marissa Greene and Cecilia Lenzen watch training videos from Campaign University, a program that trains Christians to run for office. Maria Crane\/Fort Worth Report\/CatchLight Local\/Report for America<\/p>\n

Schatzline twice agreed to an interview but never responded to efforts to set a date and did not return phone calls and emails seeking comment. He and other Mercy Culture pastors created Campaign University after working on Texas political campaigns, including the legislator\u2019s, through For Liberty & Justice. Schatzline previously told<\/a> the Fort Worth Report that he\u2019s working to take the nonprofit to the national level.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not unusual for churches or spiritual leaders to encourage political activity from congregants, said Amanda Tyler, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and lead organizer of the national nonprofit\u2019s Christians Against Christian Nationalism<\/a> campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat does seem unusual \u2014 and perhaps unique \u2014 is an actual candidate training academy that\u2019s run out of the church,\u201d Tyler said. \u201cOften, particularly if we\u2019re talking about partisan campaigns for public office, that\u2019s a place that churches and other houses of worship have largely steered clear of partisan politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schatzline has said he won\u2019t seek reelection to his seat representing north Fort Worth and its surrounding suburbs but plans to continue as a pastor with Mercy Culture and to lead For Liberty & Justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The national faith board that Schatzline has been tapped to join declares its mission is to be \u201ca strong, unified, uncompromising voice\u201d on issues such as religious freedom, marriage, reproductive and parental rights, and gender-affirming care.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s never been more apparent that the church has to rise up and be a bold voice in American government today,\u201d Schatzline said in an Oct. 27 video<\/a> he uploaded to social media announcing his new position.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That sentiment is recognizable in Campaign University.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the start of the course, Schatzline tells Christians to ask themselves three questions the typical candidate might not consider but that he stresses are key to success if one is called to serve.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Did the call to government come from the Holy Spirit? Will your loved ones pray with you about it? Even if you don\u2019t win, are you still giving God glory?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t run if you \u201ccan\u2019t hear the Holy Spirit\u201d because other voices on the campaign trail may \u201cshift your perspective,\u201d Schatzline said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Nate Schatzline, a Republican legislator and pastor at Mercy Culture Church in Fort Worth, speaks to a gathering of the True Texas Project, a conservative political group. Mary Abby Goss\/Fort Worth Report<\/p>\n

A divine calling\u00a0<\/p>\n

Campaign University and other Mercy Culture political activities deliver on a commitment that Steve Penate told the Report he and fellow church pastor Landon Schott made to each other years ago: build a church that would \u201cturn the city upside down\u201d and be a leader in local politics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Schott and his wife, Heather Schott, senior pastor of Mercy Culture, did not return emails seeking comment for this story.<\/p>\n

Over its six years, the church has become a center of conservative religious politics in the region and increasingly across the state. This year, members gathered for prayer<\/a> at the Texas Capitol, blessing its walls<\/a> on the first day of the 2025 legislative session.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last year, pastors urged Fort Worth City Council members \u2014 using threats of litigation \u2014 to approve the church\u2019s new shelter for victims of human trafficking<\/a>, despite opposition from residents of the adjacent neighborhood. Council members in favor of the move said at the time that politics did not affect their decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, a Republican, did not return a request for comment on Mercy Culture\u2019s impact on the city through political efforts such as Campaign University.<\/p>\n

The skills taught in Campaign University build off lessons learned from Penate\u2019s failed campaign for Fort Worth mayor in 2021, when he lost to Parker, the pastor told the Fort Worth Report.<\/p>\n

Penate said \u201ctons\u201d of people have completed Campaign University since its creation. Neither he, Schatzline nor Campaign University\u2019s other instructors provided lists of graduates. About 50 people were pictured in the Campaign University\u2019s first graduating class, according to a 2022 Instagram post by For Liberty & Justice<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mercy Culture\u2019s expansion has included additional church campuses in Fort Worth, Dallas, Waco and Austin, and it plans to open a San Antonio campus next year. Penate said For Liberty & Justice aims to partner with churches across the country as it seeks to elevate Campaign University to a national level. Although he didn\u2019t provide specifics, Penate said the goal is to create lessons for local churches to politically mobilize congregants, similarly to how Charlie Kirk\u2019s Turning Point USA mobilizes students on college campuses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said the church is already spreading awareness about Campaign University by opening For Liberty & Justice chapters in other states.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As of late October, two For Liberty & Justice chapters outside of Texas offer Campaign University, Penate said. They are Florida\u2019s nondenominational Revive Church and Hawaii\u2019s Pentecostal megachurch King\u2019s Maui, according to Schatzline\u2019s social media posts. Representatives from the churches did not return requests for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The nonprofit plans to open its next chapter in Arizona at the start of 2026, Penate said. After that, he expects For Liberty & Justice to grow exponentially thanks to Schatzline\u2019s visibility on Trump\u2019s faith advisory board.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNext year is going to be explosive,\u201d Penate said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Religion has long had a historic role in major American political movements, McDaniel, the government professor, said.<\/p>\n

Leaders such as Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr. were involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Televangelist Jerry Falwell founded the political organization called the Moral Majority in 1979 and mobilized a generation of Christian conservative voters<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis idea that God has called you to do this is a very empowering message. It gives you a clear source of identity and direction,\u201d McDaniel said.<\/p>\n

Many of Campaign University\u2019s teachings address basic civics that might be useful to anyone running for office. Its lessons and 92-page course materials offer hands-on assignments for participants to start engaging with local government, such as reading the U.S. Constitution, identifying the elected officials who represent them at different levels of government and creating lists of potential campaign donors.<\/p>\n

Campaign University\u2019s goal is to bring Jesus into \u201cevery sphere of influence and every mountain,\u201d Joshua Moore, another course instructor, says in the course\u2019s second lesson. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re called to do as political activists.\u201d Moore, who serves as Schatzline\u2019s district director in the Texas House, is a former Republican New Hampshire state lawmaker. He did not return phone calls and emails seeking comment for this story.<\/p>\n

In Campaign University, instructors often emphasize what they describe as a divine calling for Christians to serve in local government.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA grandma can pray at home on her knees, but who\u2019s in Austin on the inside, that has a voice, that has a vote?\u201d Penate told the Report. \u201cIt starts in prayer, but you gotta get on the inside.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\"AJoshua Moore speaks to the Tarrant County GOP\u2019s executive committee in Fort Worth. Maria Crane\/Fort Worth Report\/CatchLight Local\/Report for America<\/p>\n

Schatzline embodies this ethos in many ways, and he\u2019s become a well-known face in far-right Christian conservative politics<\/a> in Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During this year\u2019s legislative sessions, he authored 75 state bills on a range of issues, such as limiting DEI initiatives in local government<\/a>, banning drag show performances in front of children and further penalizing the possession or promotion of child pornography. He failed to get many of his bills passed this year, except for one aimed at criminalizing the promotion or possession of child-like sex dolls.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to give this space back to the Holy Spirit,\u201d Schatzline said at the Capitol<\/a> during the Mercy Culture-led worship session earlier this year. \u201cWe give you this room. \u2026 The 89th legislative session is yours, Lord. The members of this body are yours, Lord. This building belongs to you, Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Landon Schott, the Mercy Culture co-founder, also participated in the January event<\/a> at the Capitol, as did George, the state Republican Party chair, who has taken the Campaign University course.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no separation between church and state,\u201d George said at the event, according to published reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Campaign University lessons highlight what its instructors argue were the Founding Fathers\u2019 \u201cdeep religious beliefs\u201d as evidence that \u201cGod was not separate from the public square; nor was that the intent of the founders.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Founding Fathers \u201cinsisted upon a country that welcomed the role of religion in society, viewing it as a public good,\u201d said Jeremy Dys, senior counsel for the First Liberty Institute, a Plano-based legal group known for representing clients in high-profile religious freedom cases<\/a>, including a Plano student who was banned from distributing candy cane pens with a religious message on them at a school party and an Oregon woman who refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple due to her religious beliefs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAbandoning our societal cynicism toward religion would strengthen our commitment to liberty. It would do much to strengthen our country to regain the vision of our founders that celebrated the role of religion in our lives, public and private,\u201d Dys said in an email to the Report.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But under the establishment clause, government entities shouldn\u2019t impose religious laws or policies, said Tyler, the Christians Against Christian Nationalism organizer. Laws should \u201cserve and support a pluralistic society,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf our goal in engaging in partisan politics is to impose our own interpretation of the Bible, our own religious views on other people, that will lead to harm for people in our communities that are not of the same religious views,\u201d Tyler said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Nate Schatzline speaks at a rally commemorating Charlie Kirk on the steps of the Tarrant County Courthouse. Maria Crane\/Fort Worth Report\/CatchLight Local\/Report for America<\/p>\n

County at a Crossroads<\/p>\n

For Liberty & Justice\u2019s efforts to mobilize Christian conservatives through Campaign University come at a pivotal moment in Tarrant County, where Fort Worth is located, as Republicans seek to maintain control of the nation\u2019s largest urban red county, which has shown occasional signs of turning purple. Tarrant voters supported Joe Biden\u2019s presidential bid in 2020 and twice voted in favor of Republican Sen. Ted Cruz<\/a>\u2019s Democratic opponents, in 2018 and 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single seat matters, and now is the time to rise up. Now is the time to run. Now is the time to get godly men and women in office,\u201d Schatzline told dozens of attendees at a Sept. 9 For Liberty & Justice event at Mercy Culture aimed at encouraging political action.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Republican-majority Tarrant County Commissioners Court, the county\u2019s governing body, led by County Judge Tim O\u2019Hare, steamrolled through a redistricting process this summer to gain a stronger majority<\/a> as detractors alleged racially motivated gerrymandering. In late October, a federal appeals court upheld a judge\u2019s decision not to block the new map<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

O\u2019Hare did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

After state lawmakers adopted a new congressional map to create additional GOP seats at Trump\u2019s request this summer<\/a>, the political makeup of Tarrant County\u2019s congressional delegation is poised to shift<\/a> from five Republicans and two Democrats to four Republicans and one Democrat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Liberty & Justice continues to develop its pipeline of candidates for local and state offices. The group circulates a friends and family list of candidates<\/a> that it says share the same values. One candidate who repeatedly made the list was conservative Fort Worth City Council member Alan Blaylock, who announced his bid for Schatzline\u2019s seat Oct. 27 after the lawmaker said he wouldn\u2019t seek reelection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Others named on the list included city council and school board candidates across the county. Several told the Report they weren\u2019t required to complete Campaign University to be included on the list and that they hadn\u2019t taken the course.<\/p>\n

For Liberty & Justice is prepared to ensure strong Republican results as Tarrant voters gear up for next year\u2019s elections, plus a runoff election to fill a Texas Senate seat<\/a> vacated by now-Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock.<\/p>\n

It makes sense that Tarrant County, which political experts describe as a bellwether in national politics<\/a>, may be a driver in national conversations around how religion and politics intersect, said McDaniel, the UT professor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His message echoed the sentiments expressed by For Liberty & Justice leaders and attendees during a recent night of action at Mercy Culture Church.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Throughout the night, volunteers who completed Campaign University emphasized how the lessons can not only activate people to run for office but also enable them to lead small groups of fellow Christian conservatives in political action, such as advocating for policy issues at city council or school board meetings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Event organizers encouraged attendees to get civically engaged that night by joining small political action groups in neighborhoods scattered across Tarrant County, with specific interests such as \u201cbiblical citizenship\u201d or \u201cprayer and intercession.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

To end the night, one Campaign University graduate led the crowd in prayer. \u201cWe need you, Lord, desperately to be able to accomplish what you are calling us to do for this nation, for our city, for our county, for our state.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marissa Greene is a Report for America corps member covering faith for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at marissa.greene@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Disclosure: University of Texas at Austin has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune\u2019s journalism. Find a complete list of them here<\/a>.<\/p>\n