See how God is working through The Barnabas Group!
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National polling reflects that nearly 50 percent of public school teachers are church attending Christians who profess their faith to be important in their lives. However, the vast majority of these teachers are unaware of state academic standards that require students to learn about the Bible and Christianity. For example, the California Department of Education guidelines state the following in regards to sixth grade students:
"Note the origins of Christianity in the Jewish Messianic prophecies, the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as described in the New Testament, and the contribution of St. Paul the Apostle to the definition and spread of Christian beliefs
(written in 1998; republished in 2005)."
California also has a law that protects teachers when they use the Bible to meet this standard.
These guidelines and law provide teachers with an amazing opportunity to share the gospel with students in public schools. Gateways to Better Education ("Gateways") works to ensure that this opportunity is not missed!
Founded in 1991 by Eric Buehrer, the mission of Gateways is to create a better future for our children by keeping God in our schools. It gives confidence to teachers and school administrators, and helps parents navigate the public school system so their children graduate with their faith and values intact.
Barnabas Group ("TBG") member, Jim LePere, has leveraged his expertise in finance and board governance to impact public schools across America by serving as the Board Treasurer at Gateways. His wife, Sue, also volunteers her time by serving in its office.
Jim stated the following about his work with Gateways, and his TBG membership:
"TBG inspires me to use my time, talent, and treasure for Kingdom purposes. That is why I have renewed my membership. While serving on Gateways' board, their ministry impact and revenue have both increased. In 2014, Gateways launched its university program to provide an on-line seminar that Schools of Education can use within their existing courses. Nearly 3,000 student teachers and current classroom teachers across the country have completed the seminar.
We are empowering public school teachers to make their classrooms faith friendly places.
A professor at Liberty University, Sam Smith, stated the following after using the Gateways university program: 'Until we adopted it, many of our students were so uneasy about the topic of religion in public schools. Some had even resigned themselves to avoiding the discussion of religion altogether. My students were amazed at how many misconceptions they had about the role of religion in public schools!'
Our goal for the next three years is to have 20 universities using the program, and to reach 4,000 new undergraduate and graduate students each year.
Sue and I definitely find it encouraging to be around other TBG members who want to leverage their strengths for Kingdom purposes, and we're delighted to be doing that with Gateways."
For more information about Gateways, please visit
www.gtbe.org, or call Jim LePere at Gateways' office at 949-586-5437.
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