News from School Ministries, Inc.

Happy Summer!

July 2011

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In this issue

-- First SMI National Awards

-- Students Are Heart of Conference

-- National Research Agenda

-- Message from SMI Executive Director

-- SMI Board Welcomes New Members

-- Credit Where Credit Is Due

-- Statistics Corner

-- For-Credit Legislation Challenged

-- Summer Assignment: Curriculum Reviews

First SMI National Awards

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God has blessed School Ministries' work in bringing hope to youth through Released Time Bible Education by providing outstanding leaders and teachers both at the national and program levels. Even among such talented and dedicated people, some stand out as providing particularly distinguished service. In recognition of this, the Board of School Ministries established national awards to annually celebrate distinguished service in three categories. These awards were presented at the SMI conference by SMI Board Chair James O'Bryon and Executive Director Ken Breivik.

SMI's first Distinguished National Service Award was given in absentia to Robert A. Dobson, III. This award is for significant contributions in advancing Released Time Bible Education at the national level.

The other winners were from SMI Affiliate programs. In addition to their citations and awards, a donation was given in their names to their local programs. The first Affiliate award for the National Volunteer of the year was presented to Billy Joe Ausburn from the Christian Learning Center of the Upstate. The second Affiliate award for the National Staff Member of the Year was presented to Carol Stanford from the Clover Biblical Studies Released Time program.

Nominations for the 2012 awards will be solicited in the fall.

Students Are Heart of Conference

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Besides the memories of great presenters and great fellowship, the 2011 SMI Annual Conference will be remembered for the special touches provided by the Clarendon Christian Learning Center students. Younger children provided decorations for table flowers pots and they created an original placemat for each attendee. Each one was based on a Bible story they had studied this year. In addition, from memory, a high school student recited the 53rd chapter of Isaiah for attendees. The students' involvement reinforced that what we are about is the students!

Evaluations of the keynote presentation by Dr. Milt Uecker, Dean of Education at Columbia International University, concerning the spiritual and religious lives of American teenagers are perhaps best summed up by one participant who wrote: Very real personality, human, sincere and extremely knowledgeable, good information, awesome challenge.

All the program sessions received very high ratings.

• Well planned and executed. The information was timely and well presented.
• The speakers, facilities and hospitality were outstanding.
• I enjoyed the conference very much. The sessions were very powerful. I have a deeper desire to go out and be a witness to those at my school.

We also received suggestions of topics for next year's conference from comments made on the evaluation forms such as transportation issues, how to recruit students and how to address classroom management issues. The 2012 conference planning committee will soon be formed and suggestions from all Affiliates on topics for next year's program may be sent to patricia@schoolministries.org.

Members: For reports on the breakout sessions, go to the Members' Zone portion of the school ministries website.

National Research Agenda

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From its earliest years, School Ministries' leadership has understood the importance of research both to enhance program performance and also to gain creditability with school boards and other community leaders. One such project resulted in the Summary of Findings on Released Time Bible Education. This research was conducted by The National Council on Crime and Delinquency which concluded that RTBE improves academic performance and builds a foundation for positive character development. (This report can be ordered through the SMI website for $10.00 for SMI affiliates and $12.50 for others plus $3.00 for postage and handling.) Now in recognition of the growing emphasis on educational accountability, School Ministries is undertaking two major research projects under the leadership of SMI Board member, James Swezey.

Project 1) At the SMI conference, Dr. Swezey announced that a pilot study will be conducted to study the worldview development of students attending RTBE programs. Students' biblical worldview will be measured by three different perspectives: propositional beliefs, faith-related behaviors, and heart-inclination. Students will be asked to complete a survey at the beginning of the school year and at the end of the program. Resulting scores can then be compared to measure growth. The number of programs volunteering to participate in the pilot testing was heart-warming!

Project 2) In addition to Dr. Swezey, the team that will address the second project includes SMI Board member Laura Hucks, SMI Ohio Director Jennifer Miller and staff member Patricia Breivik. This group is charged with developing, for SMI Board approval, an accreditation process and standards for Released Time Bible Education programs. Once established any RTBE program can, on a volunteer basis, go through the accreditation process. In a time when educational institutions are being ask to document program quality, having such a process in place can provide quality assurance that can be helpful in gaining school board and community support.

Message from SMI Executive Director

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Our 2011 School Ministry Annual Conference was truly an exciting event. One of the many highlights for me was finally having an opportunity to formally thank some of our volunteers and staff for their exemplary service in reaching young people with the news of God's love through SMI and Released Time Bible Education. Please join me in honoring the recipients of our very first national awards:

• Bobby A. Dobson III for the National Distinguished Service Award.
• Billy Joe Ausburn for the National Volunteer of the Year.
• Carol Stanford for the National Staff Member of the Year.

In the future, SMI leadership will be considering how best to assess worldview development of RTBE students. But thanks to information volunteered by some of our programs for the 2009-2010 school year, we do know the following.

• The average percentage of students accepting Christ from 5 reporting affiliates was 13.7% (for a total of 613).
• The average percentage of students rededicating their lives to Christ from 4 reporting affiliates was 13.4% (for a total of 359).

Such information is a cause for joy, and it is also helpful for building church and other Christian-based support for existing programs and for starting new programs.

I would really encourage Board and Staff members of our local Affiliate programs to make good use of our Members' Zone page on the SMI website. We periodically put things up on the Zone that are of critical importance to the legal and daily operations of our programs. For example, recently we put up a letter sent to me from the Alliance Defense Fund that makes very clear what programs can legally do to recruit students and gives the case law to support those positions. Our goal is to continue to bring to you important information through the Members' Zone that we have not as yet been able to provide through our literature.

Finally, a special thanks to each of you for your dedication and hard work that has again resulted in record growth in the number of public school children reached by School Ministries programs. Although the numbers will not be finalized until later this summer, it appears that the number of students reached increased by 20.7% from 2010 to 2011. This translates into a 211% growth since 2001! We also know that many of you are planning to increase the number of schools having RTBE programs and/or increasing the number of classes in schools with programs. So enjoy the summer and come back refreshed and ready to serve more children than ever. As we heard in our time of sharing at the conference, God is good!

In Christ,

Ken Breivik

SMI Board Welcomes New Members

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At its June 10th meeting, the School Ministries Board voted to accept into membership two men who bring with them a wealth of experiences and strong commitments to Christian service. Their biographies appear below.

School Ministries is pleased to welcome Mr. Avery Hilton to its Board of Directors. Mr. Hilton recently retired after working 43 years in the steel industry. His most recent position was Executive Vice President of Steel Mills for Commercial Metals Company. Mr. Hilton is an engineering graduate from North Carolina State University. He served as President of the Electric Metal Makers Guild and as a trustee of the Association of Iron and Steel Technology Foundation. Mr. Hilton also served on the board of directors of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce and on the board of the Midlands Christian Learning Center. He is an elder on the session of Northeast Presbyterian Church and is an associate member of Fairfield Mountains Chapel in Lake Lure, NC. He and his wife Lorraine reside in Columbia, SC. They have two sons and a daughter as well as three grandchildren.

School Ministries is pleased to welcome Mr. Thomas J. Schetelich to its Board of Directors. Thomas Schetelich is a founder of the law firm Ferguson, Schetelich & Ballew, named among the Bar Register of Preeminent Attorneys. He heads both the firm's corporate and business law practice and its personal legal services department. Mr. Schetelich concentrates his work in fields of business planning, business litigation, tax planning and trusts and estates. He holds an AV-Preeminent rating from Martindale Hubble, awarded by peer review, for the highest standards of professional skill and ethical practice, and has five times been named a Baltimore "Super Lawyer" and also designated a "Five Star Wealth Manager." He received his J.D. from Washington & Lee University.

Mr. Schetelich devotes much of his practice and his personal time to assisting charitable and Christian organizations. He represents many churches throughout Maryland. He is the President of the Christian Professional Network, and the author of Maryland Law of Religious Corporations. He has served as the commentator on Religion and the Law, a weekly radio feature. He serves on the Board of Directors for The Baltimore School of the Bible (where he has been an instructor for over 20 years), for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, for the Baltimore Center for Pregnancy Concerns (current Chairman), for Christian Missions in Many Lands, and the Maryland Bible Society. He Chaired the Executive Committee for the Franklin Graham Metro Maryland Festival, and has been honored by both the Mayor of Baltimore and the State General Assembly for outstanding citizenship. He is married to Victoria Schetelich and lives in Baltimore.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

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This past spring, Representative Jeff McClain introduced House Bill 219 to the Ohio House of Representatives which would grant up to two units of high school credit for elective released time classes in Ohio. Modeled on the South Carolina Released Time Credit Act of 2006, this statute represents the first acknowledgement of released time in the Ohio Revised Code. At present, only a handful of high school age Ohio students are known to take released time classes. SMI's Ohio Director Jenni Bacon Miller of WeCARE for Students asks for prayers: for wisdom and diligence in preparation and testimony before the house committee, for the law's passage, for all established and prospective Ohio released time programs, and for more and more Ohio students to come and learn of the Savior's love for them.

Statistics Corner

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It is not statistics per se, but research done by the Barna Group identifies Six Megathemes for 2010. The themes are as follows.

1. The Christian Church is becoming less theologically literate.
2. Christians are becoming more ingrown and less outreach-oriented.
3. Growing numbers of people are less interested in spiritual principles and more desirous of learning pragmatic solutions for life.
4. Among Christians, interest in participating in community action is escalating.
5. The postmodern insistence on tolerance is winning over the Christian Church.
6. The influence of Christianity on culture and individual lives is largely invisible.

For-Credit Legislation Challenged

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The South Carolina legislation that allows elective academic credit for Released Time high school courses was challenged by the Freedom from Religion Foundation which is based in Wisconsin. The legal challenge was made to Spartanburg County School District No. 7, where a released time program not affiliated with School Ministries is operating. The court's ruling supported the legality of the for-credit legislation, but the plaintiff is currently in the process of appealing.

Summer Assignment: Curriculum Reviews

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One of the big and ongoing questions that Released Time Bible Education providers face is what curriculum to use. Even when things seem to be going well, there is always the interest in finding a curriculum that can better meet the needs of the students and/or help the teachers in their work. To address these needs, this curriculum review process has been designed by and for School Ministries Affiliates.

SMI Affiliates are requested to take time this summer to submit reviews of curriculum resources their teachers have used and/or reviewed and to share this information with their sister programs. This labor of love can provide assistance to sister programs in identifying resources that can enhance student learning. To submit reviews or to read existing reviews, go to Members' Zone and click on the tab for Curriculum Reviews. It is as simple as that.

The value of the reviews will grow as more programs share their assessments of materials they have used, are using or have previewed. Where a review already exists for a particular curriculum, you are still encouraged to do a review as each program's perspective may be different.

Contact Information

School Ministries, Inc.
101 Rice Bent Way #6
Columbia, SC 29229
Phone: 803-772-5224
info@schoolministries.org