Recap: Hoosier Leadership Series’ Statehouse Day

6/5/24

Last month, the Hoosier Leadership Series met at the Indiana Statehouse to get a behind the scenes look at Governance – the theme of the class. The agenda was packed with interesting and educational speakers, from Comptroller Elise Nieshalla, who welcomed the class and explained Indiana’s unique financial situation, to Graham Renbarger, the Legislative Director for Indiana’s division of Americans for Prosperity, who spoke about accountability and vision in the legislative process.

The day also included an exercise in learning how a bill really becomes a law, and exploring the nuances of passing a bill even with a supermajority. B23 Strategies led the class in a leadership assessment where class members were invited to explore more about their leadership styles, which they will continue to build on throughout the course at each monthly meeting. 

To wrap up an excellent day, Senator John Crane gave the class a behind the scenes look at the Indiana Senate, how governance actually happens, and talked more about the importance of strong leadership. 

As always, we are incredibly grateful for our sponsors, who help make the Hoosier Leadership Series possible: B23 Strategies, Vertical Immersive, Americans for Prosperity, Adler Law Firm, Ash and Oak, and Samaritan Ministries.

If you’re interested in taking part in next year’s Hoosier Leadership Series, you can apply here, or email HLS Direct Valerie Swack with any questions: valerie@hoosierfamily.org. This class is an excellent way to learn how to apply your faith in a more effective way within the public square. We highly encourage you to consider participating next year!

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AG Rokita tells Indiana schools to ignore Title IX update

5/30/24

Indiana schools have been advised to ignore a recent change made by the Biden administration to Title IX, a nondiscrimination mandate meant to protect women from sex-based discrimination and harassment in sports and academia.

Title IX was established in 1972 to hold educational institutions accountable and provide legal protections for women who have experienced different forms of discrimination, such as: “sex-based harassment; sexual violence; pregnancy discrimination; the failure to provide equal athletic opportunity; sex-based discrimination in a school’s science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses and programs; discriminatory application of dress code policies and/or enforcement; and retaliation.”

The Biden administration used this important statute meant to protect women to redefine “sex” in federal law – the implications of which are vast and concerning. In the Title IX update, the Department of Education took the liberty of interpreting “sex” to mean “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” rather than biological reality. The term “gender identity” was inserted into the statute more than 280 times.

Because of this alteration, men who say they are women can now claim the Title IX protections that have been in place for decades to protect women and girls from the very real threat of discrimination and harassment in historically male-dominated spaces such as sports and academia. Thanks to the increasingly woke agenda in the education system, Title IX is needed now more than ever to protect women who have been disadvantaged by men pretending to be women.

“Congress intended Title IX to prevent discrimination against girls and women,” Attorney General Todd Rokita said. “The point was to encourage increased participation by girls and women in middle school, high school and college athletics. Now leftists are trying to twist Title IX to codify the very kind of anti-woman prejudice and discrimination this law was originally intended to remedy.” (emphasis added)

Here at IFI, we are committed to protecting girls and women in sports and pushing back against federal overreach. We’re thankful to have an attorney general who shares those same values and isn’t afraid to fight back against the Department of Education’s illegitimate Title IX rewrite. We know their unlawful override of this important statute will not stand in court.

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The Church Ambassador Network is on Mission in 2024

5/23/24

The Church Ambassador Network (CAN) is a ministry initiative of IFI that equips the church to engage government for the advance of God’s kingdom. CAN accomplishes this mission by building relationships between pastors and government officials, partnering with government to solve key problems, and producing resources to equip church leaders and committed Christians in the area of citizenship. Here’s an update on how CAN is impacting Indiana in 2024:

Building Relationships at the Statehouse. During the 2024 legislative session, Josh Hershberger, the Director of CAN, and Gerson Cardona, the Deputy Director, were at the statehouse on a daily basis connecting pastors with their state representatives and state senators with the goal of (1) ministering to those officials and (2) partnering with them for the common good.

Altogether, CAN made 1,220 shepherd-to-shepherd connections between pastors and governing officials this spring. CAN also scheduled and led meetings with members of the Executive Branch, including Governor Holcomb, Secretary of State Diego Morales, Comptroller Elise Nieshalla, and Treasurer Daniel Elliott. 

One of the highlights of the session was the first-ever Burmese pastors day as pastors that fled political persecution in their home country of Burma came up to the statehouse to pray with their governing officials. We were deeply moved by the joy of these pastors as they experienced American government firsthand, connected with their officials, and even toured the chamber of the House of Representatives.

CAN also promoted HB 1137, which requires school districts to release children to religious instruction during the public school day if that instruction is off campus, privately funded, and agreed to by the parents. This bill is now law in the state of Indiana.

Partnering with Government to Solve Key Problems. Motivated by the consistent command throughout the New Testament to “do good” (Matt. 5:16; Titus 3; I Tim. 6:18), CAN is partnering with government to impact key community needs such as foster care, the drug crisis, and mental health. If you would like to review CAN’s Community Impact Plan, here is a link. CAN is now focused on (1) a statewide Community Impact Survey designed to gather data on the number of churches impacting these issues in every county and (2) the issue of addiction recovery and identifying churches that are or are willing to impact this issue in their zip code.

Equipping the Church to Engage Government. CAN is also connecting with churches around Indiana and equipping them to engage government through speaking and resources. Josh Hershberger recently spoke to a group of pastors in southeast Indiana and led the National Day of Prevent event there, and he routinely preaches in churches or at events on Biblical citizenship and worldview. Josh also hosts the Good Citizen Podcast and recently interviewed David Closson from the Family Research Council about the Biblical Worldview Crisis in churches and how pastors can respond.

CAN has been supported for a number of years by startup grants from national ministry partners, and we now need to move this to a ministry supported by Hoosiers and especially churches in Indiana. If you feel led to give to the work of CAN or to speak to your pastor about getting involved financially, follow this link. Here is our funding goal over the next year and how we plan to achieve it.

As always, thank you for your prayers for our ministry and for your financial support!

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Recap: Hoosier Leadership Series’ First Class of 2024

5/15/24

Last month, we held the first class of the 2024 Hoosier Leadership Series. Over 30 students joined us for the inaugural session, where we heard from several IFI administrators as well as Stephanie Kreuz, Director of Sentinel Engagement at the Heritage Action for America, who spoke about legislative activism.

During the class, each student began developing a personal impact plan, which details their strengths and goals moving forward to become an active leader in their community, promoting Christian values and advancing the conservative movement. Thanks to sponsor B23 Strategies, throughout the next several months of the Hoosier Leadership Series, each class member will continue to individually develop their impact plan with the help of IFI’s trusted advisors.

We also heard from IFI’s General Counsel and Church Ambassador Network Director Josh Hershberger, who introduced a practical guide to Biblical citizenship, and former HLS Director Micah Beckwith, about why America is still worth fighting for.

We’re looking forward to the next HLS session happening this month at the Statehouse. Highlights include a tour of the capitol, a personal meet and greet with Comptroller Elise Nieshalla, and a hands-on exercise about how a bill becomes a law. We will also hear from several highly anticipated guest speakers!

While we wish that we could accept visitors during the Statehouse class, unfortunately we are restricted by space in the conference and caucus room and will not be accepting drop-ins. If you’re interested in joining next year’s class, where we will likely hold a similar meeting, please email HLS Director Valerie Swack to join the waiting list: valerie@hoosierfamily.org.

As always, we are incredibly grateful for our sponsors, who help make the Hoosier Leadership Series possible: B23 Strategies, Vertical Immersive, Americans for Prosperity, Adler Law Firm, Ash and Oak, and Samaritan Ministries.

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