Why is SEA ignoring LifeWise approved kids at a chemical factory with a sexually violent predator?
While its employees and a volunteer have been charged with child sexual abuse outside of LifeWise, why has the organization directly endangering kids not been addressed by SEA?
LifeWise Academy, a rapidly growing national released time for religious instruction program (RTRI), is under increasing scrutiny following multiple employees and a volunteer being charged with and pleading guilty to sex crimes against children — ranging from voyeurism to child rape — occurring outside the organization in Ohio.
These accounts of abuse have drawn attention to LifeWise’s background check process (as compared to those required by public schools), hiring policies, and standards regarding child safety within the organization.
However, what has not been examined is how LifeWise approved its children’s Bible study program to meet at a chemical factory employing a “sexually violent predator” in Butler, Indiana in 2024.
Children's Bible study approved at chemical factory employing a “sexually violent predator"
Initially approved in 2022, LifeWise expanded its program in late 2024 to the Dekalb County Eastern Community School District in Butler, Indiana, initially selecting the meeting location of a conference room at Color Master — a paint chemical factory — that employed a registered sex offender classified as a “sexually violent predator” convicted in 2008 of child molestation.
In August 2025, the Secular Education Association (SEA, formerly Parents Against LifeWise) detailed the Color Master child endangerment incident on their YouTube channel:
Also of concern, emails to parents from Butler Elementary principal Luke Cooper confirmed that school officials were aware the LifeWise program would be held at the Color Master chemical factory.
The Dekalb County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that LifeWise was approved to operate at the chemical factory location.
Following local outcry, the Dekalb Eastern LifeWise program was relocated to Butler Christian Community Church less than 1.5 miles from the school.
However, when contacted LifeWise has repeatedly failed to address inquiries regarding safety protocols, internal oversight, and how the Color Master chemical factory became an approved RTRI program location despite employing a “sexually violent predator.”
Why is SEA ignoring LifeWise approved children meeting at a chemical factory employing a sex offender?
SEA — whose stated mission is to protect kids — was aware of LifeWise approving children meeting at a chemical factory employing a registered sex offender.
In a statement to WOSU in May 2026, SEA co-founder Molly Gaines stated that SEA monitors potential child abuse concerns and believes programs like LifeWise require greater external oversight to protect children:
“The Secular Education Association, formerly called Parents Against LifeWise, uncovered the connections between these three men and LifeWise. The group opposes the movement to add religious education to public schools, like adding posters of the Ten Commandments into public school classrooms.
Molly Gaines, one of the Secular Education Association’s co-founders, told WOSU there needs to be more oversight of groups like LifeWise.
‘We’re finding watchdog activist groups like ours with no funding, with no backing...we’re the ones that are watching out for this sort of thing when it’s not our government, and it’s not our state institutions that are doing what they’re supposed to be doing to protect our kids,’ Gaines said. “
LifeWise has maintained its child safety protocols are sufficient:
“LifeWise maintains strict child safety policies designed to provide multiple layers of accountability. All staff and volunteers undergo background screenings through ADP Screening and Selection Services prior to serving… In addition, students are never left one-on-one with a single adult during LifeWise programming, and multiple adults are present in classrooms and student settings at all times. LifeWise also requires mandated reporter training and other child safety procedures.”
Even before the Color Master child endangerment incident, in July 2024 SEA uncovered a LifeWise director was hired despite previously being fired from an Ohio school over alleged sexting of minors and losing her teaching license— something LifeWise later said was missed due to a lack of criminal charges and the organization relying on self-disclosure.
While SEA has touched upon the Color Master child endangerment incident by LifeWise as a footnote in a YouTube video, it has not prominently highlighted the issue publicly.
Given recent child sexual abuse incidents involving multiple LifeWise employees and a volunteer, occurring outside the organization — and SEA’s stated mission to protect children — while SEA has recently highlighted their work uncovering the LifeWise director hired despite allegations of sexting with multiple minors, there still has been no mention by SEA of the Color Master child endangerment incident within media interviews.
What was in LifeWise’s control — and what wasn’t?
No organization can prevent or identify every future instance of child abuse or risk to children. Risks involving undisclosed behavior, unreported abuse, or future criminal conduct are, by definition, outside the complete control of any organization. However, organizations responsible for children still control how much preventable risk they create or tolerate through internal protocols, policies, and controls.
LifeWise controls its hiring standards, employee and volunteer screening processes, supervision requirements, and safety protocols. It can decide whether to require background checks equal to those required by public schools, whether to independently verify personal references, and whether to review the standing of professional licenses or prior employment history beyond self-disclosure.
What always remains within LifeWise’s control are the locations approved for its children’s RTRI programming.
The question is whether LifeWise exercised sound judgment over the risks that were entirely within its own power to reduce, mitigate, or avoid altogether — and, in the Color Master child endangerment incident:
LifeWise failed by choosing to send children to a chemical factory employing a sexually violent predator rather than selecting an available local church as the program location.
Would LifeWise be viewed differently today if the Color Master child endangerment incident had been reported in 2025?
Perhaps the most direct example supporting calls for greater external oversight — the Color Master child endangerment incident stands as the clearest smoking gun yet for LifeWise’s child safety failures.
But despite having the media connections, public credibility, and platform to amplify the Color Master child endangerment incident — SEA has not platformed this apparent breakdown in child safety oversight resulting from LifeWise’s own decisions.
LifeWise Exposed is left asking:
Why has SEA repeatedly failed to highlight this critical child safety incident directly created by LifeWise’s own actions?
SEA’s silence on the Color Master child safety incident only serves to help LifeWise by shielding it from further scrutiny — not supporting SEA’s own stated mission of protecting children.