Pastors for Texas Children, a statewide advocacy group that has become a national movement, will give its founding executive director to the national movement and seek a new state leader.
Pastors for Texas Children was founded in 2013 by Charles Foster Johnson, a Baptist pastor who has been a champion for public education. With the success of the movement in Texas, additional state chapters of the advocacy group have formed, creating a national network.
Charles Foster Johnson
“Serving as founding executive director of Pastors for Texas Children has been one of the great honors of my ministry,” Johnson said. “Together, faith leaders across Texas have demonstrated that caring for children and protecting strong, inclusive public schools is both a moral and civic responsibility. I am grateful for this work and look forward to advancing these values nationally.”
Both the state and national movement seek to connect schools and congregations in partnerships, offer faith-informed public-school advocacy, advance dialogue on the value of public education and build coalitions of support.
The board of Pastors for Texas Children has initiated a formal search process to identify the organization’s next executive director.
“Our work is far from finished. The challenges facing Texas public schools are real and ongoing, but so is the strength of this movement,” said board Chair John Ogletree of First Metropolitan Church of Houston. “The board of trustees is deeply grateful for Rev. Johnson’s visionary leadership and excited to build on the strong foundation he leaves behind.”