Family Research Council president Tony Perkins urged conservative Christian listeners of his radio program on Wednesday to run for positions on their local public school boards to combat gender identity education programs because those programs make it harder for children to be taught the gospel.

On the August 23 episode of Family Research Council’s “Washington Watch” radio program, Perkins shared a report about parents who complained to a school board in California that a discussion about gender identity in a kindergarten classroom had left their children “confused.” According to Perkins, the lesson was part of a larger plot to prevent churches from reaching children with their message.

“They’re going after your children with these agendas because they know if they can change the hearts and minds of these kids and confuse them as young as five years old—folks, they’ve cut you off at the pass,” Perkins told listeners. “They’re trying to create greater confusion in the minds of these kids. It’s going to make it difficult even to reach them with the gospel.”

“You can delegate the authority to the local school district, private school, Christian school, charter school, but you still, before God, are responsible for what your children are taught,” Perkins said.

Perkins continued, “This is why we need more Christians running for public office, beginning with school boards.”