Dan's Retirement Announcement
Dan Smithwick
President, Nehemiah Institute
This is a special announcement which has been in the works for a few years.
Coming up soon is the 40th anniversary of the Nehemiah Institute and the 84th year of my life. Both hard to believe.
I am hereby announcing my retirement. I am not disappearing completely - just making life changes whereby I won’t be traveling to schools and churches or processing and mailing out worldview reports as I have been doing since 1988. More on these changes below.
Actually, this is my second retirement- the first was from an AT&T Bell Telephone company in 1984 after nearly 20 years of communication work in North Dakota and Minnesota, plus some training at Bell Labs in New Jersey.
The AT&T work was preceded by four years of cryptology work with the Air Force in TX. This work (requiring a Top Secret security clearance) and subsequent work in network development with AT&T, introduced me to a world of “culture control” which opened my mind to another world, a hidden world, a dark world. In seeing work done between AT&T and the U.S. government, via cryptological means (undetectable) to monitor, record and store all personal communication (phone, email, texts) in our nation and in Israel, still haunts me; things of which I intend to work against in other ways. Learning of surveillance/control work played a role for my creating Nehemiah Institute in 1986. One can only imagine with today’s technology the level of surveillance and control taking place. Some are saying we are creating a digital prison. Truly, keeping liberty is at stake.
My coming to Christ in 1975, and being introduced to another worldview- the only valid worldview- a biblical worldview, became the major focus of the Nehemiah Institute over the next 40 years. I was seeing two primary worldviews - what St. Augustine wrote about, The City of God vs. the City of Man. It’s pretty clear which City has been being built in America. For at least a century.
I believe Nehemiah Institute was brought online in the 1980s to reveal the transition from Theism to Secularism, as displayed on the PEERS Trend Chart on website. The PEERS test, the only professionally-validated worldview assessment tool covering all major spheres of culture, highlights this transition. The data provides a roadmap of where rebuilding must be done, just as Nehemiah had a plan to rebuild the walls of fallen Jerusalem 2,500 years ago. But will the Church put trained men on the wall to build the City of God, again?
Regarding this Nehemiah work, a plan is in motion to transfer the PEERS testing program and associated worldview training materials, along with certain IP assets to an organization I helped create a few years ago, Christian Education Initiative (CEI) located in Virginia.
Don’t we just love those three-letter alphabet organizations!🥴 With that change Nehemiah Institute as a 501-c-3 organization will be discontinued.
I served as a board member of CEI for several years but stepped down from that earlier last year. CEI has recently employed the services of well-qualified individual to serve as its Executive Director. See mission at www.christedu.org which states: Advancing Christ’s Kingdom through Biblical Worldview Education. Materials and programs are highlighted for K-16 education. Annual Summits are held each fall whereby experts are invited to speak on education matters. Details on Summit VII will be revealed on website soon.
I will be spending time at CEI in 2026 to train someone on the PEERS assessment program, fairly complex. We have spent considerable work and expense to reposition PEERS to a new state-of-the-art platform with several new features:
Coming up soon is the 40th anniversary of the Nehemiah Institute and the 84th year of my life. Both hard to believe.
I am hereby announcing my retirement. I am not disappearing completely - just making life changes whereby I won’t be traveling to schools and churches or processing and mailing out worldview reports as I have been doing since 1988. More on these changes below.
Actually, this is my second retirement- the first was from an AT&T Bell Telephone company in 1984 after nearly 20 years of communication work in North Dakota and Minnesota, plus some training at Bell Labs in New Jersey.
The AT&T work was preceded by four years of cryptology work with the Air Force in TX. This work (requiring a Top Secret security clearance) and subsequent work in network development with AT&T, introduced me to a world of “culture control” which opened my mind to another world, a hidden world, a dark world. In seeing work done between AT&T and the U.S. government, via cryptological means (undetectable) to monitor, record and store all personal communication (phone, email, texts) in our nation and in Israel, still haunts me; things of which I intend to work against in other ways. Learning of surveillance/control work played a role for my creating Nehemiah Institute in 1986. One can only imagine with today’s technology the level of surveillance and control taking place. Some are saying we are creating a digital prison. Truly, keeping liberty is at stake.
My coming to Christ in 1975, and being introduced to another worldview- the only valid worldview- a biblical worldview, became the major focus of the Nehemiah Institute over the next 40 years. I was seeing two primary worldviews - what St. Augustine wrote about, The City of God vs. the City of Man. It’s pretty clear which City has been being built in America. For at least a century.
I believe Nehemiah Institute was brought online in the 1980s to reveal the transition from Theism to Secularism, as displayed on the PEERS Trend Chart on website. The PEERS test, the only professionally-validated worldview assessment tool covering all major spheres of culture, highlights this transition. The data provides a roadmap of where rebuilding must be done, just as Nehemiah had a plan to rebuild the walls of fallen Jerusalem 2,500 years ago. But will the Church put trained men on the wall to build the City of God, again?
Regarding this Nehemiah work, a plan is in motion to transfer the PEERS testing program and associated worldview training materials, along with certain IP assets to an organization I helped create a few years ago, Christian Education Initiative (CEI) located in Virginia.
Don’t we just love those three-letter alphabet organizations!🥴 With that change Nehemiah Institute as a 501-c-3 organization will be discontinued.
I served as a board member of CEI for several years but stepped down from that earlier last year. CEI has recently employed the services of well-qualified individual to serve as its Executive Director. See mission at www.christedu.org which states: Advancing Christ’s Kingdom through Biblical Worldview Education. Materials and programs are highlighted for K-16 education. Annual Summits are held each fall whereby experts are invited to speak on education matters. Details on Summit VII will be revealed on website soon.
I will be spending time at CEI in 2026 to train someone on the PEERS assessment program, fairly complex. We have spent considerable work and expense to reposition PEERS to a new state-of-the-art platform with several new features:
- Free testing for individual users
- Automated discount pricing for Group users
- Instant results upon completion of testing which may be printed, saved or shared
- Strict confidentiality of personal results with options for review of summary results by proctors of group testing
- Position Papers (scriptural training on key test items), no cost, digitally linked to PEERS Scorecards
- Retrievable Scorecards
See at: https://worldviewcheckup.org/. Please view the video clips, especially the one by Steve Deace.
The primary goals of having the PEERS operation at CEI are two fold: 1) To ensure that PEERS testing will have life after me and 2) build a marketing program to reach pastors with the need of attention to worldview matters. After all, a pastor’s primary task as a shepherd of God’s people is to “equip the saints.”
2 Tim 3:16, 17
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God (church members) may be complete, equipped for every good work.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.
PEERS, plus its associated worldview primer, PILLARS, are the perfect tools for a pastor to use in equipping the saints. My business cards say:
PEERS + PILLARS = LIBERTY
The cards also have this line: Make America Think Again (MATA); true discipleship. This is the mission of CEI based on scriptures such as:
Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Colossians 2:8
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
Proverbs 23:7
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he;
Translation- If a culture truly has the mind of Christ, Christendom will be in the home and in the public square. But if our thinking is based on Socialist ideas, Marxism will rule the day.
Our new website states: America is in a Worldview War. The Marxists have declared war in America’s classrooms, the Deep State has declared war in Congress and in U.S. monetary policy, Hollywood has declared war on family life. It grieves me that so few churches know this, or know this but operate as if “not our job.” But even worse then these- the widespread immorality in our land, even endorsements by Church factions. We have crossed the red line.
After watching America’s Christian heritage vanish from two 20-year generations of youth, (1988-2024- see PEERS Trend Chart on website), I have come to this conviction:
If America’s pulpits do not make “worldview” a regular topic, with follow-up action, our constitutional Republic is finished. Our grandchildren will cry out, “Why didn’t you do something when you could have!”
In closing, I plead with all of you, take the PEERS test with the free Individual User option, see how it works- quite easy. Then show your pastor the PEERS site and ask him to do the same. Suggest he then encourage church members take PEERS, high school youth and above (with the Group User option). Unequipped soldiers cannot win this war nor advance the Kingdom of Christ.
I want to thank the many, many people who have prayed for me, supported my work, used our materials and have been my friend all these years. Over ten ministry friends are now with our Lord. Most recently, Voddie Baucham, who spoke often of PEERS.
With my hands soon officially off the wheel of Nehemiah Institute, I will disband my Advisory Council. Thank you all for your godly, professional help.
May God reward each of you for the help and encouragement in keeping this ministry at work in rebuilding the wall, Nehemiah 2:17.
Brother Dan7
Calls and emails are always welcome,
smithwickdan@gmail.com
407-462-2725
PS- You are welcome to use info from this Newsletter as desired.