PURCELLVILLE, Va., Jan. 10, 2017 /
Christian Newswire/ -- Home School Legal Defense Association founder and chairman Michael Farris has announced today that he has accepted a position with Alliance Defending Freedom as their new president, CEO, and general counsel. In accepting the new position at ADF, Farris will be stepping down from leadership in other organizations he has been involved in, including HSLDA.
"It's bittersweet in the sense of having to change—I wish I could continue to do what I'm doing in some respects and do this—but that's just not physically possible," Farris said in a video announcement. "[My wife Vickie and I] believe this is God's call for our lives for this season, and we're looking forward to doing more things, different things, expanded things for the work of the Lord in this new venue."
In 1983, Farris started HSLDA in partnership with J. Michael Smith and became the full-time president of HSLDA in 1986, where he served in that capacity until 2000 to become the Chairman of the Board. In addition to HSLDA, Farris was involved in starting and leading Patrick Henry College,
ParentalRights.org, Convention of States, Madison Project, and Generation Joshua. Farris said that HSLDA is in capable hands and that he will remain on the board of directors.
"I have 33 years of absolute confidence in Mike Smith and the leadership that he will bring and the stability, and in the rest of the team as well," he said. "The people that serve as vice presidents [at HSLDA] all have been here for [up to] 25 years, and the stability and the solid judgment that are in all the leadership positions give me a real confidence."
Farris begins at ADF on January 10 and hopes to expand the size of the organization to be larger than the ACLU. "I believe that God will be pleased to bring us victory," he said. "The days look pretty dark if you look objectively around us right now. But they looked really, really dark in the first days of the homeschooling movement. I've been privileged to walk through those dark days and come out on the other side and see the light of day shining brightly and consistently. And that's what I want to see in the other areas of life that ADF is going to be involved in."
Home School Legal Defense Association is a nonprofit advocacy organization established to defend and advance the constitutional right of parents to direct the education of their children and to protect family freedoms. Visit us online at www.HSLDA.org 
