“What if a terrific coach and mentor of student athletes is only marginally committed to the Christian mission of the college?” he said. “To earn a place among college football’s elite programs, will Liberty alter its student conduct policies to attract more student athletes?”

Liberty University, the nation’s largest Christian school, wants an invitation to move up to the highest level of college football.

University administrators have spent millions of dollars building a football program intended to compete within the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly Division I-A. The school hopes to imitate Notre Dame, which will play in this year’s national championship game on Jan. 7.

Jerry Falwell Jr., chancellor and president of Liberty, says he has a responsibility to donors and alumni to build a top-notch football program. The Liberty Flames have won five Big South titles in the past six years. They joined the Football Championship Subdivision, formerly Division I-AA, in 2002. To join the Football Bowl Subdivision, schools must commit to fund 85 sports scholarships — a jump from the 63 required by the Football Championship Subdivision — and average home attendance of 15,000 for two years. They must also increase travel and recruitment budgets. After that, an individual conference, such as the Big 10 or PAC-12, must invite a school to join. Games at the Football Bowl level bring in significantly more money for their teams than games at the Football Championship level.

“This investment will pay dividends for generations because it will shine a light on our core mission to train champions for Christ like nothing else can,” Falwell said. “We see top-tier college athletics as a mission field.”

Pursuit of a national-level football team, which would give the school greater visibility to spread its faith-based message and mission, is just part of Liberty’s pursuit of growth and name recognition, Falwell said. Building recognition through football was part of Jerry Falwell Sr.’s vision when he founded Liberty. The university, which has 12,600 residential students and more than 80,000 online students, is in the midst of a $400 million campus expansion and will open a medical school in 2014. Head coach Turner Gill joined the football program last year from the University of Kansas and previously coached for the University at Buffalo.

Other Christian schools also recognize the promise of stellar sports teams.

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