Photo courtesy Flickr CC License

The evangelical creation care movement, though almost invisible to many, has been around for quite a few years.  One of its most visible historical markers is probably the founding of Au Sable Institute in 1979, thirty-three years ago now – but well before that date there were many individuals and a few small organizations seeking to promote what was then called ‘Christian environmental stewardship.’  There are many more of us now, and there is a lot of good work going on, but we still fly below the radar in most cases.

So it was enlightening and important that many of the current key players in this movement were on the phone together last week to share what we’re all doing, and perhaps more to the point, what God is doing to continue to foster and strengthen this movement.

Here’s a brief summary with bullet points of the highlights.  [If you’d like to hear a recording of the phone call yourself, just call  (507) 726-4220 and choose to listen to recording #1.] 

These notes are presented in the order on the phone call.  I am sure any of these folks would welcome a note from anyone interested in learning more; please write to them through the contact page on each organization’s website.  [Tell them Ed sent you!]

Scott Sabin is Director of  Plant With Purpose (formerly Floresta for those who are a bit out of date…)  This is one of our older organizations, having begun as a development organization in Latin America and now with projects and staff in Latin America, South America, Africa, and Asia.  PWP did some important work in Haiti following the recent earthquake.  Highlights recently

• They’ve planted 11 million trees.  Not sure over what time span, but that doesn’t really matter, does it?  It’s a big number.
• Opened a new regional office in Denver (main office is in San Diego).
• Currently involved in a new joint venture not yet public that has the potential link organizations and projects with new sources of funds (if I understood what Scott was describing).

Matthew Sleeth is Director of Blessed Earth, an educational nonprofit based in Asbury, Kentucky.   Upcoming highlights shared by Matthew

• A major seminary project is now in progress focused around a covenant seminaries are being asked to sign to commit to ‘live, preach, teach, hold each other accountable’ for creation care and sustainable activities and lifestyle on their campuses.  To date Denver, George Fox, Colombia and Asbury have signed on – a number of other major seminaries are in process.
• A year of teaching at and in cooperation with the National Cathedral in Washington DC kicks off on Earth Day (April 22) with a special service and recognition of Wendell Berry.

Joe Sheldon is a faculty member at Pacific Rim Institute for Environmental Studies.  Pacific Rim is one of the newest arrivals to the movement, but has a long shared history with Au Sable Institute , having been formed just a couple of years ago to take over Au Sable’s 175 acre Whidbey Island campus just north of Seattle.  The Institute is close to completing negotiations that will leave them with free and clear ownership of the property.  Highlights of the current and projected program…

• Pacfic Rim will continue to host Au Sable students and faculty during the summers;
• Ongoing research and restoration on the largest prairie remnant in Puget Sound, including the introduction of the Golden Paintbrush, a federally listed plant that is now growing 1500 plants strong;
• Partnerships with USFWS, National Park Service and others;
• and ongoing work with local schools and churches.

[Au Sable was to have been represented by new Director Fred Van Dyke, but winter weather in Chicago prevented Fred from joining us.  Undergrads in any field with an interest in creation care or environmental studies should be aware that the Au Sable program is available to supplement course offerings at their home campus. Check out their new website.]

Tyler Amy is the new Coordinator for Renewal, a relatively new student-run, student-led, student-focused organization with chapters on a number of Christian college campuses.  Think of it like a creation-care version of InterVarsity or Navigators(!).  Recent highlights:

• A fall summit (the second one) at Houghton College featured 70+ students from Houghton, Messiah, Eastern, Wheaton, Geneva, and (drum roll….) King’s University College of Alberta.
• Issuance of their second Green Awakenings report, this one focusing on assets and barriers to creation care on Christian college campuses.  [You really need to get this report – it is quite amazing what is taking place on Christian college campuses these days.]

Renewal shares organizational ties with two other organizations that are old and well-know partners in the movement.  He also reported on

Creation Care Study Program (CCSP), Chris Elisara, Director. Similar to Au Sable and Pacific Rim, but offering semester-length study-abroad programs…

• Have moved into new facilities at their campus in Belize;
• Will be opening a new semester program on Camino Island (also in Puget Sound) focusing on sustainability.
• They also have an established and popular program in New Zealand.

Restoring Eden – Peter Illyn, Director, is known for getting students (and others) involved in visible direct-action efforts.  Current plans include

• Spring Break health surveys in coal mining areas of Appalachia – (last yr’s were published in the Journal of Community Health).
• Chapel lectures on campuses, recent trip in Indiana.

Alexei Laushkin is on staff with the Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN) .  Based in Washington, publisher of Creation Care Magazine, EEN has a number of things going on:

• Last year partnered w/Blessed Earth, Eden Vigil,
• Involved in a highly visible ‘Mercury and the Unborn’ campaign with radio ads, television ads and testimony at some high profile Washington hearings, thus adding a strong evangelical voice to the national discussion.
• Held their 2^nd Day of Prayer for Creation Care in Wash DC, and…
• Their big upcoming event is the 3^rd annual Day of Prayer for Creation Care to be held in Washington on April 26^th.  Featured speakers will include Dr. Chris Wright (primary author of the Cape Town Commitment), Leith Anderson (NAE), Lon Allison (Billy Graham Center), etc.  [Tickets are available for members of the movement – contact Alexei soon!]

Lowell Bliss is founding director of Eden Vigil , an environmental missions initiative operating under the umbrella of Christar, an established and well respected pioneering and church planting mission agency.  Eden Vigil’s recent and upcoming highlights include…

• Monthly publication (via email) of the Environmental Missions Prayer Digest.  This is a prayer publication unlike any other, and deserves a wider following than it now has (sign up here).
• Lowell has an important book in progress:  Environmental Missions: Planting Churches and Trees.  Now in the negotiate-with-the-editors-and-rewrite stage.
• A new podcast will be launched any day now.  The Agabus Project .  Interviews will feature people like Peter Harris, founder of A Rocha, and Joel Salatin, well-known proponent of sustainable farming and eating.
• “Sending Services” – similar to ‘tent-making missions’; Eden Vigil provides supporting services for Christians going to other countries in secular (environmental) jobs who want to go with a “missionary mindset”.

Tom Rowley is director of A Rocha USA, the US chapter of A Rocha (ask Tom how to pronounce it!), the largest and probably oldest international Christian conservation organization, with a presence in about 25 countries now.  In the US A Rocha is involved in…

• 3 projects – Linden WA, Santa Barbara, and ‘the Texas hill country’, and several others under development.
• The Texas project is a  7,000 acre ranch, and is working with some new grant money on habitat protection, riparian work, and ultimately the development of a Field Study Center.
• The Rowley family recently relocated from Texas to Bend OR and Tom is developing new opportunities in the Pacific Northwest.
• Grass roots orgs can now join A Rocha as independent affiliates.  If you know of a local group that could benefit from a connection with (and the encouragement of) a national organization, contact Tom for more information.

And finally, Ed Brown (myself), Director of  Care of Creation… Our emphasis is on the mobilization of the church toward a God-centered response to the environmental crisis.  This has us going in a number of different directions:

• A long-established work in Kenya (Care of Creation Kenya) working in tree planting, agriculture (“Farming God’s Way”), and training and discipling church leaders, teachers, pastors and development workers about environmental issues and creation care principles.
• A similar new project will be launched in southern Tanzania this year.
• The Our Father’s World seminar is a weekend seminar for churches, presented around the country and in a number of overseas venues.
• Ed is the point person for a Global Consultation on the Gospel and Creation Care to be held in Jamaica October 29 – November 3 of this year, hosted by Lausanne and the World Evangelical Alliance.  Names are now being collected for this invitation only meeting – contact him now if you have people you would like to nominate for participation.

The Creation Care movement is most definitely alive and well.  None of these organizations has the resources they need to do the tasks that need to be done – we encourage you to find your favorite one(s) – send them a note thanking them for their work, and perhaps send a donation from time to time!

[Perhaps you can help us spread the word by reposting this in full on any blog you might have or sharing via Twitter or Facebook.]

Report compiled by Ed Brown, Care of Creation.

[Apologies if any important bullet points were left out…]

Here’s the Christmas letter we sent from Care of Creation to our mailing list recently.  If you would like to be on this list, click here to sign up, and check off any of the different newsletter’s you’d like to  receive (we mail about every six weeks or so).

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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On this week of Christmas, I am very pleased to bring you greetings from all of us here at Care of Creation – from me and Susanna, from our staff and volunteers in Madison, from the Sorley family and our project staff in Kenya, and from the Ness family, preparing to launch our Tanzania project early in the new year.

Often at this time of year people ask me if I will be doing any traveling or speaking in December. Invariably my answer is, “No – people don’t want environmental talks during Christmas.”  Now, don’t get me wrong – I’m not complaining!  It’s nice to spend time closer to home.

On the other hand, Christmas can be a special time for thinking about God’s relationship to his earthly creation.  I touched on this several years ago in a chapter of my book, Our Father’s World, comparing Jesus’ incarnation with a hypothetical visit of a rock star to my own home:

This is how we need to think of Jesus, the Son of God, coming to earth.  We often think of his humiliation.  It is not a small thing for the all-powerful creator of the universe to adopt the form of a creature, but that is exactly what happened:

[Jesus,] being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross.  [Philippians 2:6-8]

Something else is just as important, though.  When he came down, he raised us up, and all of creation as well.  He lived here, in our house.  When he walked down the street and sat in the shade of a tree, his presence was honoring and exalting the dirt, the grass, the tree, the sky. If my daughter’s idol, the singer, had actually come to our house, the effect would have been purely imaginary.  Whatever fame and reputation this man has is purely ephemeral and is already fading.  He is no more worthy of praise and honor than I am – or than my daughter herself.  Not so with Jesus.  He made the dirt, the grass, the trees and the sky.  When he arrived, everything changed.

In the last chapter we saw creation as a temple – a cosmic worship space where a divine-human relationship can be pursued.  In Jesus we see God himself walking the aisles of that temple, not just standing behind the altar.  This is God as one of us: eating and drinking, laughing and playing, walking and talking, sleeping and working.  Before we heard God say that “it was good”; now we can see God himself enjoying creation.  It must be good, and it must be worth taking care of. [Our Father's World, chapter 3, IVP 2008]

There are a number of reasons we could list for why we do what we do, and you have probably heard many of them:  Tending the Garden was the first task God gave us to do; caring for creation means caring for people – it’s a true ‘pro-life issue’;  God’s redemptive plan culminates in the ‘reconciliation of all things to himself’ (Col 1:15-20).

But I like the Christmas reason as much as any:  Jesus, the Son of God, became part of Creation, and showed by his example and presence here that this is a special place and one to be valued and cared for.

And so, on this occasion when we pause to remember Jesus’ coming to earth as one of us, we thank you for your part in making our mission possible.  And we ask that you join us in recommitting to the great task of caring for this creation until the very day when Jesus returns to ‘make all things new!’

Blessings from our Care of Creation family to yours –

Ed and Susanna Brown;
Craig and Tracy Sorley with our Kenyan staff;
And Erik and Rachel Ness, bound for Tanzania.

Order Our Father’s World from our office or Amazon by clicking here;
send a donation to any of our staff or projects – or ‘buy trees for Kenya’ – by clicking here.

For many years, it has been our practice (my wife and I) to write a Christmas letter that includes one page of devotional thoughts about Christmas, and a second page of family news.  This post is taken from this year’s letter -I hope you enjoy it, or at least find it helpful.  Please note that you are more than welcome to sign up for our occasional newsletter - and then you can get the family news, too!   When you get to the sign up form, click on News from Ed and Susanna, and any of the other newsletters you would like to subscribe to.  

Here are my thoughts on Christmas, 2011:

Christmas.  It is a great story that we never tire of: The manger scene, stars, angels, shepherds, wise men. Underneath the story is the best news any of us will ever hear:  Immanuel – “God is with us”. In the words of John’s gospel, “the Word became flesh and lived among us…”

What we kind of lose track of, I think, is what it took to make this miracle happen.  Bringing a baby into the world is not easy…

A couple of nights ago, as I was starting to think about this letter, Susanna looked at her phone, and discovered a text message earlier in the day:  One of our friends, a member of a young married women’s Bible study that Susanna leads, was on her way to the hospital.  A baby was on the way!

But the message was hours old.  Surely something had happened since then?  We tried calling.  Texting.  No response.  Finally a text from the mother-to-be herself 12 hours after they had arrived at the hospital.  Things were progressing, she felt fine.  We went to bed happy that by the time we woke up there would be another member of our adopted extended family to cuddle and coo over.

By morning baby Daniel was in the world.  But, as we learned later,  he had arrived via c-section after 18 hours of hard labor.  Small Mom, big baby (8+ pounds) – it happens.  Both were doing fine, but it was a reminder that even with modern medicine, bringing a baby into the world is an ordeal. In this case, it was like running an 18 hour marathon followed by major surgery.

That’s what made our visit that to the hospital that afternoon so interesting:  Mom was exhausted.  You could see it in her eyes. But her face was full of… joy is the only word that fits here.  She was radiant!  All she cared about was this beautiful little boy she had been waiting for through all these months.  No, she didn’t hide the pain or pretend it hadn’t happened.  Pressed, she admitted that it was a long, hard effort – and the c-section was no fun at all.  But it was worth it!  Her baby was finally here! Nothing else mattered.

There is a lesson here about Christmas.  The joy of Jesus’ birth also comes through clouds of pain.  A very ordinary human pregnancy, with all the expected suffering, complicated by family and social tension, the real threat of ostracism and even a dose of political intrigue. But in the end, joy and praises to God.  We see the same thing at the end of Jesus life, as well:  The joy and celebration of Easter comes through the clouds of a crucifixion.

What is true of Christmas is true of life.  How many of us can share such stories: child birth, parenting, unemployment, economic reverses, deteriorating health, the ultimate challenge of death, our own and that of loved ones.  Susanna and I have more such stories every year – and we know you do, too.

The answer was in the eyes of baby Daniel’s Mommy.  You knew that she hadn’t forgotten the pain; it was real.  Its memory will be with her the rest of her – and his! – life.  But it didn’t matter any more.  Her joy was too great.  So with us – even when joy has to be held in the arms of faith.

As David has it in Psalm 30:5,

Last Friday was  “Black Friday”, when the world goes crazy over shopping.  There was a lot of controversy in the days leading up to the event concerning stores opening not at 5 am, not ta 4 am, not even at midnight, but as early as 10 pm the evening of Thanksgiving.  This controversy was misguided.  The issue should not have been Black Friday “invading” Thanksgiving’s time slot, but Black Friday happening at all… As for me, my experience of Black Friday was different and unexpectedly blessed. What did I do on Black Friday?  I went to a funeral.  Read on…

I am an incurable news-addict, so I suppose it’s my own fault that I had heartburn before breakfast on Black Friday.  I woke up to a story from the Los Angeles Times that many of you probably saw in some form sometime during the weekend:

Matthew Lopez went to the Wal-Mart in Porter Ranch on Thursday night for the Black Friday sale but instead was caught in a pepper-spray attack by a woman who authorities said was “competitive shopping.”

…”People started screaming, pulling and pushing each other, and then the whole area filled up with pepper spray,” [a] Selmar resident said. “I guess what triggered it was people started pulling the plastic off the pallets and then shoving and bombarding the display of games. It started with people pushing and screaming because they were getting shoved onto the boxes.”

Later, during the day I heard an interview on NPR with a guy who “had to” get in line at a Toy Store during his family’s Thanksgiving dinner .  “My mother didn’t like it, but I had to do it.” And another with a shopper who admitted that among all of her purchases, there was a total of one – 1! – item that was for someone else.  She had bought everything else for herself.  A review of the posts of my “friends” on Facebook showed a few expressing dismay over Black Friday, but also a disturbing number who were caught up in the spirit of the thing, and dragging their Facebook friends along for the ride.

Do I object to Black Friday starting at midnight or earlier?

No.

I object to Black Friday happening at all.

You could hardly find a sharper contrast between two events than the differences between Thanksgiving and Black Friday.  Thanksgiving is, by definition, a humbling experience.  I cannot be thankful without an implicit recognition that there is someone besides myself who is responsible for what I have and even for who I am.  Thanksgiving as traditionally practiced is about family, and sharing, and giving and as much as anything, about acknowledging those nonmaterial aspects of life which have no price but have incalculable value.

Black Friday – well, we’ve already seen it, haven’t we?  It’s about money.  Consumerism.  Irrational material acquisition.  Greed.  Black Friday is, perhaps, the middle class playing the same games that Wall Street bankers play every day.

You could make a pretty good case that this is one “holiday” that Christians should shun with all of the passion available to them.

So what did I do on Black Friday?  I went to a funeral.  And I found Black Friday turning into a very, very good Friday.

Ralph was an old friend of our family.  In fact, he was one of my father-in-law’s best friends, and showed that friendship in his own quiet way in the days leading up to my father-in-law’s own death some ten years ago.  Though we had to drive two and a half hours each way on a holiday weekend to attend the service, we felt we owed it to Ralph’s family.  After all, Ralph had already done more than this for our own family.

His death was unexpected but not surprising – he was, after all, 86 years old.  The service was a comforting tribute to a husband, father, grandfather who by all accounts had lived his life well.  There were the usual favorite hymns and Bible readings.  But what struck me was the contrast between what we were experiencing inside that church with what I knew was going on in every shopping mall in the country at that very moment.

This man had captured the essence of Thanksgiving in every aspect of his life, and he stood, even in his coffin, as a silent rebuke to all that is Black Friday.

According to the values of the world of Black Friday, Ralph didn’t accomplish much of note.  When the history books are written, he won’t get even a footnote.  But in the world of Thanksgiving, it’s going to be a different story.   Ralph’s eldest son paid tribute in simple eloquence.

“He was quiet.  And he was faithful.”

If something needed doing, Ralph was the one who did it.

We were treated to a number of examples of the kinds of little things that Ralph did quietly and faithfully.  What sticks in my mind, though, is the church sign.  The Pastor told us that the sign in front of the church – you know, the kind with moveable letters that announces a sermon title and maybe a verse of the week – had been updated every week by Ralph for years.  No one asked him to do it.  He just did it.  Every week.

In fact, the words on the sign on the day of his funeral had been placed there by Ralph himself.

“Quiet… and faithful.”  What a tribute.

You know the kind of person Ralph was because you know someone like this yourself.  People like this represent the triumph of selflessness over selfishness.  The victory of humility over arrogance and greed.  And the inevitable and glorious transformation of all of our Black Fridays into Good Fridays.

Our friends at the Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN) have developed a new program to train “Creation Care Champions” – people who will be equipped to give presentations in their own churches and communities.

Here’s the blurb from Alexei Laushkin, host of the program:

The Creation Care Teaching (CCT) Institute is a series of teaching modules for those interested in learning more about creation care, developing their creation care expertise, and/or for those who might want to speak about creation care to their church, school, and or local community. CCT offers monthly teleconference trainings on a wide range of creation care topics including: the biblical basis for creation care, global Christianity and creation care, climate change, mercury & the unborn, deforestation, relief and development work, protecting wild places, sustainable agriculture, evangelism, creation care as discipleship, green buildings, and much more.

For more information email support@creationcare.org

And actually, you need to do it right away – the next session will be held at 3 pm this Thursday, October 20. The topic is Creation Care and the Lausanne Cape Town Commitment with guest presenter Lowell Bliss (one of the occasional authors on this blog).

It’s free, and well worth your time – but you’ll need to contact Alexei via the email address above to get the call-in instructions and to have the material emailed to you.

Tell him Ed sent you…

Farming God’s Way is part of Care of Creation’s program in Kenya.  Essentially conservation no-till farming wrapped in a strong envelope of biblical teaching, the program consistently produces yields many times that produced with conventional farming techniques, even in – or better, especially in drought years like the one we’re in now, along with farmers who have a strong biblical framework for their farming work.  440% increased yield is nothing to sneeze at… but enough words!  Here’s a picture just received from Craig Sorley with his comments below:

From Craig:

Attached is a photo from the creation stewardship and farming God’s way workshop we held for 3 days last week with 30 farmers from Mai Mahiu and Ndeiya.  We harvested our onion crop with them.  The control plot produced 17.3kg of onions (as seen on the left of the photo) and the FGW plot produced 76.9 kg (as seen on the right).  The FGW plot produced 4.4 times greater yield!!!

Want to help Craig do more work like this?  Donate here!  (Select “Care of Creation Kenya Project” in the drop-down list).

Click through for another picture…

Attention, Students!

If you…

• Have an interest in caring for God’s creation
• Can put together a video
• Could use a thousand dollars

Then Listen up!

A creation care video contest has just been announced.  Here’s the blurb:

The idea is simple… make a video; upload it as instructed by December 10; collect and cash the check (*IF you’re good enough, of course!)

Note that this contest has been designed for groups as well as individuals – submit a video on behalf of your campus InterVarsity chapter, or your campus green club or just you and your roommate.

Here’s the Facebook group link – go ahead and Like it and Share it with others.  While you’re at it, give this post a +1 on Google Plus to spread the word further.

The famous Ben Lowe of EEN is behind this project.  Contact him at ben [AT] creationcare.org if you have questions. [Care of Creation is a cosponsor of this contest.]

Here’s some additional information including upload instructions:

Some ideas to get you started

• Conserving our resources
• Reducing energy usage
• Improving energy efficiency
• Generating renewable energy
• Promoting humane treatment of animals
• Cleaning up the air, water, and landscape, and making changes that will prevent or reduce pollution
• Encouraging enjoyment, understanding and appreciation of God’s creation
• Creatively supporting good public policies on environmental stewardship
• Preserving famland and wilderness areas
• Promoting healthy and diverse food supply
• Protecting endangered species

Prizes

First Place: $1,000 for individual winner; $2,000 for the group winner
Second Place: $500/individual; $1,000/group

Third Place: $250/individual; $500/group

Special Mentions (up to 3): $100/individual; $200/group

Contest runs from Oct. 1 to Dec. 10

Submit Your Video

1. Create a YouTube login at YouTube.com.
2. Search for the NAE Channel (theNAEvideos).
3. Send the NAE Channel a message through YouTube containing your video. Also include your name/group name, phone number, email address, and group members’ ages and dates of birth.
4. Videos for the college contest can be submitted to the NAE YouTube Channel from Oct. 1 to Dec. 10.  Videos will not be accepted outside of those time brackets.
5. The NAE will notify you or your group of the results by email.

Criteria for Judging

1. Creativity, design of video and style
2. Originality of approach and biblical message
3. Clear understanding of concepts

Contest Rules

• All entrants must be 18-25 years old to participate.
• All entrants must agreed to the statement below.*
• Video must be about creation care and should include a biblical basis for stewarding God’s creation. The video could include a current project, future project idea, or a creative representation of “creation care” ideas or challenges.
• Video should be at least 30 seconds, but under 3 minutes.
• Inappropriate content will not be allowed.**
• Videos for the college contest can be submitted to the NAE YouTube Channel from Oct. 1 to Dec. 10. Videos will not be accepted outside of those time brackets.

Any questions?  Email the NAE office.

*By submitting a video, I certify that I have read the Rules and agree to adhere to them. All videos must be the original work of the Entrant and not infringe on the rights of a third party.  All people participating in the video must be participating with their knowledge and be willing to sign a Declaration and Release Form. Any video submitted may be used or reproduced by the NAE without further consent. I agree to release any rights to the video to the NAE.

Before being declared a winner, the selected Entrants will be required to sign a Declaration and Release form stating that he/she has read, understood and complied with these Rules, grants all consents required as contemplated in these Rules, authorizes the Contest Operator and/or their promotional agents to broadcast, publish and disseminate his/her name, address, photograph, likeness and voice, in connection with any promotion or publicity, and/or for general news, entertainment and information purposes at no compensation to the winner, except the prize as awarded and confirming the release described in the following sentence. By entering this Contest, each entrant hereby releases the Contest Operator and its operating divisions, affiliated corporations and their respective officers, directors, employees and agents from any and all liability of any kind arising out of the entrant’s participation in this Contest and, if applicable, receipt and use of the prize. Winners will be declared from the final pool of qualified entries, pending the receipt of signed Declarations and Release forms.

The Contest Operator assumes no responsibility or liability whatsoever arising from or in any way related to this Contest or the acceptance or use of the prizes awarded or for tampering, theft, defects, viruses, human errors including gross negligence, deletions, technical or telephone problems, undeliverable messages, computer errors, lost, misdirected, late or incomplete entries or for any online difficulties that may result in damage or malfunction the computer or the failure of the Contest Operator to process any entry and otherwise award any prize.

The Contest Operator is the National Association of Evangelicals.  The decision of the contest judges will be a final decision by the Contest Operator.
**The NAE reserves the right to not post a video to its YouTube Channel or to remove a video and/or comment from the channel if the NAE deems it inappropriate in any way.

This summer Brittany Ederer, a student at UW-Madison, served as an intern in the Care of Creation office in Madison.  Based on her interest in camping, education nature and environment, we assigned her to start a survey project of Christian camps in Wisconsin, the upper Midwest and then throughout the country.  Are there Christian camps who are actively promoting creation care as part of their camp program?  Are they using creation care principles in caring for their properties?  This blog post is a preliminary report on a visit to one camp not far from Madison.  It turns out one of the best examples of creation care at camp is right in our own back yard.  We’re looking forward to a complete report from Brittany later on, but in the meantime, enjoy her thoughts on what’s going on at Timber-lee…

In mid-August I had the opportunity to visit Camp Timber-lee in East Troy, Wisconsin.  Timber-lee is an Evangelical Free camp that is busy year-round with summer camp, retreats, and school programs including Environmental Education.  I met with the Environmental Education Instructor/Animal Care Manager, Karen Good, and she showed me around their impressive Science Education Center.  My excitement turned to delight when I entered one of their several animal rooms and saw a myriad of snakes, turtles, and other herpetofauna  (look it up!).

While I held a beautiful orange and yellow kingsnake, Karen explained that many of their animals were adopted from rescues or donated to the camp.  The other room of animals was mostly mammals with a few birds, including a rescue squirrel that could not be released to the wild because he was raised by humans-and now thinks of himself as one too!

The rest of the tour included a spectacular “Seven Days of Creation” exhibit, classrooms with unparalleled insect collections and mounts of animals from around the world, a classroom all about energy and physics, a walk through some of their woods, and a stop at the marsh.

As I continued to chat with Karen, she explained how Timber-lee uses the resources they’ve been blessed with to teach summer camp kids and students alike.  I began to realize just how simple it could be to connect people with nature and help them develop a deep, Biblical appreciation and respect for the world God has placed us in.

Here are a few keys to the success of the environmental stewardship focus at Timber-lee:

• They introduce children to the animals in the Nature Center so they interact with living, breathing creatures that have specific habitat and diet needs.  In this way, the children can overcome trepidations they may have towards snakes, lizards, etc. while regaining an awe of nature.  It’s not always feasible to try and teach young ones about habitat destruction and the economic problems that accompany pollution, but if you can get them to care about the animals, then you’ve given them a reference point for being concerned about the environment as a whole.
• They use what they already have-for instance, they work on the section of forest they have to remove invasive species, they take advantage of the marsh shoreline to show and teach animal tracks, and use protected or endangered species already on the property to teach about conservation (like the kitten tail Besseya bullii, a threatened vascular plant in WI)
• They work with and take advantage of outside organizations, such as wildlife rehabilitation centers and conservation groups.  Numerous times rehabilitated wildlife is released on Timber-lee property because they maintain healthy native habitats.  They also have received grants from organizations like The Prairie Enthusiasts, which allows them to improve and expand their native prairie areas at camp.

This is a camp I would want my children to attend, because they’re doing it right!  The campers learn about what the outside world is like-what animals live where, how to identify their tracks, what a native ecosystem should look like.  It’s fun to learn!  Outside recreation should include more than wakeboarding or playing basketball, and can be as simple as learning about the trees around the campfire.  Also, creation care at Timber-lee isn’t just about how much money they can save or how many  “green” products they switch to, but about understanding a little better the heart of God.  Timber-lee has prayed and sought the face of God, and He has blessed them with many donations (like an insect collection) that they can use as teaching tools.

As I drove back to Madison, I reflected on a few questions:

• What would it look like for other camps across the USA to take their God-given resources to the next level?
• Many thousands of acres in this country are the property of Christian camps-how many of those acres are harboring invasive species, threatened or endangered species, or near-pristine habitat?
• How many camps are using what they have to actively engage their campers in environmental stewardship?

These are the types of questions I am trying to answer through my internship with Care of Creation, Inc.

Eight or nine months ago I got an email from a guy named Mark Davis.  Could I give him a call.  I was travelling – out of the country, I think – and the message got buried.  He emailed again.  Then he called.  I thought, Okay, this guy is serious – let’s find out what this is all about.

Mark is a large animal vet in Florida (think James Herriott in the Florida sunshine).  He is also, like my colleague Craig Sorley, a missionary kid who grew up in Africa.  He has a passion for Africa’s wildlife that matches Craig’s love for Africa’s birds and trees.  He is also a phenomenal photographer.

Anyway – Mark is involved in a film project to save the critically endangered Black Rhino.  Midway through the project he got hold of my book, Our Father’s World, and decided he needed to turn the film from a general nature appeal to an appeal directed at churches, using the force of the biblical arguments.  And he needed someone to talk on film about some of these issues.

Would I come to Florida?

I would.  And did last March.  A delightful day and half with Mark, his videographer and family.  The film is still in process, but Mark has given us permission to post some of the footage of me answering his questions.  These are on YouTube, but we’ve also set up a series of pages on this blog to give you access to them, and to add your own comments if you like.  Start here, (there’s also a tab at the top left) and then look below the first clip for links to five others.

Let us know what you think, and share with your friends.

I’ve been pushing hard all summer on a major writing project with the goal of finishing the intial writing by the end of September.  This is the main reason you’ve seen less posts on Our Father’s World than usual.  Sorry about that – but hopefully the end product will be worth the wait.

In the meantime, enjoy this video clip from Chipotle.  You may know that I’m not much of a fast-food advocate – but this company does seem different.

Enjoy and pass it along!