Restoration: A Creation Care Podcast

More and more Americans are converting their homes to solar energy. Pricing has come down and the change is more possible for many Americans today. But it can seem complicated and confused. Listen to learn about going solar from Henry McCay of Solar Urban Neighbors, a non-profit which helps people navigate these confusing waters, and Dr. David Foster, professor at Messiah University, who recently self-installed solar on his own home. (David shares pictures of his installation which you can see pictures of at his Facebook page listed below). Learn about the steps you need to take to install solar (from city permits to completion) and tips and tricks for making sure your system is tailored to your specific energy needs.

In this week's episode, Kim talks with Allen Drew of the Climate Witness Project. He discusses the work he is doing in Philadelphia helping churches focus on energy efficiency and move towards clean energy. Stay until the end where Allen lays out a detailed analysis of the Biblical mandate for creation care.

Dean VanFarowe (Pastor of Calvary Reformed Church inCleveland, Ohio) talks about his belief that caring for creation requires us tolean back on the sense of wonder we had as children. When talking about this issue, Deanintegrates his personal experiences from growing up in North Dakota farm-countryto his time ministering in inner-city Cleveland, integrated with truth from the Bible andGod's grace and love. He introduces theGospel of Peace which says that Christ died for the entire cosmos (this theory acknowledgesthat Christ saves individuals but also died for my neighbors, my enemies andthe entire cosmos. In other words, all thingshave become new.)

Caleb and Emily Haynes first learned about creation care incollege and since then have grown in implementing thoughtful practices intotheir daily lives with their children and churches. (Note: they have never owned a dryer, even when they were using cloth diapers). Listen to gain insight and tips on how tointegrate it more into your life.

In this episode of Restoration: A Creation Care Podcast, KimAnderson talks with Brit Bolerjack, the College and Community Pastor at OklahomaCity First Church of the Nazarene. Brit's love of nature began when she wasyoung and had a tree she loved to climb. When that tree was cut down, she made a promise to herself to never totake nature away from others. Fromthere, her devotion increased a few years ago when she took a carbon footprint calculator. We talk about the changes she made in herlife as a result of that and her 30-day low-waste experiment.

Restoration is about justice. In this episode of Restoration, Kim talks with Reverend DiedreBrower Latz, Principal and Senior Lecturer in Pastor and Social Theology at Nazarene Theological College in Manchester, UK. Diedre reminds us that God is a God of justice and, as such, we should be working for justice in our world. Weare reminded that victims of environmental justice are often the poor with little agency in their lives (time, money, etc.). Environmental care and ethics should not be a luxury as they are now - they should be normal. Within the limits of the life that I live,how do I enable both myself and how do I (or we as a church) enable others tolive well and to care for creation? How do we structure our lives differently? How do we shift from thinking about churchsuccess to thinking more creatively about new systems for change? It all starts with our little tiny choices inthe moment.

Restoration is about leaing the earth better than we foundit. In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will loveonly what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught (BabaDioum, 1968) In this episode of Creation Care, Kim talks with JonathanTwining, Assistant Professor of Biology at Eastern Nazarene College. The conversation centers on how Jonathan cameto care about God's creation and how he approaches teaching his collegestudents about creation care. Jonathantalks about the two things he wants his students to understand. First, is pollution and environmental health(which is an environmental science issue) and our impact on the other species inGod's creation (conservation). Thediscussion centers around these two areas and how we can all become more awareand take action. John also challengesthe fear of many (including Kim) that snakes are bad, given that God said thateverything He created was good.

In this episode of Restoration: A Creation Care Podcast, Kim interviews Rachel Lamb who is faculty at Ausable Institute where she teaches about environmentallaw and policy and land resources. Shetalks with us about her own journey of learning how faith and caring forcreation interact and the individual choices she has made to reduce her impacton the Earth. She also talks about thework of AuSable Institute and the work they do with school age children intheir area and the programs they have for college students.

Description:In this third episode of Restoration: a Creation Care Podcast, Rebecca Howard joins the show to talk about creation care when working with children's ministry in churches. When children are young is a great time to teach them about the importance of caring for God's creation. Also, it is important to recognize that much of the waste in churches today happens during children's church and Vacation Bible School. We'll talk about some practical tips for church leaders to consider when planning children's discipleship.

In this thought-provoking episode, Kim talks with Liz Piercewho has a PhD in Ethics. Theconversation centers around ethics and creation care. First, ethics is defined as the process ofanswering the question “What should I/we do?” Then, we discuss what this means for us as Christians. We have the Biblical command to love ourneighbor. But what does that look likefrom a creation care perspective? Do oureveryday actions impact our neighbor around the world? How could creation care impact the way wevote? More importantly, how do we becomethe people that care enough to do those sorts of things?

In this inaugural episode of Resotration: A Creation Care Podcast, I interview Beth Bond of the Evangelical Environmental Network. She talks about the importance of creation care (noting that 30% of children in the US today have health conditions impacted by pollution). She speaks with beauty about God's creation and with deep knowledge about how we can impact this movement as Christians. She reminds us that sustainability and creation care are a journey, not end destinations. And that there are often unintended benefits of our sustainable actions (for example, conducting an energy audit in your church may help save the congregation money).