Christians Caring for Creation

In this C3 Podcast, Don Gordon, the founder of C3, addresses the question:  will water become the defining environmental and economic challenge of the 21st century in America?  Dr. Gordon explores how climate change, population growth, aging infrastructure, and artificial intelligence are placing new demands on our water systems—and why moral grappling with these issues is essential for a good and...

What can an 18th-century Japanese Zen monk teach us about climate anxiety, consumerism, and spiritual peace?  In this episode, Don Gordon and Dr. Clifford Cain discuss Taigu Ryokan’s life of simplicity, poetry, joy, and attunement to nature - and why his wisdom may be more relevant now than ever. Learn more about C3 at ChristiansCaringforCreation.org. Theme music by Christian McIvor - christianmci...

What happens when faith, public service, and climate resilience come together?  Ben Duncan, Chief Resilience Officer for South Carolina’s groundbreaking Office of Resilience—the first statewide office of its kind in America—joins Don Gordon to discuss caring for people in an era of extreme weather. Learn more about C3 at ChristiansCaringforCreation.org. Theme music by Christian McIvor - christianm...

Pulitzer Prize nominee, Justin Catanoso, joins us to discuss his memoir, My Cousin the Saint .  What begins as a journalistic quest to understand his Italian cousin’s canonization by the Catholic Church becomes a deeply personal journey into faith, family, grief, and spiritual growth. Together, we explore the sacred hidden in ordinary life and the enduring power of a humble servant's devotion...

What really shapes environmental policy—science, public will, or money and power?  In this episode, Bill Holman, longtime North Carolina environmental advocate and lobbyist, shares decades of experience as often the lone environmental voice in high-stakes political rooms. We explore how influence works, what it takes to make change, and the role Christians can play in caring for creation through f...

Immokalee is a town in southwest Florida that feeds much of America during the winter.  The population is heavily populated by immigrant labor from Central America and Haiti.  These are the people that harvest our food, yet they lack sufficient healthy food for themselves.  Rick Burnette of Cultivate Abundance works with the Immokalee community to address their food insecurities.  In this podcast...

What do clean energy and affordable housing have to do with each other? More than many people realize. In this episode of the C3 – Christians Caring for Creation podcast, Don Gordon talks with Rebekah Whilden , Executive Director of Carolina Forward , about how policy decisions today are shaping the future of energy, housing, and environmental sustainability in North Carolina . North Carolina has...

Don Gordon welcomes Sam Harrell of Africa Exchange for a compelling conversation on faith, climate justice, and the call to care for all creation.  With insights shaped by Sam’s life and work in Kenya, this episode challenges Western assumptions about growth, invites a deeper theology of the land, and offers hopeful signs of faithful partnership across cultures.  Learn more about Africa Exchange a...

Justin Catanoso, Pulitzer Prize nominee and professor of journalism at Wake Forest University, tells stories most of us don’t know that we need to know. In this podcast he talks about the miracle of the Yurok tribe in northern California reclaiming ancient lands and restoring a path for the salmon runs in the northwest Pacific coast.  He also talks about the fraudulent claims of the biomass indust...

On July 28, 2022, the United Nations adopted a resolution that a "clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a universal human right."  John Knox, Professor of International Law at Wake Forest University, served as the special legal advocate for the U.S. during this process.  In this podcast, John tells about his 25 years of international advocacy to bring about this historic event of...

Nearly 40% of the food produced in the United States is never eaten. For Christians called to feed the hungry and care for God’s creation, this is a sobering reality.  In this episode, Dr. Pelin Pekgün — global leader and Chair of the Department of Analytics and Information Systems at Wake Forest University — examines why food waste persists and what it costs. She explores its impact on the enviro...

What if you could track where rain forests are being cut down or plastic is being thrown into the ocean or the migration patterns of endangered species?  Amy Rosenthal and her team at Planet are doing just that, using 100s of drone-like satellites circling the earth, 24 hours a day, capturing these images.  In this podcast you will hear directly from Amy and learn how this cutting-edge technology...

Award-winning Harvard scholar, Sandra Richter, has combined her love for the Hebrew Bible and the earth in a just published children’s book.    In this podcast Richter tells how she came to write Abigail and the Waterfall, a sweet story about a family’s hike into the forest.  Along the way we learn about Scripture, animals in the Appalachian Mountains, and earthkeeping habits of an ordinary family...

Is there anything God can’t do?  Can God lie?  Can God act against God’s own nature?    Best-selling author Thomas Oord answers these questions in this provocative podcast, offering a new way to think and talk about God.  His answers have implications for our prayers, theologies and efforts to care for God’s creation.   You can find Oord’s books, blogs and podcast at thomasjayoord.com Learn more a...

David Wheeler, a global theologian who has taught in North and South America as well as in Russia, offers his perspective on the world‘s most pressing problems. From the patterns of human migration to the extinction of insects, Wheeler offers a biblical vision of what God intended and what God wants from us. Learn more about C3 at ChristiansCaringforCreation.org. Theme music by Christian McIvor -...

While many Christians consider taking care of the earth as optional for Christian living, Steven Bouma-Prediger does not.  In his book Creation Care Discipleship: Why Earthkeeping is an Essential Christian Practice , he makes a theological, biblical and ethical case for earthkeeping as integral to the Christian faith.   In this podcast, we learn about Steven's work and words with university s...

Alex Smith spent his formative years as a missionary kid in Southern Europe, a place torn by war and violence.  Today he is a minister, science teacher and award-winning videographer sharing his love for God, neighbor and creation in Atlanta, Georgia.  In this podcast, Alex talks about being a refugee, a minister and a millennial in the world today.  He's understandably troubled by wars, pove...

When it comes to reading the Bible, you might think atheists and Christian fundamentalists are worlds apart. But surprisingly, they often share the same approach: both insist Leviticus must be read in a flat, literal way. For atheists, that proves the Bible is absurd. For fundamentalists, it reinforces their views on morality and sexuality.  In this episode, C3 leader Don Gordon takes a fresh look...

How can a God who is all-knowing and all-powerful allow such horrors as the Holocaust or COVID-19, tragedies that claimed millions of lives, including those of children? Did they deserve it? Is it simply the cost of human freedom? Or must we accept the mystery of God’s ways? In his twelfth book, God, Pandemics and the Holocaust , Cliff Cain offers a compelling response—one that resonates with thos...

In this podcast, Emily Hull McGee, Senior Pastor at First Baptist on Fifth in downtown Winston-Salem, NC talks about her congregation’s focus on creation care in the summer of 2024.   Revealing theological foundations and practical applications, she offers a model for other churches to give needed attention to this aspect of Christian discipleship.   You can learn more about First Baptist on Fifth...

Ellen Davis, makes the compelling argument that if you want to understand the Bible you must read it as an agrarian.  The Bible is about land and food, more than it is about a ticket in heaven.  In this podcast, Davis discusses with C3 leader Don Gordon, the message of her highly esteemed book Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible. Learn more about C3 at ChristiansC...

In today's podcast spiritual guide and educator Lauren Graeber talks about her new book After the Flood , created in response to Hurricane Helene. She explores writing as a tool for reflection, healing, and rebuilding in the wake of collective trauma.  You can purchase Lauren's book in bookstores across western North Carolina. You can access more of Lauren’s writings at laurengraeber@sub...

Kathleen Biggins noticed in 2014 there was a need to talk about climate change in a non-partisan, evidence-based style that drew people in rather than turning them away. So she founded C-Change Conversations.   She is very effective in communicating with those who are skeptical or unconvinced about the need to address climate change.  In this podcast she has a conversation about climate change wit...

Wilson Dickinson’s The Green Good News offers a powerful message of hope and joy in a world often overshadowed by violence and despair. The Green Good News contrasts the good news of  Jesus Christ, lived out in covenant community, with the Bad News of the Empire where a few people win and most people lose. Through his writing and example, he inspires us to walk with Jesus in ways that nurture just...

Christian nationalism is an emerging and growing threat to the church, the country and the creation.  In this podcast, C3 founder Don Gordon explains that Christian nationalism is a distortion of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  He then shows how a robust narrative and practice of caring for God’s creation becomes the best antidote to Christian nationalism. Learn more about C3 at ChristiansCaringforCr...