Creation Care & Sustainable Livestock Practices Retreat
July 3, 2008
Chestnut Ridge will host a fun and intensive weekend workshop to inaugurate the livestock portion of The Community Farm at Chestnut Ridge and you’re invited!
Come and join us for a special retreat and workshop. July 25 – 27, we’ll introduce sustainable livestock practices as we install new fencing and housing for sheep, hogs and chickens at The Community Farm.
Retreat leaders include Fred Bahnson from Anathoth Garden and Rich Church from Winfield Farm as well as year-round staff at Chestnut Ridge. The weekend will include theological education and reflection as well as the introduction of sustainable and organic farming practices. Saturday evening celebration with some great outdoor music!
When: July 25-27, 2008
Where: Efland, NC (20 mins west of Chapel Hill)
Cost: $40 (includes lodging and meals)
More Info: 919.338.2820
Weekend Topics
• A Theology of Manual Labor
• A Theology of Eating Animals
• Raising Chickens
• Chicken Tractors
• Backyard Broilers and Layers
• Fencing
• Building Corner Bracing for Fencing
• Installing Field Fencing
• Installing Electric Fencing
• Goats & Sheep
• Raising Meat Goats & Sheeps
• Goat and Sheep Breeds
• Goat Dairying and Cheese making
• Pasture Based Management
• Rotational Grazing
• Companion Species
• Pasture Grasses and Legumes
• Maintaining Pasture Fertility
• Hogs
Creation Care & Sustainable Livestock
Practices Retreat, July 25-27
www.campchestnutridge.org
919.338.2820
Preserving God’s Presence
July 2, 2008
This post originally appeared in Creation Care Magazine.
Helen Goody is a Contributing Editor to Creation Care magazine.
I’ve always been a little bit envious of the people in the Bible who have a direct conversation with God. Moses, for instance…no one understood God’s calling better than Moses. Not only did he have direct conversations with him; he got the “signs” that we all ask for when we seek God’s guidance. A burning bush and stone tablets!
Even Job, after suffering horribly and praying consistently, finally got a direct from response from God. His loyalty was rewarded and his role as God’s servant was confirmed. Boy, it would be nice just to sit down and a good cup of coffee and have God tell me like it is.
Most of the time, the closest I come to hearing God directly is after something happens to me. I was recently on a short-term mission trip, and I watched an older man become moved to tears after the work we did for him. “Ah-ha,” I had said to myself, “the long days of work, the aches and pains on a body that’s seen younger days, the mental pushing to finish….this is why I’m here, doing this. God sent me here.” But I usually don’t realize the direction, the message, until I see the effect. Prior to that, it just an instinct—just something I know I should do.
My lack of clarity often comes from simply not spending enough time with God and God alone. Family, work, sports, and leisure time all tend to nip away at the time I need to stop and listen to God. I’m sometimes so exhausted at night that I fall asleep in the midst of prayer, and then get frustrated the next morning because I couldn’t even get in a quick word.
It’s why creation care has become such an important aspect to nurture my spiritual growth. There is no time that I feel God’s presence more than when I am surrounded by elements of his great design. There’s no question to me that God created the cricket or the ocean. And when I turn off the noises of humanity and turn up the volume of the things that God has created since the very beginning of time, I realize that I have opened the communication line with God himself.
Better still, if I dedicate just a little more of my efforts to preserving those things that God created, I’ve not only made myself acutely aware of his presence, I’ve acknowledged that nothing is more important in my life than preserving his presence in my life.
Ultimately I realize that I don’t need a conversation over coffee or a burning bush. I have a blade of grass and the song of a mountain bluebird to tell me about the series of miracles that made them and brought them into my life to send me the message of God’s love, to tell me to keep my life simple and focused on him. Nothing could be more clear.
Need some time to focus on God and the wonder of his incredible design? Use this personal, seven-day devotion to dig into the meaning of Genesis and to experience how God’s handiwork has a direct connection to your life.
Day 1: Let There Be Light – Set your alarm so that you can awake before just before sunrise (you can do it!). Find a nice spot outside where you can have a good view of the sun as it rises. When light begins to break over the horizon, take note of the signs of life as you see or hear it. Then use a flashlight or candle to read Genesis 1:1-5. How has God brought life into your life? How does his creation reflect God’s presence in your life? Pray for more light in your life.
Day 2: The Water and the Sky – Look for a good scientific definition for why the sky is blue (you might try www.wikipedia.org, www.ask.com, or www.whyistheskyblue.org). Then find a sunny day to sit at the side of a pond or pool, dip your feet in, and look for a few minutes up at the sky. Think about the relationship between the sky and water. Read Genesis 1:6-8. Think about why God created that relationship. Think about why God separated the water and the sky, and how the act created a place for you to exist. Think about what God might want you to do in order to remember that relationship.
Day 3: The Land – Spend some time on a trail or a bike path, but stop for about 5 minutes somewhere along the way, and record all of the different species you encounter in that 5 minutes, including both flora and fauna. If you have time, continue your hike and stop and record for another five minutes. Read Genesis 1:9-13, and think about all the creatures that owe their existence to God for creating land on the third day. How is your role as caretaker a continuation of God’s work? How do you feel about the land, knowing that when God saw that it was good? How does God use you to “plant seeds”?
Day 4: Night and Day – Take an old sheet of paper from a day planner, or write down the hours of the day on a piece of paper. Write down one element of creation that you can hear or see for each hour. Read Genesis 1:14- 19. Why do you think the Bible refers to night and day as “two great lights”? What’s something in creation that goes on during the night that you usually don’t notice? During the day? How do you think God wants you to pay attention to him?
Day 5: Creatures of the Sea and Sky – Look out your window and see if you can spot two different bird species (yes, pigeon count!). Close your eyes and compare the two different birds. Why would God make so many different types of animals that could fly? Or swim? Read Genesis 1:20-23. Is God’s world simple or complex? How does your life fit in with God’s creation? How experiencing the wonders of creation a form of worshiping God?
Day 6: Living Things – Look for a photo of yourself that records a moment with you and your pet or some encounter you’ve had with an animal. How does your life fit in with God’s creation? Read Genesis 1:24-31 and imagine yourself surrounded by all the things that have the “breath of life” in them. How are you similar to other living things? How has God made you different from them? Why does God want you to understand the message you might receive from his creation? Ask God to help you understand your role as caretaker of his creation.
Day 7: Day of Rest – Think of some representatives of God’s creation that celebrate the act of rest: A bear in hibernation; a dormant volcano; a tulip bulb in the wintertime, a farmer’s fallow field. Read Genesis 2:1-3. Why did God want to rest? Why does God want you—and all living things—to rest? Now read Matthew 11:28. How does Christ’s presence in your life make “rest” possible? Take a fifteen minute nap. When you awake, offer a prayer of thanks for the gift of rest.
From Nightmare To Dream Come True: Part 2
July 1, 2008
This post originally appeared in Creation Care Magazine. Part 1 appeared yesterday.
Jeff Shinabarger, co-founder of the Fermi Project and Rwanda Clean Water, is the creative director & experience designer for all Fermi Project initiatives, the editor of Fermi Words, a digital media magazine educating leaders on shaping culture, and the creative mind behind the Catalyst Conference. Jeff lives in Decatur, Georgia with his wife, Andre, and dog Max. (contact: jeffs@fermiproject.com)
We came home and were humbled by how many lives were changed and how little we did to make such a substantial difference for thousands of people in Rwanda. Yet millions more still don’t have the luxury that I have of clean water every day. What if we could do more? What if more families had access to clean water? Those were the questions we left asking.
Since our trip to Rwanda we have collaborated with individuals and churches all over the nation that have grasped the importance of clean water and have together raised $440,000 toward clean water in Rwanda. Our goal is to raise $1 million. As this dream has become a reality, I continually reflect on three powerful concepts I have learned along the journey:
Common good projects unify people. Thirty kids made beautiful artwork on ceramic pitchers they sold on Ebay. Cove United Methodist Church, in Alabama, had a free will offering on a Sunday morning that totaled $70,000. A coffee shop in Orlando found a matching donor for a fundraiser at their business and raised $12,000. We are partnering with high-profile celebrities and executives on a film to be released in 2008 about the global need for clean water.
We recently connected with a serial entrepreneur from Boulder, committed to the teaching of Gandhi, who was extremely excited about the project. N.T. Wright explains in Simply Christian, “We all share not just a sense that there is such a thing as justice, but a passion for it, a deep longing that things should be put to rights.” The story of Rwanda Clean Water is shared by the gifts from thousands of individuals. Rwanda Clean Water is people of different convictions, theology, age, religion, and location working together to better humanity.
Clean water is an essential to life. All people agree. Unifying for the common good is a great conversation for Christians to lead in culture.
Clean water creates sustainable communities. We are all aware of the genocide that resulted in millions of deaths in Rwanda. Thirteen years later, they are restoring friendships, through conversations and grace. Steven Garber in his book Fabric of Faithfulness says, “Community is the context for the growth of convictions and character.” If this is true, then we need to help create simple, community- driven environments, where convictions and character can be reclaimed. When I visited one of the new wells in Rwanda, I noticed hundreds of people walking for up to 3 miles with these unforgettable yellow jugs. Every day, a person from every family will walk or ride a bike to the well to get water for the day. Through clean water locations, healing to individuals is happening daily. Conviction and character is being restored. Bill McKibben, in his brilliant book Deep Economy, thinks growth in developing countries, “should concentrate on creating and sustaining strong communities, not creating a culture of economic individualism.” Clean water not only benefits individual Rwandans but also offers a deep place for developing the Rwandan community.
Influence is gained by doing something. The most difficult element of moving an idea into motion is starting. Yet, when a great idea is launched, influence quickly follows. The dream that woke me up that night was about one little boy, yet thousands of people have joined in the initiative and thousands of Rwandans have benefited from one boy. Rwanda Clean Water has gained attention from media, churches, and cultural leaders because we did something. Everyone has an idea, but few people move that idea into reality. When creators move from idea to action, people will follow. Don’t search for influence. Don’t care who gets the credit. Search yourself. Find what moves you. Discover a place of need. Authentically pursue a vision that helps humanity. Use the gifts you have been given. Influence will follow at the moment you can handle it.
Join Rwanda Clean Water Project. As encouraging as this project has been to me, most people in rural Rwanda still do not have access to clean water. Women and young children walk for miles to fetch water from swamps and dirty rivers with buckets and canisters. It is amazing that with a simple gift of money we can literally save lives, decrease illnesses, and create sustainable communities.
We are looking for 300 churches to join a growing community in raising funds to bring clean water to Rwanda. Give $3,000 to Rwanda Clean Water and 750 people will receive the simple gift of drinking clean water for the rest of their life. Your community, your family, your neighborhood, and your friends can work together to raise the funds that will forever change lives. Please join us in providing clean water to Rwanda.
