We were one of two.

Urbana Student Missions Conference 2012.

Only two environmentally-focused organizations were represented in the great hall of 250+ exhibitors: ourselves, and Eden Vigil, an environmental missions organization. This indicated to us that 1) we were going to have ALL students, with ANY interest in the environment, coming to our booth, and 2) we had a vital role to play in representing God’s heart for his world.

We talked with hundreds of students, many of whom were majoring in an environmental field, such as sustainable agriculture, environmental sciences, biology, zoology, and the like. Their question for us, again and again, was, “what does my area of study (insert here) have to do with my faith in Jesus?”

What a great question!

Essentially, it comes down to a paradigm shift: what doesn’t have to do with the lordship of Christ? The answer: nothing. Or, to turn it to a positive: everything has to do with the lordship of Christ. So if you are going to be a wildlife ecologist, do so for the glory of Christ. If you feel called to design better irrigation systems to conserve water efficiently-that’s great! There is not one profession that is more holy than another-God does not require that you attend seminary in order to serve him well.

So go out there, follow your calling from God, and remember that your mission field is exactly where you are…right now. Read more about environmental missions.

Ed Brown gave a seminar entitled, “The Environmentalists’ Dilemma: Plants or People?” If the same question has bothered you (how can we possibly make saving TREES or SALAMANDERS more important than saving people’s souls!?), listen to the seminar here.