When I first met Tyler Wigg-Stevenson about a year ago, he struck up a conversation with me on a topic that I hadn't discussed, much less though about, in years: nuclear weapons. With strong conservative roots, I believed that possessing nuclear weapons was important for national security. And according to...

Our nation is growing in disjuncture. People are confused, angry and ideologically divided in ways that I've never known before. News broadcasters who once took professional pride for unbiased reporting are becoming openly one-sided and opinionated. Claims of "fair and balanced" by anyone seem to ring hollow. Every night I...

Not long ago I was engaged in a heartfelt phone conversation with Laurie David, an environmental activist with whom I share similar concerns. She called me in an attempt to gather information for a book she was writing about the value of the family dinner table. We first met after...

When you look at the scope of the world's problems today, the environmental crisis is not one that can be addressed singularly. It is the linchpin of so many different crises.

In order for people to realize the importance of addressing environmental decline, they need to know how it is...

Last weekend at a family gathering at our ranch, my parents, now in their early 90s, brought a box of 60 pine tree seedlings. A local home improvement store in Boise gave these leftover seedlings to my parents as long as they promised to ensure the seedlings were planted. That...

As the discussion about sustainability increases, it only makes sense to overlay this discussion on everything you do. As a pastor, one thing I have discovered about people is that they have a propensity to get excited about something before enthusiasm quickly wanes if they aren't equipped and supported for...

When I consider a life of sustainability I can't help but think about what it would have taken for those first pioneers to load their small wagons for such an expedition. They had to pack everything to sustain their families on a long treacherous journey as well as enough to...

What I am about to state seems indisputably clear to me as a Bible-believing and Bible-practicing Christian. After spending the better part of 30 years of my adult life studying and teaching the Old and New Testament, I believe that those who profess Jesus as Messiah and call his words...

In the 60s I was a student on a university campus along with thousands of other baby boomers. Everything was in cultural flux and our generation was confused, scared, angry, opinionated and passionate. We not only wanted change, we demanded it. We were wrapped up in a ruthless war that...

Watching the national news lately has been disturbing. Night after night the dire prognosis of leading national economists has been striking fear and panic into the very heart of America. There appears to be little optimism for a quick rebound from a recession that some are now calling depression.

With...

Every now and then I hitch up a team of horses to a wagon or buggy and drive them down our country roads just for the joy of it. Driving them brings a certain satisfaction and peace that's hard to explain. I love watching the horses pull together, hearing the...

This past spring Nancy and I spent a week with some friends of ours in Iowa. They had asked if I would come and teach a seminar on the subject topic of my book Saving God's Green Earth in their church. These friends share our passion for ministry as well...

Nearly every winter a high-pressure zone settles over southern Idaho for weeks at a time. Warm air pushes the cold air down, holding it captive in the valleys and foothills. For weeks we endure living in a cloud of freezing fog without sunlight or significant visibility. On a normal year,...

Expectations can be dangerous when not shared equally by all sides desiring to address a certain issue. Countless times, I have witnessed people walk away from their faith because their expectations of God were different. Life got messy and God didn't alleviate their problems the way they wanted him to...

In studying the degradation of the environment in developing nations, one truth clearly emerges: desperate people do desperate things to their environment. It's all about survival today with complete disregard for the future. And as a pastor, one truth I've seen emerge time and time again is this: when pressure...

When people share their stories of brokenness with me, there are usually one of two events that led them down this path. Either someone did something harmful to them (such as physical, mental or sexual abuse) or they made poor decisions that left a destructive wake around their friends and...

In the midst of these tumultuous economic times in our world, it's curious how our culture perceives increased consumption as the answer to this problem. For this time of the year -- the Christmas season -- it's nothing new. After all, we've been told that buying more things is how...

As a Christian pastor who has joined the environmental movement in earnest a short four years ago, there is only one appropriate posture to take in coming to the table: Please forgive us.

For far too long, the church in America has blurred the lines between politics and faith,...