Creationist Telecast

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Robert Andrescik
Director of Public Relations
Northland, A Church Distributed
Phone: (407) 949-7147
E-Mail: robert.andrescik@northlandchurch.net

Monday, April 19, 2010

Tens of Thousands of Christians to Participate in International Creation Care Simulcast
Believers from 30 countries will be participating, on the eve of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.

LONGWOOD, FLA. — In just two days, on the eve of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, Northland Church will host an international simulcast called Hope for Creation. It promises to be the largest gathering of Christians supporting creation care ... ever.

The simulcast will be broadcast online from Northland’s site in Longwood, Fla., this Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. EDT. So far, more than 60,000 people from 30 countries—including Hungary, Italy, India, Thailand and Russia—have indicated that they will be participating in the event.

"This is an effort to recast the environmental movement into its proper perspective—as a biblical issue that Christians should care about,” explains Dr. Joel C. Hunter, Northland’s senior pastor. “I believe the Church should be leading the conversation, and this event will give us all the chance to do just that.”

Participants can join in online, at home or with a small group. Many pastors are planning church-wide gatherings. There’s even a zoo that has signed up.

The simulcast will feature music and speakers, along with a preview of a new film series from the makers of the popular NOOMA series. There will also be an interactive town-hall conversation live with audiences around the world featuring Dr. Matthew Sleeth, founder of Blessed Earth and the visionary behind this event.

Dr. Sleeth’s journey from emergency room physician to creation care activist began just a few years ago. Well-respected and at the top of his career, Dr. Sleeth and his wife, Nancy, lived with their children in a picture-perfect town in a three-story New England house, complete with library, guest suite and four bathrooms. But something was missing.

“We had all the nice things that were supposed to make us happy, yet at the core we still felt hollow,” remembers Nancy, author of Go Green, Save Green: A Simple Guide to Saving Time, Money and, God's Green Earth.

Matthew adds, “I had started seeing changes in disease based upon the environment and changes in the environment in general. These changes have been profound.”

One day, Nancy asked Matthew a question that would change his life: “What do you think the biggest problem in the world is?”

He explains, “I thought for a moment, and I said the world is dying. I began a search to try and make sense out of the world.”

That search led to the Sleeths downsizing their lifestyle and upsizing their efforts to preserve the planet. Matthew eventually quit his job to put all his energy toward creation care.

“Environmentalism is the only activity we can carry out where we worship God all the time. When you begin to live more humbly, or meekly as Christ would put it, you begin to grow as a spiritual human being,” Dr. Sleeth says.

To learn more about Hope for Creation simulcast, visit blessedearth.org. To view Dr. Sleeth’s video testimony, visit youtube.com/servegodsaveplanet.