There was good news from my hometown of Columbia, Missouri this weekend: My church was well-represented in the public square by a friend crying out that God cares how we care for creation.

In “Environment of contention,” Columbia Tribune writer Annie Nelson approached the intersection of faith and the issue of climate change from the perspective of several evangelical leaders. I was proud that my pastor was one of them:

Pastor Kevin Larson of Karis Community Church, an interdenominational congregation with Baptist ties, said global warming is absolutely a Christian issue because of God’s cultural mandate to be good stewards of creation. Larson said evangelicals accept that murder is a sin but have a hard time thinking of pouring motor oil in a storm drain as something they need to repent. "I see both as sins," he said.

Later, he rebutted some Christians’ use of end-times theology to excuse a lack of environmental concern:

"Since God is going to restore all things, we should work with him and not against him by destroying everything," Larson said.

What’s most gratifying is knowing Kevin and knowing he really believes this. His words aren’t for publicity or attention. I know it because, as a church, we’re humbly struggling together to live these words out. We realize this is uncharted territory for our faith tradition and we’re doing our best, knowing we’ll make mistakes.

This year, we’ve been besieged by stories about the Wrights and Hagees and Parsleys (oh my!) of the faith world. Amid this noise, it's almost surprising to find a story with a pastor making reasoned, articulate statements about
a controversial topic -- but it shouldn't be.

We can't let people get away with using this election cycle as justification to divorce faith from social engagement. There are pastors and faith leaders who make their stand based on strong beliefs, rather than the shifting winds of public opinion or the directives of faith bosses from the fundamentalist fringe. We need to hear more about them. That my pastor gave me the chance to make that argument is reason enough to be proud.