Caring for Creation Conference open to West Tennessee faith community

The Caring for Creation Conference will be February 18-19, 2007, at Our Lady Queen of Peace Retreat Center in Dancyville, Tenn., only a three-mile drive south from I-40, Exit 47.

The conference will begin Sunday, Feb. 18, at 3 p.m., and end at 4:40 p.m., Monday (President’s Day), Feb. 19. Overnight accommodations at the retreat center are available to the earliest registrants.

Among those who will lead the conversation are speakers from both faith and environmental communities.

Topics under discussion will be “The Need for Creation Care,” “Children and Nature,” “Energy Audits for Churches,”  “Agriculture and Land Use” and  “Measuring your Ecological Footprint.”

Participants will learn about the biblical basis for creation care from the Rev. Pat Watkins from the Virginia Conference. Watkins is a former United Methodist missionary to Nigeria who is also a member of the United Methodist Women’s Division Green Team.

“Energy Audits for Churches” will focus not only on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and reducing the church’s ecological footprint, but also on ways to save money by wise use of resources. The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy will lead the topic.

Dr. Jim Byford of UT Martin will lead a workshop on “Children and Nature” which will highlight the value of nature to our children, their mental and physical health and their academic scores. Dr. Byford will also join in the Sunday evening vesper service with songs he has written about human-nature interaction.

We hope you will want to know the ways that God’s people can help protect the incredible creation that is our legacy. For more information about Caring for Creation Conference, contact Martha Lyle Ford, Memphis Conference Church & Society chair, 731-780-6737, mlford1@bellsouth.net, or Christy Smith, Memphis Conference Program Ministries chair, call 731-780-2037, or email ctsmith923@bellsouth.net.

More information is available through the Memphis Conference office, 731-664-8480, or go here for Registration Form and Brochure.