By Linda Waggener, assistant director of university communications
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – “Do I believe the wildfires in California are a scourge signaling the end of time? No,” said Dr. Richard Cizik, chapel/convocation speaker at Campbellsville University. “But take the whole of all the signs pointing to the earth’s temperature rising, and yes, I believe we have limited time to save the planet and ourselves.”
Cizik, a pastor and an activist for “Creation Care – Earth Stewardship,” is vice president for governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals. He appealed to students on this topic in the Ransdell Chapel recently and also in the Kentucky Heartland Institute on Public Policy forum.
Cizik, spoke on “For the Health of a Nation – An Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility.” He said he strongly believes that the greatest threat today is not a weapon but climate change.
“There are three things I wish someone would have said to my generation that would have gotten us focused,” Cizik said.
He advised students to cultivate these three main concerns toward helping the environment and the church of Jesus Christ around the world:
1) Moral vision – “pay attention to ‘the great warming’ and scientist’s predictions that we have an eight-year window in which to make change before the earth is at the tipping point. “Decide what your vision is and what each individual at this great university will do about it,” he said.
2) Moral courage – “see what’s happening around you and be outraged. Have the courage to bridge outward and find others willing to work with you.”
3) Moral imagination – “be creative toward solutions, always seeing the world God’s way, remembering that it is, after all, His.”
The Rev. John Chowning, vice president for church and external relations who hosts a TV show, “Dialogue on Public Issues,” interviewed Cizik. He also spoke at CU’s chapel/convocation.
At chapel/convocation, he spoke during the “Earth Stewardship Series, Environmental Stewardship” and discussed climate change.
Campbellsville University is a private, comprehensive institution located in South Central Kentucky. Founded in 1906, Campbellsville University is affiliated with the Kentucky Baptist Convention and has an enrollment of 2,405 students who represent 100 Kentucky counties, 32 states and 28 foreign nations. Listed in U.S.News & World Report’s 2008 “America’s Best Colleges,” CU is ranked 22nd in “Best Baccalaureate Colleges” in the South and eighth in the South for “Great Schools, Great Prices.” CU has been ranked 15 consecutive years with U.S.News & World Report. Campbellsville University is located 82 miles southwest of Lexington, Ky., and 80 miles southeast of Louisville, Ky. Dr. Michael V. Carter is in his ninth year as president.