WHAT WE DO
Provide Inspirational Information.
Extend Creative Challenges.
Promote Best Practices.
Give Hope to Millennial Christians.
C3 provides a platform to address the critical environmental issues of our day. We challenge Christians to act boldly in loving God and neighbor by loving all God’s creation. We highlight best practices among persons, churches and organizations which are impacting creation in positive ways. We speak, act and lead from a multi-generational perspective, recognizing the problems we face will only be solved when every generation joins the effort.
C3 does not engage in partisan politics though we bear witness to issues that have environmental consequences. We do not pretend caring for creation is the sum total of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but we affirm that being a disciple of Jesus includes loving everything God made.
OUR
CURRENT
NEEDS
We are a young organization with many needs. You can help us move C3 in the right direction and have a global impact on the care of creation by helping us with any of the following needs:
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Recommendations for board members
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Recommendations for consulting scientists and theologians
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Contributing writers
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Recommendations of churches, businesses, and organizations that practice faithful stewardship
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Grant writers
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Financial contributors
Our Team
DON GORDON, FOUNDER AND CEO
Don Gordon is the founder and CEO of C3 - Christians Caring for Creation. After 35 years of teaching and preaching in churches, Christian colleges, and seminaries, he made a decision to devote the next season of his life to the care of creation. His decision was driven by recognizing that climate change is the existential challenge of our generation. Preparation for this calling began with working in his mother's garden as a young boy and then earning a Bachelor of Science
degree in Mathematics at Campbell University. He did further graduate work in Mathematics at N.C. State University. He later earned a doctorate of Ministry degree from Columbia Theological Seminary (PCUSA), focusing on gospel and culture.
The author of three books on the subjects of church history, prayer and children's devotional life, Don has spent a career reading and writing about God's revelation and humankind's response.
Don has served on numerous boards, including the Board of Trustees for Campbell University, the Board of Directors for the Clemmons YMCA, and was a founding board member for Good Faith Media. He has served as a coach, consultant, and interim pastor for numerous churches near
Charlotte, NC, where he now resides. He is the father of three daughters and grandfather of six grandchildren. In his free time, he enjoys reading great books, tending his garden, exercising, and playing pickleball.
KATHERINE SMITH, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
In addition to her duties as Chief Operating Officer of C3, Rev. Dr. Katherine Smith is the Executive Director of Baptist Creation Care Initiative and an Adjunct Professor at Wayland Baptist Theological Seminary. Her academic studies, combined with time spent living and working as a missionary in a developing country, have left her with a profound sense of responsibility for the poor and the marginalized, especially those who are adversely affected by climate disruption and environmental degradation. Ordained in the Baptist tradition, Katherine currently attends Union Chapel UMC, close to where she lives in the beautiful mountains of West Virginia.
ROBERT DAVIES, CONSULTING SCIENTIST
Robert Davies is the Associate Professor of Professional Practice, Department of Physics at Utah State University. His work focuses on global environmental change, sustainable human systems, and scientific storytelling ― for critically important stories. As a physicist his training has been in atmospheric physics, surface physics, and quantum optics. His published scientific works are in the fields of spacecraft interactions with the space environment; the fundamental nature of light and information; and Earth’s climate system.
He is a leader in the Crossroads Project which fuses original music with art, imagery, and science to create live performance experiences that address global sustainability and provide a path toward meaningful response.
LYNN ODOM, NEWSLETTER EDITOR
Lynn Odom is one of those rare souls who actually likes to put together newsletters. She has a B.A. in Chemistry from Wake Forst University and a M.Div. from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. She volunteers through her church, Yates Baptist, Durham, NC, and civic clubs, such as the Durham Woman's Club. Over the past 30, Lynn has worked on newsletters for schools, band boosters, garden clubs, woman's clubs, NC Baptist Women in Ministry and her church. She and her husband Dave have 3 sons and one special granddaughter.
CLARK HILL, PODCAST ENGINEER
Clark Hill has worked with sound professionally since 1970 when, as a college student, he worked at WSB Radio in Atlanta as a newsroom assistant. After graduating from Georgia State University in 1972, he worked briefly as a radio news reporter. In 1977 he started an audio, graphics, and video production business. Now semi-retired, Clark focuses on audio storytelling for nonprofit organizations.
TAYLOR HARRIS, ACCOUNTANT
Taylor is a recent graduate with both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Accounting from the
University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Over the past year, she has dedicated herself to
studying for her CPA license and has successfully passed all four parts of the CPA exam. Taylor,
born in Newton, NC, is a member of Trinity Baptist Church. Starting in the fall, she will be
practicing taxation in Uptown Charlotte. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her
family, friends, and her three Labrador Retrievers.
POLLY O'NEAL, MEDIA COORDINATOR
Polly is a recent graduate from North Carolina State University with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology. In her time as an undergraduate student, she worked as a research assistant in a Human Factor's Psychology lab focusing her work on technological implementations for women's safety in outdoor recreational spaces. Her love and passion for God's creation propelled her work in making green spaces safe and accessible for all. Currently, Polly lives in Seward, Alaska, a small harbor town on The Gulf of Alaska, working as a baker as she immerses herself in the beauty of Alaska and Resurrection Bay.
Polly enjoys snowboarding, writing, playing the mandolin, and hiking the spectacular trails she has surrounded herself with.
C3 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Lea Slaton
Since 2005, Dr. Lea Slation has served as pastor of Wilson's Mills Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Clayton, NC. She is a graduate of Mars Hill University (BA), East Carolina University, Shaw University Divinity School (M.Div.) and Drew University (D. Min.). Lea's congregation is a certified Green Chalice congregation, meaning that stewardshiip of God's creation is part of their mission. Lea and her husband, Joe have been married for 29 years and have two cats. Lea enjoys being an adult student of the piano, reading, taking long walks, and painting peace poles. As a side note, Lea's dad, Dan Pardue, was youth minister to C3 founder Don Gordon. She has stories...
Kim Shaw
Kim has been the Executive Director for The Triangle Nonprofit and Volunteer Leadership Center in Durham, NC since 2010. There she coordinates work with 1100 nonprofits and has the largest volunteer database in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel area. She received a B.A. in Communications and Political Science from the University of North Carolina and is a member of Yates Baptist Church in Durham. Kim is the mother of two adult children and the grandmother of three. She has a passion for living out the call of Jesus to care for the poor and the earth that is their home.
Matthew Bissette
Matthew is an attorney practicing law in Raleigh, North Carolina. He received a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received his J.D. from Campbell University's Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law, graduating in 2018. Since then, he has practiced with the Whitley Law Firm, representing individual plaintiffs. Born in Winston-Salem, Matthew grew up at Ardmore Baptist Church.
Rich Goodier
Rich was born in Puerto Rico and spent much of his childhood in Texas and Maryland. He earned a B.A. in Biology from Harvard University and an M.Div from Duke Divinity School. While there, he served as a ministerial intern at Yates Baptist Church, where Don Gordon was pastor. He has served as a missionary to Kazakhstan and as the pastor of Mount Hermon Baptist Church in Durham for 12 years. He and his wife Elizabeth currently live in Boston where he has embarked on a new career in Data Science.
Christian McIvor
Christian serves as the Minister of Worship, Music, and the Arts at Greystone Baptist Church in Raleigh, NC, and as an Adjunct Professor of Trumpet at Campbell University. He believes climate change is an existential threat to humanity and that its impact is most directly, immediately, and severely felt by marginalized communities. Christian makes creation care a primary focus of his ministry, promoting its importance at his home church and within the wider community. McIvor holds a B.A. in music from the State University of New York, a Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in Trumpet Performance from the UNC-G and a Master of Divinity degree from the Wake Forest Divinity School. In his free time, Christian likes to spend time with his family and their pets, as well as cheer for all teams from Boston.
Marise Robertson
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Marise has supported environmental issues ever since the first Earth Day back in April 1970 when she was just a kid in school. Care for the earth and all its creatures were family values passed on to each of her three children. Marise helped to organize the first recycling efforts in her county in Maryland back in the early 1990s. Now, living in Monroe, NC, she has joined forces with members of the St Peter Catholic Church’s Care for Creation Ministry. The encyclical, Laudato Si, and the apostolic exhortation, Laudate Deum, continue to spur Marise on to keep up the faith, hope, and fight for our common home.
Lance Mayes
Lance is the board chair at C3. He has been in ministry for over 31 years and currently serves as an associate pastor at Woodland Church in San Antonio, Texas.
Lance loves to help people match their passions, gifts, and talents with meaningful service to God and people. He loves working with immigrants and advocating for marginalized people, public education, and other areas of justice and compassion, including creation care. At Woodland, he is the new lead for their eco-stewardship ministry, Oikonomos. They have performed an energy audit at the church and made appropriate changes. They installed solar panels and 2 EV charging stations. The latest projects include working on a water retention system and a bird blind and sanctuary. Many of Woodland’s Oikonomos projects are designed to be transferable to other churches and organizations, as well as to people’s homes.
Woodland has an extensive ESL ministry, providing classes four mornings and two evenings a week, as well as an immigration legal clinic. Among their many ministries is the Child of God Bed Ministry, which provides a bed, mattress, pillow, bedding, a teddy bear, and a book to children in foster care.
Lance has been married to Jennie for over 31 years; they have two adult children. He loves the outdoors, especially hiking, and is a beginning birder. He loves to read, go to the gym with his wife, and work in the yard.
Cliff Cain
Cliff Cain is a retired religious studies and environmental science professor who currently serves as Theologian-in-Residence at First Presbyterian Church in Greenwood, South Carolina. The holder of a doctorate in theology and a doctorate in science, he is the author of 12 books, five of them at the intersection of religion and ecology and two at the interface of theology and science.
Cliff holds graduate degrees from Princeton, Vanderbilt, and Rikkyo University in Tokyo, and is an ordained minister in the American Baptist tradition, with pastoral credentials recognized by the Presbyterian Church, USA. He has served as Associate Pastor of the American Church of the Hague, the Netherlands, and as Senior Pastor of the Bukit Doa International Church on the Island of Bali in Indonesia, and as Theologian-in-Residence at The Church of the Holy Cross in Hilo, Hawaii.
Cliff Cain is an amateur archaeologist with dig experience in several locations, chiefly in Israel and Mesoamerica. As a photographer, he has provided numerous photography exhibits featuring the beauty and wonder of nature and accenting the presence of a loving God in creation.
Cliff enjoys traveling and has lived in several countries abroad. He regularly took his students and also pastors and laypersons to a number of international destinations.
