About | C3

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 brand new 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:

Volunteer accountant
Recommendations for board members
Recommendations for consulting scientists and theologians
Contributing writers
Recommendations of churches, businesses and organization who practice faithful stewardship
Grant writers
Financial contributors

SHARE YOUR IDEAS

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 has 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 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. Currently he writes and gives lectures as a professor of religion at Lenoir-Rhyne University and writes curriculum for healthcare professionals on subjects of ethics and leadership at Healthcare Academy in Minnesota.

Don has served on numerous boards including Board of Directors for the Clemmons YMCA and the Board of Trustees for Campbell University. He continues to serve as a founding board member for Good Faith Media (merger of Ethics Daily and Nurturing Faith). He is the father to three daughters and grandfather of one grandson.

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.

NORMAN WIRZBA, CONSULTING THEOLOGIAN

Dr. Wirzba is the Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Christian Theology at Duke Divinity School and the Senior Fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics. He is a sought-after speaker throughout the U.S, Canada and Europe at the intersection of theology, philosophy and ecology. Most recently, he served as C3's keynote speaker for its inaugural all conference. He is working with an international team of scholars to rethink several academic disciplines in light of challenges like climate change, food insecurity, biotechnology and genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, species extinction, and the built environment.

You can gain access to his books, articles and podcasts by going to normanwirzba.com.

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.

C3 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

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 moved to the United States with his family as a child. He earned a B.S. in Biology from Harvard University and an M.Div from Duke Divinity School. While there, he served as ministerial intern at Yates Baptist Church, where Don Gordon was pastor. He has served as a missionary in Kazakhstan and has a passion to follow the call of Jesus on his life everyday. He has served as the pastor of Mount Hermon Baptist Church in Durham since 2010 and was recently married in September 2020 to Elizabeth.

DENISE FILIP

Michael Massar

Denise Filip has been working in the accounting field since 1984. She is the accountant for her husband's business and has done further accounting work in churches. Denise lives in Hickory, NC where she has served as a minister of music in several churches in addition to teaching choral societies in public schools. Denise will be providing consultation and overseeing that C3 maintains the highest accounting standards in all transactions and reports.

Mike Massar, D.Min., grew up in west Texas, attended Baylor University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Oxford University’s Mansfield College and completed his doctorate focusing on ecumenical studies at the Graduate Theological Foundation. Mike has served churches in Texas, South Carolina and Louisiana. He is currently serving on staff at Woodland Baptist Church in San Antonio. The joys of his ministerial life have been ecumenical initiatives in the communities where he has served and the planning of creative worship experiences in collaboration with gifted musicians and colleagues. Mike is also an author, poet and playwright. He and his wife, Lisa, an early childhood specialist, live in the small, historic town of Gruene, Texas, where they enjoy occasional visits by their three grown children and their families.

Christian McIvor

Dr. Christian McIvor 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. Christian is passionate about continually growing as an agent of compassion, justice, and reconciliation in the Way of Christ and helping others toward the same. 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.

Catherine Wright

Catherine Wright is an associate professor in the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Wingate University, where she has served as a Christian eco-theologian since 2014. She is also the founding Executive Director of Collaborative for the Common Good at Wingate where she oversees sustainability programs for the university and community. Catherine received her M. Div from the University of Toronto and her Ph.D in Ecological Ethics from St. Regis College at the University of Toronto. She enjoys working in her gardens, spending time with her "fur babies," her son, Draven, and her husband, Todd.

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.

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...