Mike and Sandy Sigmon C3 Sermon Challenge winners for 2025

C3 is excited to announce its winners for the 2025 Mike and Sandy Sigmon C3 Sermon Challenge.

This year’s Creation Care Sermon Competition brought forth prophetic voices from the pulpit, each inviting us to see the earth not just as scenery but as sacrament. We are thrilled to honor Rev. Dr. Cliff Cain and Rev. Emily Hull McGee as the 2025 winners, whose sermons powerfully exemplify what it means to preach with urgency, theological depth, and hope in an age of ecological crisis.

In his sermon, “Whose House Is It, Anyway?”, Rev. Dr. Cliff Cain—ordained Baptist minister and Theologian-in-Residence at First Presbyterian Church in Greenwood, SC—offers a stirring call to reclaim biblical stewardship. Preached at First Baptist Church in Jefferson City, MO, Dr. Cain examines the environmental catastrophe through both scientific and spiritual lenses. Dr. Cain reminds us that “the earth is the Lord’s”—and we are but house-sitters, charged with caring for what does not belong to us. His words resound with the prophetic spirit of justice, echoing the call of Genesis 2:15 to till and tend, not take and tear.

On the other side of the spectrum—yet wholly complementary—is Rev. Emily Hull McGee’s sermon, “All Nature Sings: Sky,” preached at First Baptist Church on Fifth in Winston-Salem, NC. With poetic depth and pastoral warmth, Rev. McGee weaves together scripture, personal memory, and voices from theologians, poets, and artists—from St. Thomas Aquinas to Anne Lamott—to emphasize how the sky teaches us wonder and humility. In a distracted, fractured world, Rev. McGee urges us to slow down and look up.

Together, these sermons offer more than eloquent theology; they are sacred disruptions—beckoning us to repent, rejoice, and recommit to creation care as central to Christian discipleship. Whether confronting systemic degradation or marveling at a starlit sky, Rev. Cain and Rev. McGee show us that creation care is not a niche ministry—it is gospel work.

We celebrate these two preachers not only for their skillful proclamation but for their faithful witness. May their words inspire many more to preach, pray, and practice the care of God’s creation with conviction and hope. Congratulations to our winners!

Read Sermons Here