History of EarthCare
How we Began...
March 1994 - Laura Young calls WMBW radio station to see if they would be interested in doing an interview with Richard Young about his new book, Healing the Earth.
March 1994 - After several telephone conversations with Doug Baker at WMBW, Doug invites Richard to a planning meeting with several others to stage a Michael Card concert with an environmental message. The concert was to be scheduled for April 1995.
April 1994 - The group decided to have an educational component along with the concert. The educational part was to be a conference with leading spokespersons talking about Christianity and the environment.
September 1994 - Complications arose and the concert had to be dropped, but the group went ahead with the plans for the conference. Also, the group aligned themselves with the Evangelical Environmental Network in order to provide tax-exemption for sponsor's donations.
January 1995 - The group agreed to call itself EarthCare. A press conference was held at Memorial Hospital for the upcoming event. The conference was very well covered by the local media, with multiple TV and radio programs, as well as fine newspaper coverage. Also, brochure distribution began in January, as well as presentations at local ministerial organizations.
April 21-22 1995 - The conference was very successful, with 200 persons being registered. The speakers included Calvin DeWitt, Loren Wilkinson, Job Ebenezer, Robin Gottfried, Richard Land, and Steve Bouma-Prediger. The conference was held at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. There were many displays lining the hallways, with all sorts of environmental organizations represented. We especially focused on churches and Christian groups in order for them to share ideas with other Churches about what they could do. Overall the conference was an exciting event.
June 1995 - Meeting at Brainerd United Methodist church led by Jerry Faulkner to see whether there was interest (1) to continue the effort with annual conferences and other activities, and (2) to incorporate as a non-profit organization. The vote was carried that the group should continue and become an independent non-profit organization.