Why I'm Celebrating Earth Day...

The current issue of "Assemblies of God Heritage" magazine (GPH 2010, pgs.16-26, 69) has a wonderful article on the Pentecostal origins of Earth Day.  You can download the article "John McConnell, Jr. and the Pentecostal Origins of Earth Day" as a pdf.  I recently visited with Darrin Rodgers (editor of Heritage magazine and Pentecostal historian) about this topic and thoroughly appreciated his recent article on it.  I think you'll be surprised by what you find.  This article is the reason I'll be celebrating Earth Day this year (on Sunday, March 21st)...thank you John McConnell, Jr.  Just one brief snippet to whet your appetite:

McConnell's purpose was to promote "a climate of peace and justice as a prerequisite for ecological preservation"...[as opposed to its now having become, at the hands of Senator Nelson,] a political protest against pollution.'

You can also watch a lengthy interview of John and Anna McConnell concerning Earth Day by Darrin here.