OMG Founders Present to the St. Paul UMC in SC

Olivia and Carter were invited to speak at the St. Paul United Methodist Church in Florence South Carolina.  The Director of Children’s Ministry Shawn Howell felt our program would help their congregation find solutions to helping the environment.  OMG’s message to the congregation is one of hope.  We outline why each church community should reevaluate their current program offerings to ensure we are all focusing on the fact that as stewards of God’s creations it is up to use to protect the earth and all He has given to us. Olivia and Carter have helped create a full presentation which outlines how they got started in caring for endangered species and how and why they felt compelled to add in the environmental component we currently offer.  In their presentation they attempt to make the connection from our responsibility given to us by God, to that what is actually happening today with regards to our environment and to the many endangered species. They draw on their experience as two young individuals fighting to make a difference and seek to encourage others to want to do the same.  Their message of “Anybody Can Make A Difference… If We Can So Can You” seems to resonate with both young and old alike.  As people see all that these two have accomplished since founding OMG in late 2009, it is easy to want to stand up and say “If these guys can make that much of an impact on our world, then I surely can get involved as well”. One More Generation is still about endangered species. But we have learned along the way that if we want to save endangered species, we have to talk about everything that affects them. Things like their environment. Things like plastic pollution. Things like education and educating people. Things like how we can all make a difference if we really want too. We are really about making a difference and we want to show families, churches and communities that they too have the power and responsibility to get involved and start being the solution. A Pastor once came up to is and asked us when the last time was that we heard a church discussing the fate of an endangered species.  Or when was the last time that we heard a congregation having a hearty discussion about the need to clean up our environment.  After dwelling on the questions for awhile, we knew he was right and we decided that it was our responsibility to reach out to church families everywhere and help them remember what God had done for us all and what He has given us. Our presentation sites several passages from the bible which hopefully speaks to our entire audience and reminds them of the blessings we have been given: Fact 1 – God Created the Different Species of Plants and Animals Genesis 1:11-12. God created plants. Then God said, “let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. Genesis 1:20 – 21. God created fish and birds. And God said, “let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:24 – 25. God created animals. And god said, “let the land produce living creatures according to their kind: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. Fact #2 God made an Eternal Covenant with the Different Species of Plants and Animals Genesis 9:8-9. Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: “I now establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you-the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you-every living Creature on the earth. Genesis 9: 12-13. And God said, “this is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. We do this because we want congregations to remember our roles in the big picture and to help them find ways they can start being the solution.  We show them that everybody can make simple changes in their homes, church families and their communities that will ultimately help save God’s creatures and preserve this wonderful gift He gave us called earth. One of the first things we at OMG did was to start our Plastic Awareness Coalition in an effort to amass a solid group of like-minded organizations to show communities and community leaders that the issue is serious and that we had the support needed for them to take us serious.  Our coalition now boasts over 50 local and national organizations including many church groups.  This has allowed us to meet with Mayors and community leaders so we can start discussing solutions to the issue of plastic pollution. We then launched our Plastic Awareness Week curriculum program which we now feature in elementary schools across the country.  The program is a weeklong educational event which teaches students, their families and even teachers about the issue of plastic pollution and how it affects so many of God’s creatures.  The program has been hugely successful and the results are phenomenal. We also use every aid we can to help us drive the issue of plastic pollution home to church groups and communities by including the famous OMG Bag Monster.  The Bag Monster is covered with 500 single use shopping bags and helps adults realize that each one of use typically contributes that many bags to our environment each year.  We show folks that simple changes like only using a cloth reusable bag will make a tremendous difference to us all. As always, we close out our presentation by asking the congregations to tell us what they can do to make a difference.  I always love this part because we get to hear all the amazing ideas they have which they are prepared to immediately implement.  Most of these changes bring about an immediate reduction in the amount of plastic trash they generate and always serves as a starting point for the entire church to start being the solution. We wish to thank everyone at the St. Paul United Methodist Church in Florence SC for inviting us to meet their extended church family and for the opportunity to speak with all the amazing folks we met.  We hope Olivia and Carter’s message was one that will inspire change and that everyone realizes that they all can make a difference.

Testimonial:

Dear OMG Team, thanks again for coming to St Paul UMC! A couple of my parents have already told me that their children are reminding them to take cloth bags to the grocery store rather than use the plastic. I know that we will continue to see and hear stories of how your visit has impacted our church family. We do plan to do our first Green Vacation Bible School this year. Thanks to your program 😉

Peace,

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If you would like to learn more about our program or if you would like us to come and speak to your church, just send us an email or give us a call and we will gladly help with all the arrangements.  We are a nonprofit organization which relies 100% on donations from caring individuals and communities groups who are encouraged by our efforts.  If you would like to make a donation to help us further our cause, we invite you to visit our donation page here: I Wish To Support OMG We thank you for caring and we hope to hear from you soon. Best regards from the entire OMG Team 😉