TED 2013, Allan Savory… and Genesis!

If you’re like me you are probably familiar with TED.  The series of conferences where leading figures give short 20 minute talks in fields as diverse as science, politics, religion, and media.  The talks themselves are all available for free online and have been viewed more than 1 billion times.  (A fair portion of those being from me)

Last week the much anticipated TED 2013 conference was held in Southern California.  About a week before that I received a phone call from one of my closest friends.  He was going to be attending the TED conference because his boss, Allan Savory, from the Savory Institute was asked to be one of the speakers there.

I must admit I was impressed.  Being asked to speak at TED… that’s a pretty big deal.  (Plus it meant my friend traveling with him was probably going to meet Bono)

Mr. Savory spoke on his area of expertise which is land management, and specifically, his successful work in transforming desert regions back to life again.

Although I was somewhat familiar with the work done by the Savory Institute through my friend , the TED talk given by Mr. Savory is a concise explanation of the amazing work they have undertaken in restoring life to dying areas of the Earth.  At the end of the talk he received a standing ovation, which I have almost never seen…and I’ve viewed a lot of TED talks.

As I watched it all I could think was, “This is Genesis 1 & 2”

  God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them
reflecting our nature
So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,
the birds in the air, the cattle,
And, yes, Earth itself,
and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.”
God created human beings;
he created them godlike,
Reflecting God’s nature.
He created them male and female.
God blessed them:
“Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!
Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,
for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.”

My friend, who in addition to being an incredibly gifted business manager and entrepreneur, has been a pastor and involved in Christian ministry his whole adult life.  We talked about the work he has been involved in around the world in his position with the Savory Institute seeing the land redeemed.

We both had a knit heart that God is fully invested in this planet and his purpose is not to get us off the Earth but to restore the Earth…starting with his people.

Christians err when we are not caring about the things God cares about.  We have been given a wonderful mandate in Genesis; to cultivate the Earth and by doing so reflect the image of God.

A mandate that has never been revoked!

Jesus instructed us to pray that it should be on Earth as it is in Heaven.

All I’ll say is you can’t watch the TED talk by Allan Savory and not come away feeling that a little more Heaven has just come to Earth!