Steward of God?s Creation Award The Steward of God?s Creation award is bestowed to those individuals who exhibit courage and commitment in the caring and keeping of the earth in a heroic, distinguished and effective manner. Awardees are determined by a vote of religious leaders and bestowed at a public event, normally the National Prayer Breakfast for Creation Care, which is sponsored annually by a coalition of religious organizations and affiliates. |
Thomas Herschelman
|
||||
|
During the late 1950s and early 1960s environmentalists sought to identify the many values of wilderness, including their spiritual values. After the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964, this emphasis seemed to fade away. Tom Herschelman sought to change this. He worked to organize explorations to articulate the spiritual values in areas of the Upper Midwest including the Trap Hills in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the areas surrounding the Boundary Waters Canoe Area of Minnesota. He assisted in programs in other portions of the nation and to better prepare himself to address these matters he returned to college to earn a masters degree in theology. For his organizing labors, for his persistence in promoting respect, care and expansion for America’s wild lands, for his work within his local United Church of Christ congregation to develop a regional statement on forest protection, for his steady work in Washington to bring the spiritual values of wilderness and the national forests to the attention of legislators, Tom received a steward of the forest award at the 2006 national prayer breakfast held in the Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC.