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Colorado Springs is known for its wealth of evangelical churches. Now many of them are taking on the issue of the environment.

At Vanguard Church, Senior Pastor Kelly Williams says he doesn't know what to believe on issues like man-made global warming. What he does believe is that God teaches us to care for the earth.

In many ways, Vanguard is a lot like any evangelical church. There are bible verses and gospel music, but Vanguard is also one of a small, but growing number of churches calling on worshipers to be green in Jesus' name.

"The bible teaches that we are to steward this earth. It is god's creation entrusted to us," said Williams.

Williams gives biblical examples, including the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000. "He took just a few fish and a few loaves of bread and fed thousands, and one thing that stood out to me is after that miracle Jesus told the disciples to pick up everything so that nothing is wasted," said Williams.

He says since a miracle worker doesn't need to worry about waste, Jesus was sending a message.

"Often in a country that we live in that is convenient, convenience often turns into waste. We have an opportunity as Christians to be stewards of the earth," he said.

He also sees going green as a way for evangelicals to reach out to those who disagree with them on moral issues like abortion. "And I would argue stewardship is a moral issue. The environment is a moral issue," he said.

That stance has gotten him some push back from the evangelical community, who fear the environment is a distraction. But that is changing as awareness of the issue grows.

"They are not necessarily against it in the evangelical community, it is just that it feels like something that is being pushed on them without them understanding," said Williams.

Which is why his focus, for now, is on education. Specifics are the next step. "We would like to make sure that we get the programs recycled, that we are using the right kind of bulbs, that we are keeping the temperature at a certain level to conserve energy. Those are things that we are already doing," said Williams.

Many of his more than 1,200 members say they are putting their those beliefs into practice.

"This year we installed a geothermal heat pump to heat our home to reduce our footprint," said Leona Strait.

Melissa Harding said, "I'm just trying to be more conscientious of the way I use water and electricity and I'm teaching my kids that."

It is easy for us to look back and go, 'how could there ever be slavery?' and things like that. I don't want them to look at us and go 'what were they thinking? Why weren't they being more responsible with the God-given earth that we have?'," said Rob Strait.

In the future, Williams says he will organize discussions on how to better put those environmentally-conscious beliefs into practice, both for the congregation and the church itself.

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