GSR: Remedying the Creation Deficit in Church

CEH Editor David Coppedge tells
what he did to get creation back
to church with Creation Safaris

This week on the Genesis Science Report, David Rives shared a surprising statistic: the average American spends 93% of their time indoors.

This includes most church members. Rives called this a “creation deficit” afflicting many evangelical churches. Aren’t Christians missing out on much of God’s general revelation? The Bible has much to say about creation as a revelation of God (see Genesis, Acts 14 and 17, Romans 1, Psalm 8, Psalm 19, Psalm 104, Psalm 148, and many other passages). In fact, many of the most beloved Bible passages (e.g., Isaiah 40:31) are presented in a creation context. Read the whole chapter and see.

CEH Editor David Coppedge tells Rives how he founded Creation Safaris to help bring the glory of God displayed in creation back into the church. Sadly, most church members find all their “re-creation” with indoor events. Once years ago, Coppedge was listening to his adult Bible class planning their social calendar. All the ideas were indoor events like concerts, plays, and movies. David thought to himself, “Can’t God put on a better show?“. On the spur of the moment, he decided to do something about it.*

The Birth of Creation Safaris

Since that “Aha!” moment in 1984, Coppedge has led 406 outdoor events to open up the outside world to people’s eyes. He explains that the distinctive feature of Creation Safaris is AWE: Adventure, Worship, and Education.** When combined, like the elements of fire, these themes lit Creation Safaris into a successful ministry that has served thousands of participants in a wide variety of activities, opening their senses to the wonders of God’s creation.

“Escape to Reality!” is our motto. Here, Coppedge leads a creation talk on a Creation Safaris backpacking trip in California, 1990.

The two Davids share a common interest in outdoor ministry. David Rives has also led many outdoor expeditions, including Africa safaris, fossil digs, and stargazing events. Coppedge joined Rives in 2023 on one of his Africa Safaris. Together, the group observed many magnificent animals and birds in the wild. Rives has also brought the outdoors into the indoors in his ministry’s huge Wonders Center and Science Museum. As an avid astrophotographer, Rives commonly ends his talks with, “Truly, the heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1).

Keep Looking Up

Speaking of the heavens, today (August 8), Coppedge is leading another Creation Safari: a Star Party on a mountaintop in southern California where he has led stargazing events for over 40 years. This is listed on the CreationSafaris.com website under Adventure>Calendar. See photo below of a previous star party. On the front page, you can watch several short videos explaining the ministry and showing examples of activities.

Bonus: In another, longer discussion of Creation Safaris, David discussed the ministry last April with his niece Christi Rose for her popular “Smiling at the Future” podcast. Listen to it here.

Creation Safari Star Party on a mountaintop (DFC)

*Erratum: at 47:48, I incorrectly stated that “the church can do movies, concerts and events far better than the church can.” This is illogical, of course. I meant to say, “the WORLD can do” these things far better. Pardon my misstatement.

**Many Christians like to go camping, and some churches host retreats close to nature. But often they never learn anything about creation. That’s why the “Education” part of AWE is an essential feature of Creation Safaris. We learn about what we are looking at outdoors. We glorify God for the wonders in every created thing, and explain how these things defy Darwinism. See the videos at CreationSafaris.com for more on this important element. Click on the front page and look especially for the videos titled “Outdoor Education” and “Apologetics”.