While Earth Day falls on Thursday this year, a growing number of college kids around the country may be wishing April 22 fell on Sunday. Why? They see a direct correlation between caring for the environment and their faith in Christ.

Erik George of Concordia College's Student Environmental Alliance (SEA) for example, has seen his small club at the Christian liberal arts college in Moorhead, Minnesota grow from five students per meeting to up to 30. Their campus advisor said he's never seen such interest in environmental issues in the 22 years he's been at Concordia.

Concordia's SEA club has pushed to remove trays in the cafeteria and eliminate trash bins in classrooms to encourage recycling. Those actions have helped Concordia increase its recycling by 20 percent. Students are also planning a "Recycled Fashion Show" for Earth Day week featuring models in reused clothing.

Students at Bethel University in Arden Hills, Minnesota have organized a Wednesday night forum on "Climate, Coal, and Your Soul," an educational night exploring the environmental and social consequences of our energy choices and potential solutions for these issue.

While these students may differ from other college kids and their political views, this generation of young Christians has embraced creation care as a core message. They say caring for the environment is not just a principle found in the Bible, but a way of expressing their faith in God. That belief is driving their actions on campus and other places as well.

"There really is a shift happening in the church and a new set of priorities forming," said Rev. Peter Illyn, an evangelical minister and founder of Restoring Eden, a Christian-based environmental group. "The students care deeply about environmental stewardship, social justice, and economic fairness and see their faith influencing all their values on these issues." Illyn says, "These college kids have been touched, down to what we call the deep bass strings of the soul, and that has affected their thinking about our planet."  Illyn is speaking at the panel at Bethel University and also at Concordia College on Earth Day.