ALUMNI Q&A WITH ENVIRONMENTAL MISSIONARY JASON WEIGNER
Jason Weigner studied Environmental Ethics, Environmental Chemistry, and Restoration Ecology at Au Sable’s Michigan campus in 2005 and 2006. He also took a class in Tropical Agriculture through Au Sable’s then-partner campus at the ECHO Global Farm and Research Center in Fort Myers, Florida. Weigner graduated with a degree from Messiah University in 2006. After over a decade of working as an environmental missionary in Bolivia, he now serves as ECHO’s Farm Manager and Intern Coordinator.
What was your time like at Au Sable?
The intimacy of getting away from everything, focusing on a class at a time, and learning together in community was a really powerful experience. The Environmental Ethics January class was a powerful time for me to formulate my theology around creation care. It was also sobering to understand how churches have actually been harming the creation and how behind we were in the environmental movement. On the flip side, it’s very powerful now for the world to see the church finally stepping up.
Where did you develop your own sense of care for creation?
I grew up in the country on a beautiful piece of land in upstate New York. I spent my childhood playing in the stream, the pond, and the woods. Field guides were my favorite books as a kid.
As I got older, I got interested in some sort of missions, but felt like I had to give up one for the other. That was where Au Sable came in and helped me formulate a theological basis for creation care.
Why did you feel you had to choose between missions work or caring for creation?
As I grew up, I felt like my love of nature was a cute hobby but meaningless. It didn’t have any place in real life or a real job. When I was in high school, my church youth group went on a month-long trip to Senegal and I started feeling this tug toward missions. Right out of high school I joined the Jesus Film project for a year and a half, dubbing the film in different languages. That took me all over the world.
As I grew up, I felt like my love of nature was a cute hobby but meaningless. It didn’t have any place in real life or a real job.
My last trip was through Togo. We were going through the countryside, and it was the classic scene of malnourishment and poverty. We pulled into this village that wasn’t financially better off, but you could feel something different right away. People were healthier, had clean water, had more food. Somebody asked, “Why is this town different?” and they said, “Oh, these missionaries worked alongside us to take care of the earth, give back to the earth, get more food out of the earth, and have clean water.”
That’s where the light bulb turned on. This was my niche. This is where ministry collides with my passion for the environment. That’s when I decided to come back to study environmental science at Messiah. At the time we were required to take at least one course at Au Sable. Through Au Sable I took that course with ECHO. That’s when it really clicked.
What is ECHO?
ECHO is a missions support organization. They train missionaries around the world in different agricultural techniques that fit the needs in their areas. It’s almost like a global extension agency. ECHO collects small scale farmer techniques from around the world and redistributes them. They do a lot of experimenting with different crops, what works and what doesn’t for small shareholders. They send seeds around the world and provide education. A big part of ECHO is the internship program, where interns spend a year here and then go around the world to apply the techniques they learned.
What is the ECHO property like?
We started 3 acres and now we have 50 acres. It’s not all under cultivation, there are some wild parts. We have different eco-regions simulated—rainforest, seasonal dry forest, monsoon. We even built a mountain for terraced agriculture. We do a lot with appropriate technology that is obtainable and replicable in various contexts—things like hand pumps—versus external technology that once it breaks nobody knows how to use it anymore.
We now have regionally-focused impact centers—one in Thailand, two in Africa, and we’re trying to put one in Central America.
There are two plants they’ve focused on at the property that are high in nutrition and easy to grow—moringa and chaya, also known as Mexican tree spinach. Years ago, ECHO was promoting moringa as an amazing, super health food and now it’s all over the world and really popular in nutrition supplements.
What was your journey like from graduation to your current work?
I graduated college with the intention of going into the mission field somewhere. After finding out about ECHO, I was determined to get into an ECHO internship. When I was here as an intern, I would get questions like, “What do I do about elephants in my garden?”
My wife and I were looking at missions, and I was really set on going to Africa. We went to the missions conference Urbana, trying to find a two-year placement. We stopped to say hi to somebody at the South America Missions booth, and they said, “We’ve been trying to get an ECHO intern down to Bolivia.” As soon as he said that I felt that poke of, “That’s where you’re supposed to go.” I said, “Fine, God. I’ll do two years in South America and then I’m going to Africa.” Fast forward 15 years and I was still there.
My focus in Bolivia was initially working with the indigenous church in the lowland areas and helping get a discipleship center started. Believers would stay at the center for a long time to focus on discipleship and learning skills and agriculture to take back to their villages. Our heart was that it would be local-run.
Last summer, we had just bought land, built our own house, and said that we were here for the long haul. But we’ve always had a posture of wanting to hold loosely to our ministry. We were having a conference at the discipleship center, and I was looking around and feeling pensive. Out of the blue, I just got hit by this deep sense of completion. Even though it wasn’t what I envisioned, I had played my role there. I could leave and it would be fine.
Two days later, I got the email from ECHO that they were looking for a new farm manager.
Can you share more about the sense of completion you felt?
As a North American I wanted more tangible results. But the sense of completion came more from the relational aspect—the connections and community that had formed around the discipleship center. I was just a catalyst down there, supporting what was already naturally happening.
What does your current role at ECHO entail?
I oversee the big picture of the farm, the daily operations, and also the intern program. Interns have seminars to learn concepts, but then they go out and actually practice different forms of agriculture. Each intern is assigned a different eco-region and works with plants and animals integrated into those areas.
How does climate adaptation fit into to your work?
ECHO is focused on tropical and subtropical areas of the world. We put our ear to the ground to see what people are finding that works well in tough conditions. We do our own variety trials and tests. We distribute that information out to other farmers.
One important need that is becoming more and more apparent is seed banking. Food diversity is being lost at an alarming rate, when large-scale agriculture comes in. Getting communities to preserve what they have and save their seeds well is huge.
How is what you do an outworking of your faith?
I love the intersection of missions and agriculture because it’s a very tangible need—producing food. So much relationship happens around food, whether it’s growing or eating. So many Biblical analogies or stories revolve around the production or eating of food. This work makes so many of the Biblical stories come alive in ways we don’t see in our isolated North American culture.
What habits or spiritual practices sustain you in the work you do?
While we were in Bolivia, I felt very alone. Often agriculture is viewed by the rest of the church and missions as a cute side hobby. But it is my mission is to steward the garden, the earth that God has given us, in a way that glorifies him. That was our initial calling, to live in the garden with God. It’s a redemptive journey to steward the earth well.
That was our initial calling, to live in the garden with God. It’s a redemptive journey to steward the earth well.
Coming back to ECHO has been a healing process to be back around similar-minded people.
As far as spiritual practices, being out in the creation is my sanctuary where I connect best with the Creator. Sometimes I have to stop myself and actually pay attention. I can get so busy in my head.
Anything else you want to share?
There’s a balance between searching for our calling and becoming complacent. We know how we’re supposed to live day to day. A missionary I used to work with would say, “Live well wherever God’s placed you and make Jesus look good.” That’s your calling wherever you are, until God might throw a new direction in your life. You can stay sensitive to the spirit’s leading and be ready to move when that happens. But don’t stress yourself out trying to find your big calling.
