Moving Heaven and Earth

Cizik has heard all the objections. He rejects them. "We're on a collision course of monumental proportion," he says. "Twenty million to 30 million people could be victims. As evangelicals we can't just ignore it and hope it goes away." According to polls commissioned by the ECI, 70% of 1,000 evangelical respondents believe climate change is a threat to future generations. Half believe something should be done now, even if that causes economic fallout. "There's a leadership transition under way," says Cizik. "We are the future, and the old guard is reaching up to grasp its authority back, like in a horror movie where a hand comes out of the grave."

As much as he enjoys stirring the pot, Cizik has lost sleep over the ECI. "I've wondered, What in the world have I done?" he says. "If you didn't wonder, I think you'd be an idealogue. It's not that I'm just doing what I think is right, but what God has called me to do."

Yes, even that strange photo in Vanity Fair.

Gorman, from the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, whips out a copy when he meets Cizik at the Hotel George one afternoon. They're discussing another project, a book that Cizik wants to write about the environment. As Gorman flips to the infamous image, Cizik cracks, "I can never be portrayed as a narrow-minded evangelist who can't laugh at himself. What did you think of it?"

Gorman studies the picture, his eyebrows arched in mock shock. "That," he says, "is a free man undertaking a fresh ministry." And one who's prepared to take the heat.

Chuck Salter (csalter@fastcompany.com) is a Fast Company senior writer.