Show Notes
In this episode of Nuance, Case Thorp sits down with Ted Haddock, Eugenia Sefcik, and Lynn Long of the Orlando Land Trust to explore how faith and community stewardship come together to shape the city of Orlando.
They discuss the Christian call to care for creation, the vision behind preserving Lake Eola Park, and the real challenges of raising funds, building public trust, and partnering with neighbors, churches, and city leaders to protect urban green spaces.
This inspiring conversation reveals how spiritual conviction can drive civic action, showing what it looks like to live out faith through environmental care and community renewal.
Episode Resources:
Orlando City Trust’s website: https://orlandolandtrust.org/
Nuance is a podcast of The Collaborative where we wrestle together about living our Christian faith in the public square. Nuance invites Christians to pursue the cultural and economic renewal by living out faith through work every facet of public life, including work, political engagement, the arts, philanthropy, and more.
Each episode, Dr. Case Thorp hosts conversations with Christian thinkers and leaders at the forefront of some of today’s most pressing issues around living a public faith.
Our hope is that Nuance will equip our viewers with knowledge and wisdom to engage our co-workers, neighbors, and the public square in a way that reflects the beauty and grace of the Gospel.
Learn more about The Collaborative:
Website 👉 https://wecolabor.com
Get to know Case 👉 https://collaborativeorlando.com/team/
Episode Transcript
Case Thorp
Some cities are built with blueprints. Others are shaped by belief. What we value, preserve, and imagine together becomes the story our city tells, not just in its skyline or infrastructure, but in its spirit. At the heart of any great city in which a Christian dwells is a quiet trust that the past matters, that beauty is worth fighting for, that our shared spaces carry sacred weight. But what happens when development outruns discernment, when history is paved over, when that very trust between neighbors, between generations, communities and institutions begins to erode? Christian faith has something to say here, not as a political slogan or a private sentiment, but as a public force, a lens through which we see our streets, our stories, our shared future. It speaks into what Christians choose to build, what we protect and who we include. Well, I’m so grateful that today we’re joined by the leaders of the Orlando Land Trust, a civic organization asking, what does it mean to love a city long enough to steward its soul? So yeah, this is a conversation about public theology, but also about trees and thresholds and trust about why faith belongs not just in our churches, but in our courthouses, our neighborhoods, our parks and our civic imagination. So Eugenia Sefcik, Lynn Long, and Ted Haddock, thank you so much for joining me.
Ted Haddock
Thanks, Case, and good to be here.
Case Thorp
Well now, Ted and Lynn, I haven’t known except for, you know, on email or the past few minutes, but y’all know, Eugenia and I go way back at First Presbyterian Orlando, yes?
Eugenia Sefcik
That’s correct, Case.
Case Thorp
Well, y’all will appreciate this, Ted and Lynn. So I got in here 20 years ago, much skinnier and brand new as the mission pastor and I get a phone call and on the other end of the line I hear, Case, my name is Eugenia Sefcik and I would like to raise the money and do all the work and send 50 urban youth to a church camp. And I was like, okay. But she said, I have two rules. I said, okay. Number one, I don’t do committees. And number two, when I call, you answer. So I was like, I mean, yes, ma’am, let’s go. So I imagine in your work together, you understand this approach?
Eugenia Sefcik
Lynn does for sure.
Lynn Long
I definitely do.
Case Thorp
Yeah. She gets stuff done for Jesus, and that’s why we’ve worked well over the years.
Eugenia Sefcik
Well, and Lynn is known by her friends as the little general. So it’s not just me, it’s Lynn also.
Case Thorp
Okay. So you’re the tall general. She’s the little general. I love it. And Ted’s just along for the ride. Well, to our viewers and friends, welcome to Nuance where we seek to be faithful in the public square. I’m Case Thorp and I want to encourage you like subscribe, share, our numbers have been doing great. And the more you do that, the further we can reach and share this good word.So let me tell you about our guests. Eugenia Sefcik is a fifth generation Floridian. She served as a senior vice president with the Bank of America and then co-founded with her husband Employment Technologies Corporation. Lynn Long, another fifth generation Orlandoan, is a retired professor of marriage and family therapy. And Ted Haddock, the president of the Edward E. Haddock Jr. Family Foundation, is a filmmaker, a cultural steward, and has hands involved in all sorts of projects with a passion for preserving beauty and advancing justice. All three worship at different downtown Orlando churches. Now their most recent project that captured my attention has been an expansion of Orlando’s premier space, Lake Eola Park, a park actually that’s just about three blocks from where I’m at. Ted, I imagine you’re at the hub, right? Or sitting right on the park.
Ted Haddock
Yeah, the park, I can see it right out the window there.
Case Thorp
Yeah, right out the window. Well, so they have worked to secure some of the key parcels of adjoining land to the park and notably the southwest corner, which was once slated for development, and they’re giving them back to the city as permanent green space. Their work is about more than just preservation, but like I mentioned earlier, it’s renewing a public trust, honoring beauty, and it says something about who we are as Christians and our citizenship in the public square. So friends, y’all come from such different professional and personal backgrounds, philanthropy, the marketplace, therapy, finance, and you clearly love Orlando. So tell me, what brought y’all together and why now?
Eugenia Sefcik
Okay, so I’m going to start if that’s okay. My involvement began with the project Protect Lake Eola back in 2015 when a developer was seeking approval from the city to build a 440 foot high rise next to the Roslyn Club located on Lake Eola Park.
Case Thorp
I didn’t know it was gonna be that high.
Eugenia Sefcik
Yes, and the clubhouse was 100 years old and it was important to me to protect that building. I was assured by the developers that the clubhouse would withstand the construction, but I knew that wasn’t true because the new building was to be built six feet away from the clubhouse. I knew a building of that size would have a negative impact on the surrounding area too. You may not know.
Case Thorp
And didn’t you say, Eugenia, how old that building is?
Eugenia Sefcik
It’s over 100 years old. The Roslyn Club’s been around longer than that, but the building is, what now, Lynn, maybe 110? 110 years old now. But I don’t know if you know this, but there’s a federally protected bird sanctuary in the park that has five species of swans plus ducks and other birds.
Case Thorp
No, I did not. What about all the birds, excuse me, on the little island that just poop all over the green leaves?
Eugenia Sefcik
That’s the federally protected land. Yes, that’s correct. That’s it.
Case Thorp
Okay. Not that we want to get rid of birds, but it’s so unsightly, but I guess it ain’t going anywhere.
Eugenia Sefcik
That’s right. I was overwhelmed knowing that I would have to hire an attorney, present to the municipal planning board, and be prepared to talk to the press. A friend of mine, Anne Luff, said, you’ve got to contact my cousin, Lynn Long, because she can help you with this. I knew who Lynn was, Case, but we’d never met before. Anne was absolutely right. Lynn was interested in helping to protect the Roslyn Club, and Lake Eola.
Case Thorp
So Lynn, you are not in the Roslyn Club, I guess, cause y’all haven’t met.
Lynn Long
No, I am in the Roslyn Club, but the Roslyn Club is a large group of women and we just had not been in the same group. She was a Winter Park person and I’m a South Orlando person and back in the day that mattered a lot.
Case Thorp
Yes, well I’m South Orlando person too. Okay, so you too though, Lynn, I really cared about the Roslyn Club and the building also.
Lynn Long
That’s correct. And the park. We formed a committee, hired an attorney, identified people to present at the municipal planning board, worked on our presentations over a 72-hour period to oppose this high rise. And when we went to the municipal planning board, we were not the only ones in Orlando opposing this project. There was a lot of opposition. Ultimately, the project was approved. Yes.
Case Thorp
If I may, tell me this, what other groups or individuals were opposing this building and why?
Lynn Long
There were some groups from Lake Eola. There are some preservation groups trying to preserve Lake Eola, the natural habitat. There were two or three other groups who were also there. Neighborhood associations were there, the Thornton Park Neighborhood Association and other active groups. So it was a concerted effort, but we didn’t know it was concerted at the time.
Case Thorp
Okay. Now Ted, was it on your radar yet?
Ted Haddock
A little bit. Yeah, before we officed in our current location, we were renting a space at that corner. So we had a sort of a front row seat to some of the, you know, the folks come in to look at that corner of the park and see where the building would fit. And of course, we were following the news and hearing things. And so, you know, I had an interest just because growing up in Orlando, I love the place and I love the park and have a lot of memories there. In fact, there’s a picture on my desk with my dad holding me when I was about two years old. And you can see the only building around the park was the, it’s now the Fifth Third Bank building, but it’s the one on the Northwest corner. So anyway, there’s, like Lynn and Eugenia, and all of us, we have a lot of memories in that place and just know that it serves a greater good. You know, I think none of us are opposed to development or have any hard feelings for anyone who wants to do a project, but it was just what’s appropriate for that spot. So we all started to develop our own opinions on it. And we felt like, you know, maybe there’s a better use for that piece of property.
Case Thorp
Sure. Now that building you were in, is it also a historic structure? It’s a beautiful building.
Ted Haddock
It is. I mean, I don’t know. We have to define what historic means, but by Orlando standards, it’s definitely historic. It’s more than 100 years old. I started doing, like I didn’t realize this till recent years…growing up, I wasn’t aware of this, but I really do love history and I love trying to find the details. It’s like a treasure hunt to try to find, like what happened before and how did that get there? And so as I was doing a lot of research about Lake Eola Park and how it started, I learned that there was just, you know, there was a whole, you know, maybe about 10 or 12 landowners who all had parcels around the lake and they all, because they cared about the city and its interests, said we’re going to give it to the city. Like, you take this piece, you take this piece, and everybody kind of chipped in. And so that’s not a story I’ve ever heard taught anywhere, but it’s a really great example. You know there are some different considerations at the time, there was no air conditioning and a lot of mosquitoes. It probably wasn’t as desirable, but it did serve a public function. And so it was a community coming together that helped start the park to begin with. So we sort of like that legacy.
Case Thorp
So for our non-Orlando listeners, I just want to put this image in your mind. Lake Eola is sort of our central park. It is the premier place to gather, beautiful amenities such as an outdoor amphitheater, a wonderful park for children that I’ve took my children to for years, a wonderful walking and jogging path all the way around it. There are big swan boats that you can rent and paddle out a big fountain in the middle and there’s swans too and they’ll get you. You don’t want to upset the swans. But this particular corner has two streets, obviously that meet. And then on the north side of this property would be the Roslyn Club. And then on the right side of this property is this historic home where Ted was officed for a bit. So just to get that picture in your head, this was in a first attempt to sort of reclaim some of the other properties. Okay, Eugenia, continue please.
Eugenia Sefcik
So ultimately the municipal planning board approved the project, so we were not successful but what happened was Lynn and I caught the attention of Thomas Chapman, who was the executive director of the Downtown Development Board. He’s responsible for all of the projects in downtown Orlando. So he asked to meet with Lynn and myself. Thomas, Lynn and I met periodically about the property and discussed ways to protect it because the city’s vision was that this corner would be the western gateway to the park. So even back in 2015, that was their vision.
Case Thorp
But you’re saying the city’s vision was in conflict with this owner of the property selling to a developer. Got it.
Eugenia Sefcik
That’s correct. And fortunately, the developer from 2015 did not go forward with the project. So anyway, the city wanted to protect the park. They were working with Lynn and myself and commissioned a study to determine the height restrictions for property both on Lake Eola Park and across the street. And what we determined and what we discovered was that the height restrictions ranged from 150 feet up to 440 feet. And Lynn and I left that meeting, that last meeting with Thomas, knowing that we were going to have to do something to protect the park because there was nothing that the city could do.
Case Thorp
Help me understand two things here. The city may have a vision, but you said the municipality board is independent and they can approve things anyway. And if there’s a restriction from 150 to 400, how could they go to full 440? Wouldn’t that be over?
Eugenia Sefcik
That’s correct. Well, on that particular section, it was 440 feet, but yet on the south side of Lake Eola Park, it was 150 feet. So it was not consistent throughout the property on the park, nor across the street from the park.
Case Thorp
Got it. And so the municipality just kind of missed that?
Eugenia Sefcik
No, well, I don’t know how to answer that. That was set up, I guess, years and years ago.
Case Thorp
Or they overruled it maybe, they just said we can.
Eugenia Sefcik
Well, no, the property in question that did you were allowed to build a building of four hundred and forty feet, whereas across the street, the view, you know where the view?
Case Thorp
Yes, it’s an apartment building. I see. Yes, where that yellow former hotel, now apartments are.
Eugenia Sefcik
OK, that’s four hundred and forty feet. But yet next door, it’s only one hundred and fifty feet.
Case Thorp
Okay. So there’s some zoning struggles that are just not consistent. Got it. Okay.
Eugenia Sefcik
That’s correct. Right. That’s correct. Yeah, no consistency. But Lynn and I left this meeting and because we knew we had to do something to protect this corner of the park, I contacted Tim Sunniff, who was with National Christian Foundation, who rented the Mediterranean house that Ted was also renting at the time to contact him and solicit his advice to ask for help. And Tim said, you have to contact Ted Haddock. Little did we know that Ted was on the board of the Nature Conservancy and the Winter Park Land Trust. So Lynn and I contacted him and he agreed to help us.
Case Thorp
So y’all didn’t know each other before this. Okay. Ted, you’re not a member of the Roslyn Club? Come on. Come on.
Eugenia Sefcik
No, no. probably wished that he’d not picked up the phone. But Lynn and I called Ted our knight in shining armor because he brought unbelievable skills and credibility to our effort and ultimately agreed to be the president of the newly formed Orlando Land Trust.
Lynn Long
If I can just jump in here for a second because yes, I am a member of the Roslyn Club. I also grew up downtown and downtown was basically the only place to go. And Lake Eola was the center of everything. We went there for every family holiday. They used to have a fish-a-thon that we all… I mean, there just was…
Case Thorp
There are fish in that lake?
Lynn Long
I don’t think there are anymore, but there were fish.
Case Thorp
Well that’s the next project, restore the fish.
Lynn Long
And so I had this historical piece of my own life just of growing up basically on Lake Eola. I currently live where Lake Eola is my front yard. I live downtown. And so for me, it was the Roslyn Club, but it was also a historical piece of my childhood and something that I really wanted to preserve regardless. It just wasn’t the right thing to do.
Case Thorp
Yeah. So, Ted, when they called, your first thought was, this is doable? This is impossible? What was your first thought?
Ted Haddock
It just seemed like the right thing to do, really. I don’t think any of us knew if there was a clear pathway forward, but like a lot of things in life, you might see the next step ahead of you. And so I think we all thought, well, we got to try. And so that’s what we did and kept taking more steps and we got more traction and support along the way. I think one of the things that, I mean, this wasn’t on any of our schedules. We all had plenty of things to do, a lot of interests, family, other commitments, but it’s, you know, life presents challenges and opportunities and, the opportunities are usually challenges. And so it’s easy to sort of resent that or get frustrated or blame somebody. But, you know, one thing I’ve learned in this process is our city leaders are looking for solutions. And I think really that’s true for anybody who’s trying to get stuff done. So it’s not like a…you know, I think from the beginning, the idea was, well, what is the solution? Like, maybe we can come up with an idea and help our leaders find a way forward and something that’s fair for everyone. So anyway, I’ve been encouraged by the possibilities of just stepping into a situation where there’s an opportunity for a public-private partnership.
Case Thorp
And so y’all formed the Orlando Land Trust and then you went and raised the money for the trust to purchase the property, correct?
Lynn Long
That’s correct. Well, there was a step in between though. The property was not for sale at that time. Well, it was at that time, but then he had taken it off the market, the man who owned the 7-Eleven.
Case Thorp
But it was to that developer. I got it. And by the way, folks, there was a 7-Eleven on this corner that was not so attractive. Yeah.
Lynn Long
A 7-Eleven on that corner, which no longer exists, but we found out through some friends of ours who the person was who owned it and a little bit about their history and found out they grew up in Orlando too. So I called out of the blue and I said, is your property for sale right now? And he said, no, it’s really not on the market. And I said, well, would you be willing to consider it? And I explained what we were doing and I said, wouldn’t you really rather be a part of the history of Orlando than see a 35 story building on your property? And he said, absolutely. And so we had to have a customer there. We met with him. Eugenia and I had lunch with him. He owned the property with his sisters and we were like, you know, talk to your sisters, see what you can come up with. We’re going to attempt to raise some money, but we have to know that we can have that parcel because as one of the city leaders told us, the only way to prevent any kind of structure on that is to buy it. Then we own it and we don’t have to have anything.
Case Thorp
You control it. Okay. So, but you had to pay market rate, right? This guy was no dummy. He wasn’t going to just give it away.
Eugenia Sefcik
That’s correct, but the developer previously had offered him five million for the property in that 2015 sale and he, you know, we ended up paying three million for it. So, you know, he could have waited for another developer to come along and potentially had gotten more money.
Lynn Long
He bought into our vision, really, I think. He became a very good partner. In fact, he wanted to be on the Land Trust Board of Trustees. So, yeah, because he grew up there, too. His grandmother lived on the lake, and he used to go there as a child. You just find these connections. Well, and it ended up that he grew up two blocks from me and was friends with one of my siblings.
Case Thorp
Okay, well that’s wonderful. I didn’t realize that part. And is he still in Orlando? Okay. I should have had him on here too. That’s great. Well, but then you needed $3 million, right? So the three of y’all just pulled out your checkbooks and stroked the checks, right?
Eugenia Sefcik
Yeah, right. Ted did.
Case Thorp
But you had to go find it and that took time, right? How long did that take?
Eugenia Sefcik
18 months, and we thought initially that 18 months was plenty of time and we soon discovered that we’d made a gross error in our judgment. To raise three and a half million dollars in 18 months is very challenging, particularly when there’s a pandemic.
Case Thorp
Wow, yes. Although people are available on their phones, right? You can get a hold of them.
Lynn Long
Yeah, all of the groups that we plan to go to and discuss, were having home meetings, we were going to different organizations, and then the pandemic hit. And I had never Zoomed before. I didn’t even know what it was. We had to learn all kinds of new things to figure out how we could attract people who believed in our vision.
Eugenia Sefcik
Well, and we, you know, we did presentations on Facebook. I know that we met with the JCs, we did that, you know, online and it was just very interesting.
Lynn Long
Orlando remembered some of the old organizations.
Eugenia Sefcik
We did a mail out to downtown Orlando residents and we’d been told that direct mails didn’t work and we sent out over 4,000 direct mails in bright envelopes, handwritten, no return address so that we would get someone to open it potentially. And one of the first checks that we got was for $25,000, which was amazing.
Lynn Long
Someone who didn’t even know us, lived downtown and just believed in what we were doing. I mean, we spent, well, we talked probably several times a day.
Case Thorp
My goodness. Wow.
Lynn Long
But we just spent our time trying to think of, what do we do? We know we’ve got to raise this money. We know we have a pandemic and we can’t see people. And so we started to think of identifying people who would help us. And one night when I couldn’t sleep, I came up with the idea, well, okay, who would give money, a group of people who would want to give money? And I thought grandmothers, okay? Grandmothers would give money for their grandchildren.
Case Thorp
That’s right.
Lynn Long
So we came up with this idea of the Orlando Land Trust it was the grandmother’s legacy of love, where we would have all of the grandchildren’s names who participated etched in this structure that is currently being built on Lake Eola. And we have over 500 grandchildren who will be etched there permanently, many who were, you know, fifth, sixth generation Orlandoans and some that just believed in our project. So it took on a life of its own. And we contacted a woman who was an artist who made sculptures. She worked with us. She believed in our project. Then we had someone who actually funded part of the project for us. So it’s just one thing led to another. And it became more heartwarming to see the things that people would do to try to preserve our land.
Case Thorp
Isn’t it beautiful how you get the energy going and the partners just show up and jump on board in ways you don’t expect.
Eugenia Sefcik
Yeah. Well, and the other thing that was amazing to us was we had to create a board and the people that we asked, former mayor Bill Frederick, former mayor Glenda Hood, Chas Bales, Charlie Gray, Mark Lyon, Leslie Poole and Steve Goldman, we asked them and they all agreed to participate, which, those were the people we identified, we contacted them, and they all said yes immediately, which to us was a godsend because they were so influential in the community and brought, you know, brought real credence I guess to our effort and our board.
Case Thorp
Sure. So you raise the money, you purchase the property. And today for our listeners, if you don’t live in Orlando, that corner has been beautifully remodeled. The building’s gone and there are palm trees and aren’t there big rocks to sit or climb on and it’s a beautifully transformed space. There’s one more building to get that will then clear it up, I believe, so that it is truly that gateway into the park from the more downtown part of Orlando.
Lynn Long
It has been gotten. Yes. The city has purchased the building between where the old 7-Eleven stood and the Mediterranean house that Ted was talking about earlier. They bought that this past spring and they are planning to, I think, keep the Mediterranean house as I understand it.
Case Thorp
Yes. Got it. Wonderful.
Lynn Long
You know, get rid of the tall structure, it’s in really bad repair, and then make that the Western gateway. So the city has just been wonderful with us. I mean, you know, some of the cast of characters have changed. Unfortunately, we lost Thomas Chapman, which was just so sad. But he was there to help us when we needed it.
Case Thorp
Yes, he was a good man. He did a lot for downtown.
Lynn Long
And I know he’s watching whatever we’re doing because he just loved it and he loved us and he loved the mission and he was just great. So everyone along the way has done it and the city finally bought the land and they’re planning to continue our vision.
Case Thorp
So you got that big building. Now the Trust buys the corner. Does the Trust still hold it or y’all signed it over to the city?
Lynn Long
We gave it to the city with the deed restriction that it must be public use only forever.
Case Thorp
Got it. And the development of that public use, the gateway park-ish, the trees and the rocks and stuff that are there now, did y’all pay for that or the city did that?
Lynn Long
You mean actually renovating the space? The city paid for that.
Case Thorp
Yes, yes. Okay, okay. Wow. So Ted, why does green space matter?
Ted Haddock
Well, there’s a lot of different reasons. I’m not an expert or authority on it, but you know, when we need fresh air, we go outside, right? We got to, you know, I think anytime we’re feeling stressed and overwhelmed, we take a walk, you know, we’re refreshed by trees and shade and just nature. And so I think a lot of us grew up in a time where we had access to places where we could go explore. Our kids, we live in Orlando and they daydream about stories from my childhood when we get on bikes and we just go ride through the orange groves or whatever was there. And there’s no places to do that anymore. That’s okay. Time has changed. But I do think that there is this trend towards everything being, there’s something in every spot. Unless we’re, and I’m talking about building, you know, manmade structures, and unless we’re intentional about saying, in addition to that, we want some spaces where we can be refreshed and enjoy, you know, the green space alongside these other places where we want to gather, we want to live, we want to have cool places to work and you know, great entertainment and things to go do culturally. It’s just not going to happen unless we prioritize that. So I think that’s part of the vision of the Orlando Land Trust. And we’re not unique in that. There are a lot of great cities throughout the U.S. I mean, that was the whole idea for Central Park in New York City. And that was very controversial at the time. Just a quick note on that, if I may, the designers of Central Park had an uphill battle and I don’t know if you’re familiar with this, but they pitched it to the leaders in New York who said, well, we want the tax revenue. Think of all that land where we could build buildings and people could be paying taxes. And it just seemed like a really dumb idea financially, but they predicted that if you guys will go along with this plan, we’re gonna set aside this land in the middle of Manhattan. In 50 years, you’re gonna have more than what you would have lost. And they were right and they were wrong. They were right in fact that they got higher returns than they would have had they built it, but it wasn’t 50 years, it was only 20 years. So of course you go to New York and those are the highest rent districts. So, yeah. We need green space.
Case Thorp
Wow. Now, you are correct. There are other people and organizations that care about such reclamation and preservation, but y’all are motivated clearly by your faith. And so I’m curious, what is it about your walk with Jesus, your Christian faith that motivated you in, in this kind of work?
Ted Haddock
I’m happy to share a couple of thoughts and Lynn’s, you know, I’d love to hear yours too. I mean, you just think about, you know, we there in scripture, we learned there are just a lot of names for God and they reflect different attributes and we recognize God as creator. And I’m also an artist, not a capital A, but a small a and and, you know, we’re given this ability to be creative and to make things. And I just imagine like if the creator of the universe made this amazing, intricate, like ever-changing, beautiful tapestry of nature for us to enjoy and to take care of and make good use of, what if, you know, somebody you love gave you a present and you just like trashed it, right? That it doesn’t show much respect or appreciation. So I think there is this very basic common sense idea that I don’t hear discussed in many churches of just creation care. Like God made this and said it was good. And gave it to us not to exploit, but to care for, to steward and manage. So I think at a very fundamental level, that’s part of what motivates me. And the other thing I’d add on real quick is just nature and the environment and even if we’re brave enough to use the words climate change. All of those systems and the natural systems, whether they’re functioning in a healthy way or in an unhealthy way, it affects all of us. And so I think of a really basic way to love your neighbor, which of course we’re called to do and want to do, is to care for the world that we live in.
Case Thorp
One of our big motivators at The Collaborative is stewardship. Genesis 1 is very clear that we were created to tend the garden, that we are co-laborers with God. That’s actually how we get our name The Collaborative, the co-laborative. And stewardship is so very important, whether it’s stewarding your own lives, your expression of faith and building in the kingdom of God in your neighborhoods and at work, but also, as you say, stewarding the world in which we live. And so part of my passion and our hope is that we can help increase that idea of stewardship and see others embrace that. Eugenia, Lynn, how about your faith engagement with this project?
Lynn Long
Well, I can speak to that. I mean, for me, it goes back to just being a little child in Bible school in the summers and just, you know, singing songs like All Things Bright and Beautiful and Noah’s Ark and all those kinds of things that all talked about the importance of our environment and our stewardship and our need to protect. I mean, if you go to Genesis, I mean, you’re going to talk about the humanity of dominion over the earth. They talk about how God has the earth, but it is our duty to protect it as children of God. And I just, I believe really strongly in that. In fact, my church, St. Luke’s, donated a piece of property to Lake Eola and the city back, oh gosh, I think it was like 1914, with the idea that it must also be parks-based. I kind of come from a church that did the same thing. And I just, I’ve always thought too that that is important that like Ted said, love your neighbor, but love your land and love your birds and love your animals and love everything that God gave us. And that’s just where I came from. It was just ingrained in me as a child.
Case Thorp
Sure, sure. I can resonate with that in the way in which at The Collaborative, we lift up Jeremiah 29:7 and I’ll read that this is when the Jews are in exile in Babylon and God says to them, seek the peace and prosperity to the city, which I’ve carried you in exile, pray to the Lord for it because of it. Prosperous you too will prosper. And so much of our world is broken and at odds and sometimes Christians just want to check out. But actually, God calls us to lean in. And in leaning in, we not only help bring prosperity for ourselves, but for the common good. And that’s so important. So important.
Ted Haddock
Yeah.
Case Thorp
Eugenia, where did your faith guide you in this kind of work?
Eugenia Sefcik
Well, my faith provides me with a source of strength through my relationship with Jesus. And this is particularly true when you face trials and tribulations or a monumental project and you want to be successful and not fail. And this project was a way of serving others and improving the community for everyone to enjoy, but throughout this entire process, beginning back in 2015 up until when the city just recently purchased the property to complete the gateway to the park, I just kept thinking about Queen Esther and her cousin Mordecai who saved the Jewish people from being destroyed by the king’s advisor Haman. And in Esther, Mordecai says to Queen Esther and who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place that you and your father’s family will perish. I know that Ted, Lynn, and I were called to this project for such a time as this to protect Lake Eola Park for the residents, visitors, and animals who live there. I have no doubt about that.
Case Thorp
What’s your dream? What’s your vision for 50 years from now at Lake Eola?
Lynn Long
Well, there is a 50 year plan that the city has provided, which is interesting because it does provide more opportunities for children with playgrounds, more places to gather in terms of eateries. We’re also looking at the possibility of a docent type program for children. Maybe once a month where they would come and we would have a docent who would take them around and identify the species of swans, identify some of the flowers and all the beauty of nature and help children learn about that. We’ve got to finish our butterfly garden first before we go to this next step. So I see us being able to do other things, maybe not on the scale of buying property and fundraising, but just ways for community folks to learn more about nature and learn more about our beautiful city.
Case Thorp
Sign me up for that, I’ll be a docent. I don’t know if you can share publicly, but are there any other projects at the Orlando Land Trust that are bubbling up or in full force?
Lynn Long
Well, we’ve been asked that question. We really, because you know, this land trust was formed out of an urgent need. It wasn’t that we just created a land trust. We created it with an urgent need. And I think what we all have agreed to do, and y’all correct me if I’m wrong, but we want to complete this project in its entirety before we move on to anything else. We’ve discussed some ideas, some possibilities, but because we formed so quickly and we’re dedicated so much to this one individual project, it’s not completed, even the land trust portion, because the butterfly garden won’t be completed until next month. That’s to be near the Sperry Fountain. It won’t be on the corner. It’s right within the park. The structure is there now and they didn’t even put the trees in.
Eugenia Sefcik
So it’s almost behind the Mediterranean house between the Mediterranean house and the lake.
Case Thorp
Okay. Yep. Got it. Ted, what are you cooking up?
Ted Haddock
Well, that’s a great question. Well, I would say to the last question that I do think the Orlando Land Trust is at an inflection point where, like Lynn and Eugenia have said, that we did form out of a specific urgent need and there was, and that is a little bit unusual in the world of land trusts. Usually there’s the vision and then you go out and you find the projects to do. So I don’t think it was like, you know, a mistake or that we got it backwards necessarily, but I think we’re trying to figure out as we go, well, where do we go from here? So yeah, I do think that one of the things we’ve discussed is finding more trustees who would like to join us and develop a vision for the future. So I will say, you know, one of the, just as an example of one of the projects we’ve discussed, and this is not anything official, this is not anything we’ve committed to, but it’s something I’ve explored over the last few years, is just the idea of, if you think about land and green space that could benefit the city. The largest contiguous piece of land that could be really Orlando’s central park would be the old Sentinel property. It’s three blocks, three city blocks. And there’s, as far as I know, there’s no apparent plan to put it to use, I think I’ve seen a few drawings along the way for more condos and stuff where it’s just kind of fills it all in. But if you imagine kind of the Manhattan model and you carved out those three blocks in the middle of our downtown core, it’s like an Orlando-sized park. While Lake Eola does have quite a bit of linear space on the map, most of it’s a lake. You can’t even really use it for much.
Case Thorp
That would be wonderful. Good point. And you can’t gather tens of thousands or huge, huge crowds.
Ted Haddock
Right. Yeah. So that’s a big idea. It’s a big project. We need a lot of funding. We need a lot of support from various stakeholders and, of course, the city. So we’ll see where that goes. But that’s just an example of what is possible.
Case Thorp
Well friends, thank you. I really appreciate your story. I appreciate your passion and commitment. What would you say, in closing, to other Christ-centered individuals in terms of civic projects, why they matter, and what they should think about as it pertains to their discipleship?
Lynn Long
Interesting question.
Eugenia Sefcik
I’ve gotten back involved with Kids Across America and we took 29 kids to camp this summer. And I think you just need to ask the Lord each and every day what you’re supposed to do and what He’s calling you to do. And these were three separate groups. They came together, they took one bus to Missouri and 29 lives were saved.
Case Thorp
And for the leaders on that trip, when Eugenia called, they answered. And that is so important to touch lives, human lives with salvation, with love, with those children that have often never gotten out into wild spaces and lakes and trees and such. This Orlando Trust work encourages me because it’s equally important to think about the built environment, to think about our service to our community. And the Church certainly emphasizes the human touch in our discipleship and evangelism. I would say and, not but, but/and we need to be encouraging more of our leaders who are out doing this sort of work. So thank you.
Thank you so much. Friends, if you want to learn more, you can go to Orlandolandtrust.org. That brings us to the close of today’s conversation. Thank you for choosing to spend your time with us. If this episode resonated with you, the best way to spread the word, as I said, is simple. Share it, help send it to a friend maybe that might need to hear it. Even consider leaving a review wherever you listen to your podcast. So as a token of gratitude, I’d love to send you my 31-day faith and work prompt journal. Just visit wecolabor.com to request your free copy, explore our library of content and connect with us on social media. Also, for your encouragement, check out Nuance Formed for Faithfulness, our weekly 10-minute devotional podcast that’s released every Monday to guide the working Christian through the beauty of the liturgical calendar. Grateful for the support sponsorship of today’s program, the Magruder Foundation. I’m Case Thorp, and God’s blessings on you.
