Ngā Here - The Many Connections

In this special one-off episode, James Beck travels to Tirohanga, a name meaning "place of vision," to sit down with Selwyn Yeoman. Selwyn is a retired Presbyterian minister, conservationist, and theologian whose life’s work has been reclaiming the biblical vision of human "dominion" not as a license to exploit, but as a high calling of responsibility and care.
Walking through native regeneration projects, Selwyn shares stories from his childhood in Napier to his time ministering in rural Southland. Together, they discuss the dangers of a consumerist economy built on coveting, and the radical invitation to live an "integrated life." It is a conversation about moving from being masters of the earth to becoming companionable guests at God’s table, learning to ask the ultimate servant-leader question: What do the other members of this household need to thrive?
Episode Credits
Ngā Here - Many Connections is a project funded by The Wilberforce Foundation in partnership with A Rocha Aotearoa.
Produced by: Mick Andrews at CBA
Creative Direction: James Beck

Season Four draws to a close in Makarora, surrounded by mountains, glaciers, and braided rivers — landscapes breathtaking in beauty yet marked by the realities of climate change and human impact. James, Waiora, and Andrew reflect on the Noah story one final time, reading the covenant passage of Genesis 8–9 against the backdrop of melting glaciers and disappearing habitats.
What does it mean that God remembers, that he binds himself not only to humanity but to every living creature? What does it mean to be invited into covenant partnership in a world where the human heart is still bent toward violence and greed? And what kind of posture might help us live faithfully in an age of polycrisis?
With insights from te ao Māori and the practices of Eucharist, this episode points to a way of living marked by attentiveness, gratitude, and awe. From lament to recommissioning, from grief to wonder, the rainbow covenant still invites us into the possibility of life and flourishing for all creation.
Ngā Here: the many connections between Creation, the Bible, and living in Aotearoa.

On the road through Central Otago, the team makes a series of unexpected stops — not just at lizard sanctuaries, but at cemeteries. James takes Waiora and Andrew on a tour of his own whakapapa in Naseby, Hamiltons, and St Bathans, telling stories of ancestors who left famine in Ireland, sought gold in Otago, and carried both hope and hardship into a new land.
Standing among the headstones, they reflect on the Noah story once more — the grief of loss, the chaos of flood, and the small but profound line: “But God remembered Noah.” What does it mean to be remembered by God? To be held in love when it feels like the waters are rising?
From family history to biblical myth, from natural disaster to the language of lament, this episode explores how remembrance shapes identity, hope, and faith.
Ngā Here: the many connections between Creation, the Bible, and living in Aotearoa.

We ended the last episode talking about hope — God’s refusal to give up on creation, and the possibility of sanctuaries that protect life. But hope is only real when it sits alongside grief, and in this episode the team wrestles with how to hold both.
Back with Anna Yeoman at Mokomoko Dryland Sanctuary, James, Waiora, and Andrew explore Noah’s obedience, the audacity of building an ark, and what it means to nurture hope in a world unravelling. Anna shares her own story of falling in love with lizards, discovering a sense of calling, and learning that acts of restoration — however small — are signs of God’s kingdom breaking in.
This conversation asks: how do we live faithfully, obediently, and hopefully, even when we cannot see the outcome?
Ngā Here: the many connections between Creation, the Bible, and living in Aotearoa.

In Central Otago, James, Waiora, and Andrew meet Anna Yeoman, a writer and conservationist whose unexpected love for geckos and skinks grew into years of volunteering, research, and eventually a book. Together they visit Mokomoko Dryland Sanctuary near Alexandra, a predator-free haven where endangered lizards have a fighting chance at survival.
Anna introduces them to some Otago skinks and then the team reflect on the story of Noah’s ark and God’s ongoing commitment to life and flourishing. Even in the midst of extinction threats and human-modified landscapes, the sanctuary becomes a living parable — a reminder that God has not given up on creation.
You can explore more of Anna’s work in her book Geckos & Skinks of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Ngā Here: the many connections between Creation, the Bible, and living in Aotearoa.