Katie Beachy is a freshman student at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, KY. She is majoring in Public Relations and recently joined Alpha Gamma Delta Sorority. Katie plans on becoming a youth minister and attending seminary after college.
For Katie, "[the] Academy is an incredible way for young people to come together and share their religious aspects. It's a place where no one discriminates and all are welcome. You feel the spirit of God everywhere when you are at the festival. Being a part of the Academy fulfills you in a way that you have never felt before. I'm so grateful for having the chance to be a part of this."
Katie encourages "people to come and worship with everyone at the upcoming Festival and see all the wonderful doings the Christ is doing."
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Greetings!
Welcome to the November 2010 iPreach Newsletter.
We're excited to bring you the latest news from the Academy of Preachers. If you have not already submitted your registration form for the 2011 National Festival of Young Preachers, it's not too late.
Registration for the National Festival of Young Preachers remains open, allowing up to 104 Young Preachers to secure a place in the January event. Scores of young preachers around the country are working to complete the registration process.
As of November 1, nearly 50 Young Preachers have already submitted complete registration forms. The registration process includes endorsement by a Sponsoring Congregation or Institution, paid festival fee of $100, and collaboration with a Preaching Mentor. Housing for the 2011 Festival will be at the event location, the historic Seelbach Hilton Hotel in downtown Louisville.
All registration forms are due to the Academy of Preachers by November 15. |
Campus Festivals
The mission of the Academy of Preachers has inspired a series of Campus Festivals around the country. These events have expanded the interest in preaching in surprising and unexpected ways.
On November 11, Truett Seminary in Texas is hosting their first Campus Festival of Young Preachers. Director of the Festival is Dr. Hulitt Gloer, Professor of Preaching and Director of the Center of Biblical Preaching at the seminary. Co-sponsored by the Academy of Preachers, this Campus Festival will feature 18 seminary students.
On Saturday, November 13, the University of Evansville will host a Campus Festival of Young Preachers. This festival is under the direction of Dr. Tammy Giesselman, Dean of the Chapel at the Methodist-affiliated university. Of the five young preachers scheduled to preach, two are university students, one is in high school, and two are seminary students. One of these students plans to attend the 2011 National Festival of Young Preachers in January.
Finally, Cincinnati Christian University is hosting a Campus Festival on Wednesday, November 17, under the direction of Dr. Steve Yeaton, Professor of Preaching at the university. The university is affiliated with the Independent Christian Churches. Registrations for the Campus Festival are still being received and up to 12 undergraduate students are expected. "Next year, we will expand our target audience to include high school students," Dr. Yeaton said.
The interest in Campus Festivals began last fall with the experiment of Morehouse College in Atlanta. The Dean of their Chapel, Lawrence Carter, invited any young ministerial student to the chapel on successive Sundays to preach. He and his staff selected four and brought them to the inaugural Festival of Young Preachers in January of 2010. They were Jordan Casson, Reginald Sharpe, David MaGruder, and Tyrone McGowan. In addition, they brought two of their outstanding graduates to the festival: Willie Francois, now a student at Harvard, and Nicholas Richards, now on the ministry staff of Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York.
Again this year, Morehouse is leading the way. In September, more than 20 Young Preachers from the Atlanta school took a turn at preaching in the chapel. And again, Dr. Carter and his staff are bringing their students to the National Festival: six of them!
The Academy of Preachers has developed a simple protocol for these Campus Festivals. Schools are encouraged to invite not only their own students but also their recent graduates and also potential students. Directions are given on how to involve area ministers, institutional donors, and church musicians. Schools are also encouraged to provide to their Young Preachers scholarships to the National Festival.
Other schools are now actively planning Campus Festivals during 2011. These include Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Georgetown College in Kentucky, and Milligan College and Emmanuel School of Religion in Johnson City, Tennessee. In addition, conversations are under way with schools in Kansas City and Chicago to sponsor Metro Festivals in those areas.
Campus Festivals have emerged as a way to attract students, cultivate interest in preaching, and build effective local, regional, and national coalitions committed to the social and spiritual significance of preaching. |
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A Word from Dr. Moody
Of all the things we have learned from hosting our first Festival of Young Preachers, none is more important than what the Young Preachers told us: "We want more feedback on our sermons."
Last year we didn't have any; but we have listened to this request, and we have set in motion two strategies to provide the 104 Young Preachers with constructive responses to their preaching.
First, we are directing the mentors of these Young Preachers to be more engaged as the Young Preachers prepare their sermons. We want the mentors to: review the sermons with an eye toward better sermons, to create an opportunity for these Young Preachers to preach their sermon before coming to the National Festival, and to be the "first responders" to give their protegees some assessment of the sermon and its delivery immediately following their preaching at the Festival.
Second, we are placing in each of the four sermon venues at the Festival, a trained evaluator, someone who has experience as a preacher, a teacher of preachers, or a mentor to preachers. A complete list of these evaluators can be found on our website.
Included in our team of 16 evaluators are John Peck of Arizona, who directs a preaching center for Orthodox preachers, Peter Wallace of Georgia, who hosts a national radio program on preaching, Debra Mumford of Kentucky, who teaches preaching at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary, Heather Holland of Tennessee, who is chaplain at Emmanuel School of Religion, and Charles Bugg of Kentucky, recently retired professor of preaching is several Baptist institutions.
Others are Jay Akkerman of Idaho, who teaches preaching at the Nazarene University, Eric Johnson of Kentucky, a Baptist pastor with a PhD in Homiletics, Carl Kell of Kentucky, professor of communication at Western Kentucky University, Stacy Minger, professor of preaching at Asbury Seminary, and Kate Bringardner of Kentucky, a vocal dynamics coach for professionals.
Directing this initiative is (soon to be Dr) Rich Voelz, a homiletics student at Vanderbilt Divinity School, and the Director of our preaching camp this past summer.
All Young Preachers at the National Festival will receive a written evaluation of their preaching, and will have opportunity to make an appointment with their evaluator for a brief one-on-one conversation about the preaching.
This effort to provide sermon feedback is just one of many things we have done to upgrade the Festival and make it more attractive, more inspirational, more transformational in the lives of Young Preachers and their mentors. We trust and pray it will be a blessing to all who attend: the National Festival of Young Preachers, January 6-8, 2011, in Louisville, Kentucky.
- Dwight Moody, Founder & President
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"The Academy of Preachers is a national, ecumenical initiative
launched through a generous grant from the Lilly Endowment of Indianapolis and enlarged through the gifts
of individuals and organizations. The Academy is energized by the conviction
that gospel preaching is a vocation of public and social significance, a
calling worthy of the very best and brightest of our young people."
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