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Featured Preacher:
Grace Wenzel
Grace Wenzel is a 14-year-old young woman from Louisville, Kentucky and a freshman in high school. Grace attended the 2011 Festival with her pastor, Doodle Harris from Highland Presbyterian Church, and delivered a thoughtful, poised, and witty sermon to a packed room. We asked Grace about her Festival experience and this is what she said:
"What I loved most about the Festival was definitely the ecumenical aspect. Growing up in a Presbyterian Church for my entire life, we don't really move or interact with the preacher during the sermon, like giving feedback or clapping every once in a while. When I preached at the Festival, I found myself feeding off of the interaction from people in the congregation. It made me more confident and helped me feel the Holy Spirit working in everyone there during my sermon."
When we asked Grace what drew her to preaching, she commented, "Making those connections with the Scripture; digging deeper than what is on the surface. It's seeing all the pastors at my church doing it and loving it. But it's delivering a message in a relatable way to God's people, telling stories and cracking jokes, that really does it for me. Just connecting with the congregation and knowing that they will take something away from it and hopefully work to carry out peace and justice motivates me and excites me to preach."
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Academy Media
Columbia Magazine had a great article about the 2011 National Festival of Young Preachers and Campbellsville University. Check it out. |
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| Greetings!
Welcome to the February 2011 Edition of the iPreach newsletter, proudly bringing you the latest news from the Academy of Preachers.
At the request of the Young Preachers Leadership Team, Dr. Dwight A. Moody preached the final sermon of the National Festival of Young Preachers, during the service called The Great Amen, in the sanctuary of the Cathedral of the Assumption. To read the full sermon, titled "Fire In My Bones," click here.
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A Beautiful Thing 
The collection of sermons preached at the inaugural Festival of Young Preachers is now available. A Beautiful Thing presents the preaching of 57 young preachers and two seasoned preachers (Brad Braxton and Stephanie Paulsell). Available now, from the Academy of Preachers for $10 (plus $3 shipping). Every dollar benefits the McSwain Festival Prize, which supports young people who attend the National Festival of Young Preachers. Visit the Academy's website for information on how to receive your copy of A Beautiful Thing. All book sales help support our Young Preachers. |
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Inspire a Young Preacher
During 2010 the Academy of Preachers received more than $100,000 in donations. Added to approximately $300,000 provided by the Lilly Endowment and income from sales and advertising, this support enabled us to sustain our four basic programs: the National Festival, Preaching Camps, the Young Preachers Leadership Team, and Campus Festivals.
We thank you for your support. And we continue to ask for your help. Every dollar given to the Academy of Preachers goes directly to a Young Preacher, not to administration or overhead. We assist with transportation, housing, and food costs. And we open doors of opportunity.
Our mission is to identify, network, support, and inspire young people in their call to gospel preaching. Your giving makes his possible.
 Visit our website to make a donation via PayPal. Or you can do it the old fashion way: write a check and send it to Academy of Preachers, 500 North Watterson Trail, Louisville KY 40243. All gifts are tax deductable.
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A Word from Dr. Moody
The Festival is over, the evaluations are coming in; and this is what I have learned:
First, you like the hotel venue; so do I, and the Academy will continue to host the Festival in this kind of conference setting to allow for additional fellowship and collaboration among those who attend. Next year we want every Young Preacher to stay in the hotel and we will schedule an orientation and introductory session the night before the preaching begins.
Second, you were thrilled with the Cathedral of the Assumption; it was a perfect liturgical balance to the elegant but secular venues at the hotel. We will learn to adapt to the powerful reverb in the cathedral, but that is a small task compared to the awesome atmosphere and beauty of that sanctuary.
Third, you want free parking, vegetarian options for eating and more time for exhibits. Rest assured, all of these are in the works.
With a strong voice you told us you want more instruction, so we are planning already for workshops for preaching, mentoring, and hosting a Campus Festival. How we will work all of these into an already-packed schedule, we don't know quite yet...but we will "get 'er done." Finally, you want to avoid Epiphany. Or at least the Orthodox preachers want to avoid it. When we planned these first two Festivals, that Christian Holy Day was not on our minds. But that is the wonder of ecumenicity: we learn about the values and habits of those we rarely meet; and the Orthodox preachers have asked us to avoid January 6, as Epiphany is a festival of obligation for Orthodox Christians. Mark these dates on your calendar: 2012 National Festival of Young Preachers. Arrival and Orientation day: Monday, January 2. Preaching days: Tuesday through Thursday, January 3-5, 2012. Festival Registration opens April 1, 2011. -Dwight A. 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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