IPREACH. Inspiring young people in their call to gospel preaching.

  May 2011
In This Issue
Featured Young Preacher
A Word from Dr. Moody
Join Our Mailing List
FOUNDING PARTNERS



Find us on Facebook

Follow us on TwitterAcademy on YouTube

"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."



2011 Festival

2011 Festival (2)

2011 Festival (3)

2011 Festival (4)

Greetings from the Academy of Preachers!

Preaching Camp enrollment is still open for the June 5-10 camp at Emmanuel Christian Seminary in Johnson City, Tennessee. Now in their third year, Preaching Camps are a preaching camp photo 4great way to devote time and money to developing and refining your preaching skills. To learn more about the camp and begin the registration process, click here. Completed registration forms and payments for camp should be submitted as soon as possible.

There is no other opportunity like this in the country, so check it out and register today!

 

Featured Preacher: Meredith Harber    

Meredith Harber

 Meredith Harber is a first year Master of Divinity student at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago. Meredith hales from a small town in western Pennsylvania where there are no stoplights. She says her middle school marching band could walk from one side of the town to the other in five minutes! Though her hometown is small, her vision of the Kindom of God is larger than life.

 

Meredith spent a year in the West Bank, teaching at a local school in the city of Bethlehem. Living in the Middle East taught her a lesson that continues to shape her identity as a preacher of the gospel.

 

"It taught me to be a Christian through my action and not just through my words....There is often a dissonance in conversations between Christians during the week and what is said in Sunday's sermon. We teach that God loves the least of these, so what are we doing about it?  We are called to be instruments of God, the hands of God on earth." 

 

The Lutheran Church does not typically allow ministry candidates like Meredith to preach until they have completed a seminary course in homiletics.  To this, Meredith says, "I wasn't aware of our denomination's requirements until after I preached at the Festival. But I learned that preaching doesn't just come from behind some pulpit from somebody that's ordained. At the festival, there were 14-year-olds preaching along with students in law school, along with seminarians and undergraduates in all fields of study." 

 

Asked about what impressed her about the 2011 National Festival of Young Preachers, Meredith responded, "I got to see the many faces of God in 125 other young preachers. The festival had great diversity, but it was the unity we shared as a group of God's instruments."

 

Meredith, we are so blessed by your involvement in the Academy of Preachers. We look forward to seeing your impact on the world for the gospel of Jesus Christ!

 

A Word from Dr. Moody
Dwight A. Moody, Executive Director

Money is on my mind today, and not simply because I spent a good part of April preparing my state and federal tax returns, but primarily because we are looking at a summer and fall full of astounding opportunities for Young Preachers...and we need your help.

 

Every day we are receiving inquiries from Young Preachers who want to attend a camp or preach at a Festival. They are contacting us from all over the country: high school, college, university, and seminary students, with a good number in between these academic pursuits.  We need your help in supporting and inspiring these young people.

 

Here are our needs this year:  

  • $30,000 to support our Young Preachers Leadership Team of 20 outstanding young adults.
  • $30,000 to fund our 3 preaching camps.  
  • $25,000 to host our National Festival of Young Preachers.
  • $15,000 to sponsor eight Campus Festivals.
  •  $20,000 to provide travel and hotel scholarships.
  • $20,000 to print and publish the wide array of Academy promotional materials.

These needs total $140,000, and that is our fund-raising goal for 2011.

 

Every dollar you give helps, but here are two specific ways you can  the work of the Academy.

 

The Gospel Preaching Society, or GPS. This network of support is for those individuals who will give $1,000 a year and pledge to do so for 5 years, beginning in 2011. Our goal is to secure 50 founding members of the Gospel Preaching Society. You can be one of these 50 people and make a difference in the life of a young preacher. Our success in this endeavor will generate $50,000 this year, and also for the next 4 years.

 

The Summer Cyber Club. Give online, through our PayPal link, and join this "club." I warn you, we are not giving out pens, or badges, or certificates. None of that: just a heartfelt thanks for clicking your confidence in our work, for signaling your conviction in the significance of preaching, and for committing your resources to the mission of the Academy.  Can we raise $10,000 online this summer? I think so.

 

These two initiatives are not all we will be doing. We will also be presenting our needs to specific individuals who are capable of giving more than $1,000 and also to foundations and endowments that are accustomed to underwriting gospel enterprises like the Academy of Preachers.

 

But don't forget: every dollar counts, and your gift, of whatever amount, goes directly to help a young preacher.  And, of course, it is tax deductible.

 

-Dwight A. Moody, Founder & President  

Academy of Preachers