110 Now Registered for Festival
We are still two months away from the opening ceremonies of the 3rd National Festival of Young Preachers, and already most of the preaching slots have been taken.
As of right now, 110 Young Preachers are scheduled to preach at the Seelback Hilton Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, January 3-5, 2012. That leaves 15 preaching openings and our experience tells us they will be gone very soon!
No, we don't know the names of all the Young Preachers. Some schools, like Candler School of Theology, St. Vladimir's School of Theology, and Lincoln Christian University have simply reserved spaces. Other schools (Truett Seminary, Cincinnati Christian University, and University of Evansville) will select their Young Preachers during Campus Festivals scheduled during November.
Some of the registrations are PENDING, which means some portion of the registration (perhaps some paperwork, perhaps the festival fee) has not yet arrived in our office.
While we don't know all the names, we can safely say that the Festival preachers are coming from at least 25 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada. They range in age from 14 to 28; in fact, the first young preacher to register was a 14-year-old from Raleigh, North Carolina named Stephen Leon Williamston.
Each of these Young Preachers is completing the statement: "I am blessed....." This coheres with our Festival theme: Blessed. And both of these are rooted in the opening words of our preaching texts: The Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes.
Is it too late to register?
Not really, because aside from the 15 current openings, we are creating a Stand-By list to fill in for those registered Young Preachers who, at the last minute, are not able to attend the Festival (illness, weather, emergency, pastoral responsibility, etc). Last year, you recall, 6 of those on the Stand-By list participated in the memorable Midnight Madness!
You can't predict what will happen at the National Festival of Young Preachers! But we can declare in all confidence that it will be a blessing to all who come!
