That question from a friend pushed me to clarify some things for him, and for myself.
The Academy of Preachers is not an educational institution; we do not teach classes; we do not confer degrees. But, like seminaries, we do exist to serve those who sense a call to ministry. While seminaries enroll ministerial students of all ages for all ministerial callings (chaplaincy, social work, education, missions, and so forth); our Festivals of Young Preachers attract only those who are interested in the public speaking part of ministry: preaching.
While other aspects of ministry are important, the Academy of Preachers is focused on PREACHING. And we believe young ministers need all the training they can get in this area.
Our strategy is like the soccer mom who throws the ball onto the field and says: "There's the ball. Kick it through the goal." We give priority to practice, to the actual experience of preaching, rather than talking about preaching or reading about preaching or listening to preaching.
One great feature of every AoP event (be it a Campus Festival, Regional Festival, or National Festival) is this: everybody preaches. Everybody takes their turn, everybody stands at the podium or pulpit, and everybody declares what God has placed on their mind and hearts.
There is one more difference between these two kinds of organizations: most seminaries attract students who represent a fairly predictable range of attitudes and experiences (say, liberal protestants, or Roman Catholics, or Evangelicals), while our Festivals attract young people from every Christian tradition: Orthodox, Evangelical, Pentecostal, Protestant, and Roman Catholic. This radically ecumenical gathering is one of the most powerful elements of our National Festival and one of the positive aspects most offen mentioned by the Young Preachers when they are called upon to testify about their experience.
The Academy of Preachers is not intended to critique the seminary experience or criticize what happens before, during, or after the students attend homelitics class. What we do, in fact, is inspire young people to preach and enroll in classes that will teach them public speaking and Gospel preaching, encouraging them to get all the education they can.
The American church, in all of its beautiful complexity and diversity, is in dire need of better preaching; and we, the AoP, havea mission from God to Identify, Network, Support and Inspire young people in their call to gospel preaching. It is a mission worthy of our best and worthy of your support.
The Academy of Preachers is excited to announce the first sermons from the 2012 National Festival of Young Preachers have been uploaded
