A staff of adults and veteran young preachers from previous festivals plan the national festival each year, led by Dwight A. Moody, a pastor and theologian with a passion for preaching and a love of empowering young people to exercise calls to ministry. Moody, an ordained Baptist minister and Ph.D., graduated from Georgetown College and Southern Seminary. He served congregations in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky, before being called to Georgetown College in Kentucky to be a faculty member and Dean of the Chapel. In 2008, he presented the need to assist young preachers to officers of the Lilly Endowment, and he received grants permitting the founding of the Academy of Preachers, which sponsors the festival and a variety of other events and networks to meet that need.

A Young Preacher Preaching

She introduces her sermon singing — “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart…,” a-cappella, forming the words slowly and with poignant phrasing. Taking Psalm 137 for a text, she reads, “By the rivers of Babylon. Here we sat down and wept… How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?.. Happy shall they be who take the little ones and dash them.. “. Her sermon begins of natural occasions for singing, celebratory events and life passages, then of the ubiquity of music as we eat and shop today — how we pay little attention to laments.

Then Jennifer Harris Dault tells of the joy of first residents in a new housing project in St. Louis some years ago, of their “song” of joy, and how one woman spoke of her new eleventh floor apartment as a “poor man’s penthouse.” She recounts how hope had dissipated as the apartments and the whole public housing project deteriorated over time from the city’s neglect. Trash piled up. Elevators broke down. Crime flourished. “The earlier songs of joy took on a minor key.” Finally, the whole project was razed, leaving only concrete reminders of the high rise amid the scrub trees and overgrown weeds.

Harris Dault relates the loss of hope among residents to the despair of exiles in Babylon, to their hopes of returning to rebuild Jerusalem, and to the hope and despair of so many in cities today. She calls on hearers of her sermon to be agents of God’s care for inhabitants and institutions of the cities, seeking the welfare of everyone. She concludes the sermon by singing another round of the gospel song. All the while a videographer tapes her presentation with a stationary camera and a handheld minicam. The videographer explains that he will edit a bit and give the resulting video to the Academy of Preachers for posting.

The thirty men and women gathered in a hotel meeting room applaud at the conclusion of the sermon. The convener of the session, Paul Corts, thanks the presenters and introduces the “coach” for the session, Bianca Robinson. Dault had been introduced by her mentor, Molly Marshall, President of the Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Shawnee, Kansas. “Like many women, Jennifer has practiced her Christian faith in humility with many untitled ministries,” Marshall explained. “Now, claiming her vocation in ordained service, she is seeking a pastoral call. She is a Baptist with an ecumenical vision. She is serving in a Mennonite church and an administrator in a Methodist congregation.”

Welcome to one session of the 2013 Festival of Young Preachers. Harris Dault’s sermon is actually the second of the session. Martineau Jeffrey-West, a student at Huston-Tillotson University, a historically black institution in Austin, had already preached on a text from Joshua about the fall of Jericho. His call and response sermon, “A Victory Plan,” explored in allegory God’s instruction for the Israelites. God helps believers prepare for spiritual warfare, he explained, with attention to heart, mind, and hands. Jeffrey-West had also been introduced by a mentor and applause greeted him also as he was introduced and as he concluded his sermon.

The two presentations of sermons in a forty minute morning session constitute one of forty-eight such occasions during the forth annual National Festival of Young Preachers, sponsored by the Academy of Preachers.

Having directed a Georgetown College a grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc. to help young college students discern vocations, Dwight A. Moody was encouraged in the summer of 2008 to propose some possibilities for further support of emerging adults who were entering gospel ministry. He explored several alternatives with officers of the Lilly Endowment, and they challenged him to develop ways to assist young preachers in gaining confidence and competence. With an exploratory grant later that year and a program grant soon afterward, he sought to build a leadership team, to gain commitments from “founding partners,” and to launch an Academy of Preachers

Moody began to enlist colleagues supportive of the project to serve as a Board of Advisors pastors and denominational leaders from a variety of Christian traditions. First, Lee Huckleberry served for two years as Executive Director, and then Wendy Holbrook, since 2012, has served as Director of Programs. Gradually, supporting staff have been enlisted. He also elicited support from “founding partners” to supplement the grant from the Endowment and to provide permanent relationships for the location and programs of the Academy of Preachers. He first located at the St. Matthews Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, one founding partner. But he soon moved to the campus of the Middletown Christian Church, another founding partner, where the Academy of Preachers received a location for offices and an administrative base for operations which could be expanded if necessary. Middletown Christian actually received the 2011 Lilly Endowment program grant, the third awarded the Academy of Preachers.

Many seminaries saw the value of such an organization, and soon Harvard Divinity School, Louisville Presbyterian Seminary, and Vanderbilt Divinity School were in league with the McAfee School of Theology, Lexington Theological Seminary, and the South Texas School of Christian Ministry, among others, to support the project and publicize it. Churches and other church-related organizations and schools joined, too—the Central District Baptist Association of Louisville, the Fund for Theological Education, Georgetown College, and Belmont University among them.

Meanwhile, the Academy of Preachers framed its distinctive mission: “To identify, network, support, and inspire young people in their call to Gospel preaching.” It would welcome young preachers between the ages of fourteen and twenty-eight regardless of their Christian affiliation. Soon a remarkable network has developed of men and women from all parts of the Christian Church, frequently offering ecumenical friendships and first exposure to the wide range of faith persuasions within American Christianity. All would be encouraged and supported in their vocational formation.

With more than fifty founding partners in covenant to sponsor the Academy, the Academy of Preachers offered a first “Festival” in Louisville in 2010, intended for those within 150 miles of the city. Soon it was evident that a wider need could be met. “We looked around,” remarked Moody, “and we found no one else in the whole country doing this exact same thing.” The first national festivals took place in 2010 and 2011, still in Louisville but now with housing at the Seelbach Hotel and with worship and some other events at the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Archdiocese of Louisville. The 2011 and 2012 festivals drew full complements of registrants from many states and churches in all regions of the nation.

Thinking nationally, no longer simply within the Mid-West and border states, the Academy of Preachers solicited one hundred “national partners.” Denominations, congregations, colleges, businesses, and Orthodox and Roman Catholic institutions have signed on — currently sixty-one toward the goal of one hundred. Each festival also seeks one-time, local partners who can offset some of the local expenses.

Regional gatherings are still encouraged, with a “Festival in a Box” offering colleges and seminaries identifiable, localized events. By the time the third Lilly grant was awarded in 2011, ten events had been planned and hosted by the Academy of Preachers, with hundreds of people served. Some of the experimental efforts did not prove cost-effective for the Academy of Preachers — preaching camps, for example, and a certification program. But the festivals flourished, and new elements surfaced such as the “Gospel Slam” and the “PREACHAPALOOZA,” which will be described shortly.

Leadership of the Academy of Preachers

Dwight A. Moody, the president and founder, is a gentle, evangelical, irenic Baptist theologian. Educated at Southern Seminary in Louisville during its hegemony among SBC schools, he is committed to helping young preachers perfect their craft– regardless! Regardless of tradition, color, gender, sexual proclivity, style! He seems to take pleasure in preaching of every sort. Moody is not afraid to let his zeal for the gospel and for preaching “show.”

As an administrator, Moody mixes a passion for the preaching event, a grasp of detail, and a vision of the overall mission of the Academy of Preachers. His monomania and his vision of the mission of Academy of Preachers have led him to refuse some partnerships for events related to wider aspects of worship and congregational leadership, for example. And his attention to detail shows in the active website, the focus of all worship and seminars on various aspects of preaching, and a fierce advocacy of young people having space to preach.

As a Christian, Moody advocates for the young. He frequently recites the words of a minister he recalls saying, “These young people must wait their turn.” In sermons, he preaches from Jeremiah 1, saying the vocation, the fire in the bones of preachers can indeed come early in life. He preaches from I Samuel about the contest between David and Goliath, when David refused armor and attributed victory to God. He preaches from Judges admonishing young preachers that numbers can be small, indeed that God does not ask for crowds, rather for faithfulness.

“Some of you are nervous about your age. And some elders want to keep you in your place.” Moody told participants in the 2011 festival. “These young people must wait their turn” one older preacher said to me. You must honor your elders, finish your degree, receive their approval, accept their time table. RIGHT? Except that Mother Teresa began her mission in India at age 18. Except that Andrew Gillium was elected a city commissioner in Tallahassee at age 23. Except that Lebron James sign an NBA contract at 19. Except that Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook at age 20.”

“Do not be afraid,” is the Biblical command God gives young preachers, according to Moody. He also counsels them to “Gain your voice.” Not being afraid and gaining voice are two characteristics of preaching truth to power. Moody is firmly convinced that well-placed sermons have significant impact in the public arena. He points to the fact that more Americans attend worship each week, hear sermons, than attend movies or watch particular shows on television. “Courage and contentment, humility and happiness: these are the virtues extolled from the pulpits of American churches.”

“It is the glory of preaching to be at the center of what God is doing in the world,” he maintains. “Gospel preaching points beyond itself to the powerful presence of the almighty and everlasting God, maker of heaven and earth, God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, friend of sinners, and an ever present help in time of trouble.”

Moody has gathered a coterie of colleagues quite skilled in various aspects of event-planning and publicity, including a very active website, lots of YouTube contributions, and a pervasive Facebook presence. Conversations with members of the event staff, numbering twenty-four for the Atlanta festival, indicated they felt empowered to be creative and expansive in each duty, but they also sensed an accountability to Moody and wanted him to know everything possible about what they were doing.

Wyndee Holbrook, Director of Programs for the Academy of Preachers, served as a campus minister for twenty years. Her no nonsense leadership of the various events makes for a crisp flavor in each and mature behavior on the parts of the participants. In 2011, she succeeded Lee Huckleberry, who helped in the founding and leadership.

Laura Godbey is the business manager. An active member of the host church, Middletown Christian, she has experience as a CPA with both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.

Dwight Moody’s son, Allan Moody, with a degree in international business, is the part time office manager for the Academy of Preachers. Many others, including additional relatives of the founder, help make the festivals run smoothly.

Impressive is the extent of support the staff provides for the young preachers. The bulletin for the festival contains a photograph of each registrant, a word about their affiliation with a school or congregation, and a phrase to characterize the preaching of each. The bulletin and the website feature essays from several of the young preachers as well as brief articles from Moody and others about the significance of preaching for church and society.

Each young preacher is invited to send a sermon manuscript to the office for publication in a book of sermons from the festival. The resulting books—thusfar three in number: A Beautiful Thing: Sermons from the Inaugural Festival of Young Preachers; Waking the Holy: Sermons from the 2011 National Festival of Young Preachers; and Uncommon Sense: Jesus and the Renewal of the World — document the work of the preachers. The first two were edited by Huckleberry and the third by Moody himself. All three have been attractively published by Chalice Press, another founding partner.

The Festival “Experience”

Banners and posters throughout the upscale hotel in the fashionable Buckhead section of Atlanta, proclaim the festival and its theme — “The Gospel and the City.” Assembled in commodious hotel meeting spaces, tables are arranged in a large hall and several meeting rooms to accommodate more than forty exhibitors — seminaries, presses, advocacy groups, churches, and colleges among them. At the Chalice Press table, the managing editor converses with participants its book lists and about the process of publishing. At the tables for seminaries such as Vanderbilt Divinity School, Union Theological Seminary, Yale Divinity School, and Louisville Presbyterian Seminary, admissions counselors offer advice, catalogues, and trinkets such as pens and post-its. Local schools and ministries are present, offering insights about Morehouse College, Johnson C. Smith of the Interdenominational Theological Center, and Candler School of Theology at Emory University. At the Academy of Preachers “Store,” participants can purchase “stuff,” tee-shirts, hoodies, water bottles and such, each emblazoned with the Academy of Preachers logo. Books on preaching are plentiful, too — some from well-known presses by famous preachers and homiletics professors, some from small presses by young preachers and their mentors.

On registering, participants have been provided some suggestions for sermon texts related to the city. As they complete on-site registration, they receive word of the sessions and the venues for their parts in the gathering. An opening plenary in a hotel ballroom occasions introductions and worship. A preaching session is followed by a break and another session.

Plenary preachers, including a young preacher, a seminary professor, and a local pastor, provide stemwinders of different sorts — all meant to inspire. An outstanding choir, the American Spiritual Ensemble, provides music throughout. Prayers on the first occasion and on each thereafter ask for the empowering of the participants to preach the gospel with truth and power. One even serves as a kind of ordination-event, with all placing hands on the heads and shoulders of those preaching a sermon and one in each group praying God’s blessing, all at the same time. The effect is comparable to that from the practice of Christians in Korea who pray altogether aloud simultaneously. Tong Sung Gi Do prayer gives a sense of orchestrated glossolalia (to employ an oxymoron for description).

Participants gather in assigned “Preaching Circles” before dinner, so they have occasion to speak together about their experiences and perspectives. Dinner at the nearby Peachtree Road United Methodist Church is followed by a reception and a “Gospel Piano Bar” for entertainment.

The second morning consists in morning worship, a workshop chosen from among various alternative topics for study — on sermon composition, for example, good writing, choosing a seminary. Young preachers are engaged in three preaching sessions as well. The afternoon features three more preaching sessions and another workshop. The second evening is devoted to dinner and a “Gospel Slam,” a time particularly for the youngest present to “preach” three minute poems, stories, and songs presenting Christian messages, punctuated by music from several performers and an upbeat master of ceremonies keeping things on time. The Preaching Circles gather once more before the evening ends.

The third and final day affords another plenary worship experience, more preaching sessions, more workshops, and a final gathering of the Preaching Circles before the concluding “PREACHAPALOOZA.”

At the PREACHERPALOOZA, the concluding meal and program, participants receive “testimonies” from two young preachers, veterans of previous festivals. They also receive a stirring “Challenge” from Dwight A. Moody, which draws on biblical images of the teachings of Jesus concerning youth, upon young David’s words facing Goliath, and upon God’s instructions to Gideon concerning the winnowing of his army to keep only the most eager warriors, to evidence God’s work rather than strength of numbers or armor. Mainly it makes an evangelical plea for young preachers to contribute now to Christian churches and the wider social life of Americans.

The PREACHERPALOOZA concludes with the signing of covenants by the participants, effectively joining them in the young preacher network. `

The PREACHERPALOOZA also includes an inspirational recital by the American Spiritual Ensemble, introductions of leaders and expressions of gratitude to them as well as the presentation of several awards, including a prize for the young preacher whose YouTube sermon has been most popular over the previous year.

A hospitable tone prevails among all the staff and in all the parts of the festival. Everyone bears a sense of respect for the young preachers, a flavor that permeates the gatherings. The interesting ethos combining two atmospheres – of “convention for adults” and “party tailored for emerging adults” — is also blatant, and it obviously has received much attention from the planners. Moody explains that young preachers from one festival become part of the planning group for the next one, helping foster the unique amalgam of flavors.

Refreshments at several of the breaks are sponsored by such institutions as the Fund for Theological Education and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, both based in Atlanta. The bulletin, the announcements, and several advertisers and exhibitors such as the Sheraton Hotel, Christian Theological Seminary, and Christ Church Cathedral also call attention to the upcoming 2014 festival, to be held in Indianapolis, Indiana. The theme for that festival will be: “Questions of the Soul.” Some biblical texts, such as Psalm 106:2, Genesis 4:9, and Psalm 139:7 already are named possible foci for exposition.

While the 2013 Festival was beginning, Dwight A. Moody met with several supporters who became founding directors as the Academy of Preachers incorporated to become a 501(c)3. What had been a program depending upon congregations, legally speaking, now stood on its own feet.

The new Board of Directors considered next steps for the Academy of Preachers. How could the present programs be continued and strengthened while reaching out to more young preachers and supporting them in ministry?

They approved increasing a group of supporters which has been meeting sporadically and forming a Council of Advisors, at least twenty-five preachers, seminary faculty, and administrators who can give time, money, and insights for the Academy of Preachers. They laid plans to augment funding from several sources — foundations in addition to the Lilly Endowment, fees, gifts, and sales. They hope to be able to subsidize more young preachers who have very limited resources for a variety of events and networks.

Hispanics and other Spanish-speakers have urged the Academy of Preachers to offer festivals in Spanish, and at the Atlanta festival conversations took place with a large foundation focused on support of young preachers in the New England states. Roman Catholics are seeking to offer a festival for young priests. Dwight A. Moody and the new Board of Directors will seek to select venues and financial support for opportunities such as these to expand the work of the Academy of Preachers.

Moody himself has gathered the sermons of young preachers with an eye to research for their styles and contents. He has likewise attracted Professor Lori Carrell of the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, a specialist in analyzing sermons. She offers workshops and mentoring while she studies young preachers.

Regional festivals continue, with a Texas-based gathering. Austin Seminary hosted one already, and in the future, Truett Divinity School will host another. Moody especially expresses hope that in the near future the networks of young preachers, the local and regional events can become more regularly offered, and that the Academy of Preachers can find a college or university partner for grounding and permanence of the organization. “We need to do lots more research on the young preachers and in their behalf,” he says. “Lori Carrell and some of her colleagues are already engaged. We need encouragement for academic leaders to focus on these splendid young men and women, teach and mentor them.” Meanwhile the 2013 Festival of Young Preachers concludes with much conversation, hugging, exchanging of Facebook and E-mail information, and promises of reconnecting at the next national event in Indianapolis.

Conclusion

On the recommendation of Dwight A. Moody with the concurrence of several others, the writer attended one session in which a “veteran” preacher, a college senior, would preach. Participating in his fourth festival, Reginald Sharpe took for his text Matthew 9: 35-38. “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages… When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them…like sheep without a shepherd.” Sharpe did speak “with sacred fire,” just as his profile in the bulletin of the festival promised he would. He connected the sayings of Jesus with the needs today for personal and community renewal. It was a splendid sermon, worthy of a most experienced preacher.

His mentor, Lawrence Carter, explained that Sharpe was an outstanding student at Morehouse College, an intern and sometimes substitute for the college chaplain. Perhaps that is why the room was packed with young African American men, among more regular participants, urging him on and “Amening” his every exclamation.

Were the Academy of Preachers able only to identify, network, support, and inspire this one outstanding young man, it would seem a worthwhile enterprise. And it touches the lives, encourages the growth of hundreds of young preachers, doubtless touches and encourages hundreds more who receive the testimony of these men and women.

It was a privilege to listen to, pray with, and learn from the members of the Academy of Preachers. It will be intriguing to follow the enterprise in the future as the Academy of Preachers identifies, offers networks for, supports, and inspires young preachers.

Dwight A. Moody

National Geographic cable channel recently aired a program entitled “Pint Size Preachers.” Here is the link. It is both spell-binding and disturbing.

Perhaps that 50-minute video inspired the studio in Hollywood who contacted us last week seeking names and addresses of other pint size preachers.  I did not respond.

Eighteen months ago we were approached by another production company wanting to do a reality show with high school preachers. I engaged in a month-long email dialogue, during which I fielded warnings from key colleagues and watched last year’s reality show about Amish: Breaking Amish. Frankly, I thought that show did a good job of reflecting reality and making it interesting.

But pint size preachers?  One colleague wrote: “Not the pond we want to swim in.” I agree; but at the same time, I am fascinated by child prodigies, especially in the arts. Jesus, I am convinced, was a child prodigy as have been many of the famous pianists and composers. Some mimicked their musically talented parents and started playing musical instruments at a very early age. Van Cliburn testifies that his call to be a classical pianist happened at age five!

There is much evidence that many young people think seriously about their life work beginning at adolescence, about age 12. Their dreams at that age of making movies, fighting fires, teaching children, discovering cures, playing ball, planting corn, programming computers, singing songs, and yes, preaching gospel are very real and powerful.

Not all vocation visions last through college into the job search; but many do. Such dreams at this age cease being primarily about parental influence and begin to flow directly from the soul and imagination of the young person.

Which is why we seek to identify young people as early as 14 think of preaching the gospel as a vocation. I was 15 when the idea stirred my imagination. I am suspicious of three-year-old preachers; but when a 16-something kid signs up to preach at a regional or national festival I take it very seriously. It is part of our mission to “identify, network, support, and inspire young people in their call to gospel preaching.”

I am reproducing here an article distributed by the Alban Institute. The text is taken from a new book the Alban Institute has just published entitled Preaching That Matters: Reflective Practices for Transforming Sermons. The book is written by Dr. Lori J. Carrell, who is Distinguished Professor Communication at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh. Dr. Carrell is also a friend of mine and a member of the core leadership team at the Academy of Preachers. She attends our National Festival of Young Preachers where she has been both a featured speaker and a workshop leader; she designs and administers the tools we use to assess our festivals and their impact on the Young Preachers. Dr. Carrell is committed to the mission and programs of the Academy of Preachers and sees them as a powerful antidote to the growing indifference to preaching in the church and among ministers.

Now these words from Dr. Carrell:

“Thousands of listeners from across the United States can contribute to your thinking about the potential value of preaching. These adult listeners attend all kinds of churches—tiny and mega, but mostly medium; healthy and troubled; mainline, evangelical, Catholic, and community. Their responses have been gathered through multiple studies.

“Fifty-four pastors will arrive at the Center for Excellence in Ministry in a few months, ready to hear feedback from their listeners. Their parishioners have recorded responses to recent sermons through ten-question surveys. If these new listener-respondents are like the thousands surveyed previously, they do not usually provide their preachers with feedback.

“More than 78 percent of listeners say that they have “never” discussed a sermon with their preachers, so how could you possibly know what your listeners are thinking?I am writing to share compiled results of listeners’ responses about the value of your preaching, to apologize for our previous silence, and to set the record straight. Pastor, here’s why we listen and why your preaching matters to us.

We Listen to Your Preaching Expecting Inspiration

“When asked to list the elements of the church service “most likely to have an impact on my spiritual journey,” the number one answer from listeners was “the sermon.” Preachers did not predict their listeners would answer that way! Said a listener from a coastal state, “I like good music and my church friends, but I come on Sunday hoping for inspiration from the sermon, inspiration to encourage my spiritual growth.”

“When asked to give advice to pastors, another wrote, “Recognize the power of your words.” The role of inspiration in preaching is often overlooked by pastors who may be focusing on explanation and exposition. Please hear the affirmation of your role as a leader of a community of Christ-followers who are seeking spiritual growth through the inspiration present in your preaching. Perhaps you thought their silence suggested they were not responding. Think again.

We Look to Your Preaching for Spiritual Leadership

“We can download daily devotionals and upload viral videos, but where do we gather to hear a community leader speak with us about important issues? In the United States, in 2013, that place is still the church. One listener admits, “I can get better presentation from television preaching, but I want to hear this person I know, this person who knows me, this leader in our community of believers. . . . I really believe God speaks through the pastor to us.”

“Though some analysts predict that a few podcasting superpreachers will soon proclaim to a great global pew, right now most Christ-followers are seeking spiritual direction from the public spoken words of their pastors. Your physical presence in the congregation creates the opportunity for relationship with the listening community. The credibility emerging from that relational connection is a critical contributor to the potential power of your preaching. Listeners expect spiritual direction from your preaching.

We Rely on Your Preaching for Spiritual Content

“Preaching is unique among sources of advice. Listeners are clear that they want biblically based content in sermons. One dissatisfied listener complained, “At our church, we’re encouraged to be nice, be kind, have a positive attitude. How is that different from everybody else? What does it have to do with the Bible or God?”

“In less than the split second it took to push the Enter key just now, a Web search for spiritual growth help provided 52,800,000 links for me to browse. And yet, listeners find unique value in sermon content. They keep coming back to church. Why? They are seeking spiritual content from your preaching; quite specifically, they want to hear from God.

“If you are a preacher who sometimes wonders what parishioners are expecting, please hear this crucial response from your previously silent listeners: We are listening to you for spiritual content, which we have determined is a priority for us, listening to hear God’s voice through you, listening for something we don’t hear or view or download anywhere else.

We Listen to Your Preaching Expecting Long-Lasting Impact

“Even listeners who say a particular sermon merely reminded them of something they already knew resolve to “think about” the content during the week. Now that’s determination! Listener optimism about the value of preaching is reflected in another significant response: a vast majority of the thirty thousand plus listeners participating in this research thus far anticipate that sermons—regardless of topic or preacher—are likely to affect their spiritual journeys “in lasting ways.”

“Even when the pastor hasn’t used inspirational language, hasn’t included ideas for implementation, or hasn’t even asked for change, listeners are still committed to contemplating the content, because they perceive there is potential for spiritual growth to occur. And many who didn’t find content that might lead to spiritual life-change this week still say, “I am motivated to come back to hear more sermons.”

“We listeners crave your spiritual leadership. Overwhelmed? Doubting your impact? God has a well-established pattern of calling inadequate people to monumental tasks, speaking through them in spite of their deficiencies or failures. I heard one of you preach about that just last Sunday.

“Believing in the potential power of your preaching can begin a radical transformation process. Yes, attention spans are short. Yes, biblical literacy is lower than it used to be.Yes, solidified deposits of individualism and materialism may be barriers to your preaching about New Testament Christ-following communities. But preaching can make a difference. A significant difference. And it’s not just your listeners who have such grand expectations for the impact of preaching. The Message paraphrase of 1 Corinthians1:21 puts it like this:

“Since the world in all its fancy wisdom never had a clue when it came to knowing God, God in his wisdom took delight in using what the world considered dumb—preaching, of all things!—to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation.

Preaching Matters

“Affirming that preaching matters is itself transformational. If you actually believe that those minutes you will spend communicating with your congregation next Sunday have the potential to change lives, you may approach the pulpit and your prayer life and your sermon preparation a little differently from the way you did last week, when you wondered if those spoken words of yours were evaporating. Preaching, and all related tasks, may move up on your priority list.

“The spoken act of preaching remains the predominant mode of communicating God’s Word to God’s people. Next weekend, next month, and probably next year, you will continue to speak face to face with believers who want to grow spiritually. As a person called to a spiritual leadership role, your commitments to studying Scripture and deepening your faith are both critical to pending transformation in your congregations and communities. What else is needed?

“In a recent address to academics who study learning, Georgetown University’s Associate Provost for Institutional Renewal Randy Bass provided a challenge appropriate for both scholars and preachers. He described a visit to the Cape Cod ceramics studio of acclaimed potter Joan Lederman. Joan began decades ago to work with mud discarded from an oceanography institute in her Woods Hole, Massachusetts, community. As Randy (carefully!) examined a piece of her pottery created with sediment from the floors of all seven oceans, he asked her to describe how she deepens her learning, continuing to grow as an artist. Working at her wheel, Joan described a moment-by-moment, heightened awareness of how the mud responds to her touch. That encounter inspired Bass to embrace a similar scrutiny for his work, and to declare that intense inspection of what we do as we do it is necessary for deep learning.

“For as long as you continue to speak for God publicly—to preach or teach or proclaim—a close, authentic examination of your sermon communication through reflective practice is needed. Challenge yourself, prayerfully—for your calling to preach is high and holy.”
______________________________________

This article is excerpted and adapted from Preaching that Matters: Reflective Practices for Transforming Sermons by Lori J. Carrell. Copyright ©2013 by the Alban Institute. All rights reserved. This book will be for sale at all preaching events sponsored and managed by the Academy of Preachers.

By the time the festival rolls around (January 2-5, 2014) more than 40 other businesses, congregations, denominations, institutions and organizations will join this effort to sponsor one of the most amazing events in American Christianity.

Some will advertise/exhibit/sponsor in order to recruit students; others to sell products and services; some to showcase and support their own young preachers; and a few simply to endorse the work of the Academy of Preachers.

Forty of these advertisers will set up exhibits and actually talk with these Young Preachers (and their mentors, teachers, parents, and friends—attendance is expected to top 600 this year, not counting PREACHAPALOOZA).

Want to be a part of the fifth National Festival of Young Preachers?

You can register to attend, of course; and all aspects of the festival are free and open to the public. We do charge for food, of course; and we sell a room package of three nights and 4 meals for about $350: not bad for a first class hotel at the center of a city.

Here is the link to the National Festival registration.

You can sign on to advertise and/or exhibit at the National Festival; or you can agree to host or sponsor part of the Festival: a workshop, a dinner, a break, a reception, the Gospel Slam or even PREACHAPALOOZA, even a worship service. We are looking for sponsors that will help us plan, staff, and lead these plenary events at the 2014 National Festival of Young Preachers.

Here is the link to the National Festival advertising and sponsorship information.

Our gathering in Indianapolis promises to be an inspirational and transformational event. Plan to be there, to promote your own institution or products, to play a prominent and public role in making it happen, and to help us “identify, network, support, and inspire young people in their call to gospel preaching.”

Pittsburgh

Louisville, Nashville, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Dallas, New York, and Boston: these are a few of the places we have been to introduce the Academy of Preachers. But not Pittsburgh: and that is why I leave today of a four day road trip to the place we lived for nine wonderful years.

Allan is driving and I am riding, and reading, talking on the phone, and editing sermons from the 2013 National Festival of Young Preachers; and together we are taking our mission of “identifying, networking, supporting, and inspiring young people in their call to gospel preaching” to that wonderful community at the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers.

We have appointments with key leaders at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, Trinity School of Ministry, and Franciscan University in Steubenville (Ohio). We will meet students at all three schools (and perhaps a few more places along the way). We have breakfast plans with a young Roman Catholic youth minister and dinner plans with two couples, long time friends from our ministry days in the Steel City.

Our hope, of course, is to cultivate donors, partners, and young preachers, to entice some of all three to participate in our 2014 National Festival of Young Preachers, to assist at least one institution to host a campus festival or a gospel slam. Then after that, perhaps the Pittsburgh Regional Festival of Young Preachers!

New York and Texas are the sites of our regional festivals for 2013, and Boston and Nashville for 2014; and we are already thinking about Washington DC and Kansas City as sites for regional festivals in 2015. I hope to visit Kansas City again this fall.

In order to host a regional festival in a given city we need 5-10 Partners in the region. Partners are businesses, congregations, denominations, institutions or organizations that will write to us a letter of endorsement and agree to collaborate in some way to fulfill our mission as an organization. As of today, we have 111 Founding and National Partners…and not a one in Western Pennsylvania. I hope to change that this week!

Pray for us as we head into stormy winter weather, that it will be a pleasant and profitable trip.

The 2014 National Festival promises to be the best yet.  It will be our fifth National Festival and there will be some recognition of this milestone at the Festival. It will also feature:

• an expanded Gospel Slam which will showcase the best performers of our National Gospel Slam Challenge;
• a choral music conclave under the direction of Dr. Everett McCorvey and the American Spiritual Ensemble;
• a redesigned PREACHAPALOOZA in the Hilbert Circle Theater that will attract a capacity crowd of 1,500;
• a Festival Covenant Church strategy that will shower the Festival with prayer and place numerous Young Preachers in area pulpits on Sunday morning January 5.

But as always, the prime time and space will be given to the 116 young preachers who come from every corner of the country and from every stream of tradition in the wide river we call the Christian community.

The registration process requires that you pay a $75 deposit in order to reserve your preaching spot. Institutions and organizations may still reserve a block of preaching slots by paying this registration fee for as many preaching slots as needed.

Of course, the on-line registration includes the two Regional Festivals: the New York Regional Festival, September 27-28, in New York City (Union Seminary) and the Texas Regional Festival, October 4-5, in Waco, Texas (Truett Seminary). Each of these can accommodate up to 36 young preachers.

Our preaching theme for all three of these events (and for all of the campus and denominational festivals this year) is QUESTIONS OF THE SOUL. There is a page on this site that lists all the 52 biblical questions that offer outstanding texts for preaching.

It is going to be a good year for the Academy of Preachers!

As preachers, we may wish that a cheer section would randomly appear as we are preparing for our next sermon so that we feel encouraged to write down what we feel the Holy Spirit has led us to preach.  During delivery of that same sermon, we often rely on those in the congregation to give us nonverbal or verbal cues during the sermon so that we can be encouraged and know that everyone is paying attention.  Many times we also frequently rely on the encouragement and advice of our advisor as we head into a different season of our lives.

One great source of encouragement for me as a young preacher has been the network of fellow young preachers that I have connected with through both National Festivals I have attended in the past two years. This network of people provides an instant connection with people who have gone through similar experiences that I may be going through.  It also allows one the opportunity to encourage preachers that they would have never met if it weren’t for the National Festival of Young Preachers.

How have these networks been established?  Beyond intentional conversation, a great source of networking in my experience was the preaching circles.  Preaching circles are one of the most unique features of the National Festival of Young Preachers. Young preachers who have never met people their age with the same call to preach are astounded by stories they hear and the encouragement they receive from this group.  My most recent preaching circle experience is one that I can vividly remember.  It still encourages me today and gives me hope for my future in ministry.  Molly Shoulta, Alejandra Herreras, Corey Holmes, Dane Jones, Mitchell Monroe, Robert Woods, and Kathryn Garelli, along with our leader, Charmaine Webster, made up one of the most inspiring groups of people I have met thus far.   We lifted each other up in prayer, we were a presence during each other’s preaching sessions, we encouraged each other after each of us preached, and we took the time to become acquainted.

This group reminded me of all the people that the Holy Spirit has used to encourage me in my call to Gospel preaching – my family, close friends, church family at Pfrimmer’s Chapel and the United Methodist Church, and the staff and faculty at University of Evansville.  Without this “cheer section” of encouragers, I may have honestly jumped off the preaching boat long ago.  I can now add the Academy of Preachers to this list of inspiring encouragers in my life.  God has used the National Festival of Young Preachers to rejuvenate me and realign my focus to what I am called to do through all the incredible people that attend the event.

I challenge you to find young preachers that have potential and give them the encouragement they need to become confident in what God has called them to do.  Begin encouraging others that have not experienced a flood of encouragement to attend the National Festival of Young Preachers in Indianapolis!  Connect them with a “cheer section” of people they can relate to and an event that is sure to give them encouragement for their future in ministry.  Allow God to use you in this way!

“Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NRSV)

It’s been over a month since we all gathered in Atlanta, and I have to confess that I’m having a hard time reflecting on my experiences at that grace-filled gathering. At first, I thought the haze of time was keeping my thoughts from cohering into anything resembling an article. Or else it was surely the bustle of a new semester – new class, new professors, new obligations – that prevented my sitting down with my thoughts. But I think the reason I have been unable to reflect on the 2013 National Festival of Young Preachers runs deeper than any of these cursory reasons.

Largely, I think I have been unable to really reflect on this past festival for issues of geography. Allow me to explain. I moved to Atlanta in July, and unlike a number of “Atlantans,” I have an actual Atlanta address and I’m developing an abiding love for the things that happen inside the I-285 perimeter. The neighborhoods, parishes, restaurants, thrift stores, pubs, community centers, and coffee shops of Intown, Downtown, and Midtown mean more to me than they ever did when I was a suburbanite who only ventured into the big city for shows at the Fox or a Falcons game. Atlanta is rapidly becoming my city.

I know I’m not the only person in the world who loves this city, nor was I the only one at the Festival who loves this city, but I have a confession to make: I don’t think Buckhead is really a part of this city. Historically, the neighborhood was always a vacation spot for wealthy Atlantans. The few black areas that managed to spring up were razed in the 1940s. Nowadays, Buckhead is America’s ninth-wealthiest zip-code and houses the priciest real estate in the city, including the Georgia governor’s mansion. Its retail industry grosses over $1 billion annually – more than the GDP of a number of developing nations. Buckhead boasts not one but two Mobil 5-star restaurants. And its citizens are currently trying to secede from the city, ensuring that their tax revenue would continue to benefit only the wealthiest of Georgians.

And there we were, in the middle of all of it, living large in the Grand Hyatt and rubbing elbows with Tim Tebow (yup, he was staying with us while attending Passion). We preached from texts like Jeremiah 7, which proclaims that God will only dwell in Israel if Israel does not “oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow.” Or Isaiah 6, a declaration of “good news to the oppressed…liberty to the captives.” Or Luke 19, wherein Zacchaeus promises to sell half of his possessions and give the proceeds to the poor, and to pay back four-fold those he has defrauded. Or Nehemiah 2, the story of Nehemiah’s construction of the walls of Jerusalem for the common good of the whole city.

Proclaiming the theme of “Gospel in the City,” we came into the Atlanta neighborhood that perhaps least signifies this city. We held forth at length on topics like “doing justice in the city” and “dwelling in the city,” while doing neither of those things. When 130+ preachers come to the city, the city should be different when they leave, and the only net change should not be an increase in the profits of already wealthy innkeepers. The poor, the widows and orphans, the captive, the oppressed, these should be the recipients of our work.

Of course, the mission of the Academy of Preachers is not the working of justice. Its mission is to “identify, network, encourage, and support young preachers.” This organization is not a social service but a training ground, a kind of laboratory that facilitates good preaching in the people that I am often blessed to call my peers. And I believe in this mission. Otherwise, I wouldn’t invest nearly as much time with the Academy as I do.

But good preaching – the kind of preaching I believe the AoP is called to teach – must facilitate a good and just response. It is not enough to sit in a ballroom and loudly “amen!” a pointed critique of the systemic injustices of our society. It is not enough to whoop at the top of our lungs if we don’t cry for justice with equal measure. It is not enough to spend hours laboring over a rhetorically brilliant manuscript. We must labor for the kingdom in ways that realize the kingdom in the lives of those who live outside the boundaries of Buckhead.

I suppose I wouldn’t feel this way if the Festival hadn’t been in my city this year. I certainly didn’t feel this way after Louisville last year. But it is my city, and it is the city of millions of others, others who desperately need the kind of work that should be inspired (yes, even the lives of the preachers) by the words we were saying. Our actions – including the ways and the places we spend our money – should reflect the moves of our homilies.

Thus, as we reflect on our time in Atlanta and look forward to another (wonderful, inspiring) National Festival in Indianapolis, I have but one simple message: we have to practice what we preach.

Just as the National Festival provides the opportunity to hear my peers and form lasting relationships with them, I value the mentors and coaches who dedicate their time and energy into the event as well. The affirmations that resound within each preaching venue and the wisdom that is shared can sometimes exceed what is offered through structured lecture halls. The voice of this emerging generation coupled with the wisdom of people who have walked this path creates a sense of hope and excitement within me. I feel the church is in good hands. I feel supported in my call to gospel preaching. I feel encouraged that I have at least one hundred other young people who understand the frustrations of ministry and preaching, and serve as a reminder that I am not alone on this journey.

This year we brought the gospel to the city! I met some great new people, many who this was their first festival. To be able to look them in the eyes and tell them they would be fine and just preach like they were at home gave them confidence. I was able to connect with friends who I met last year and hear the great things they have been doing and how their lives have changed was refreshing. But one of the most humbling experiences was meeting people who only knew me by my YouTube video from last year, and have them say they were excited to hear the real thing finally. And not only did they say it, but they showed up in full force for my sixteen minutes of fame and reaffirmed my call to gospel preaching.

Remembering D L Moody (1837-1899)

One hundred twenty five of the brightest young people in the country, all students at the highly-competitive Ivy League schools of the northeast, gathered to discuss their common projects: writing, editing, and publishing Christian scholarly journals for their respective student bodies.

Two speakers were on tap, and both were top notch: Dr. Michael Lindsay, world-class sociologist and president of near-by Gordon College; and Dr. John Lennox, world-class apologist and lecturer in Mathematics at Oxford University.

I was there because the organizers and the benefactors want to partner with the Academy of Preachers to host a Festival of Young Preachers in the region. I came away thinking: this is very do-able, in this very place!

The “place” was Park Street Church, a famous and influential congregation whose prime-time location is a block from the state capital and adjacent to Boston Common. Within easy walking blocks are the Old South Meetinghouse, the Old Statehouse, the famous Tremont Temple Baptist Church, the King’s Chapel, and the Cathedral Church of St. Paul.

Right in the middle of all of them is the site on Court Street with the historical plate marking the spot where the famous preacher Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899) was converted at the age of 18. I took a picture of it and posted it on Facebook.

I left Boston convinced it is the right place for the New England Festival of Young Preachers, and we will start planning for a 2014 date. Before I left, three young Harvard University undergraduates told me they would register for the New York Regional Festival scheduled for this September; and this morning an email brought the name and school of yet another one of these Ivy League students.
Add to these the steady stream of Harvard and Yale students who preach at our National Festival, and the healthy network of young New York preachers who do the same, and I suspect we will have one spectacular event this fall in New York and another one next year in Boston.

Boston: I’m ready to go to Boston again!