Last week my friend Joe Bob Pierce wrote me, “I am taking my son to bass camp.” What in the world is “bass camp”, I asked (thinking it had something to do with fishing). It is a small group of young people gathering on a farm outside Nashville to learn from one of the great bass guitarist in the country; so he explained. His son, Will, plays the bass guitar for the U. S. Marine Corp Band (stationed in Hawaii).
If there can be bass camps, why not preaching camps. There are more preachers in the United States than bass players!
But there are no Preaching Camps–that I know of: except the one we are hosting this summer, May 31 to June 5, at Country Lake Christian Retreat Center in Henryville, Indiana. Twelve young preachers are coming, as are three preaching coaches, and five guest presenters, plus me and my associate, Lee Huckleberry. Registration for this camp is closed; but if all goes well we will have three or four preaching camps next summer.
We could learn a thing or two from the speech specialists at Western Kentucky University. They sponsor a forensics camp each summer on campus. Students interested in public speaking, debate, interpretation, and such will come from all over the country, and pay big bucks, no less. That camp is not until July, and I plan to attend some of that camp. Here is the link: http://www.wku.edu/pcal/index.php?page=camp
I think there is a future for our preaching camps. Next summer members of the Academy of Preachers will be eligible for one of our Preaching Camps; and if you want to join the Academy, register now for the Festival of Young Preachers, January 7-9, 2010, at St. Matthews Baptist Church in Louisville KY.