Here is an idea for the fall: host a festival of young preachers on your campus! It is an excellent way to showcase and encourage the young preachers in your student body; but it also is a wonderful way to recruit students to your school as well as stay in touch with recent graduates. And it costs very little!
Morehouse College pioneered this idea last fall. They held 2 preaching events to stir up interest in the national Festival of Young Preachers held this past January in Louisville KY. From those that preached, the chapel staff selected 4 to represent their school at the festival.
The Academy of Preachers will be glad to assist any school who wishes to host such an event. We will provide our sponsorship and any art work you may need to promote a campus festival. In exchange for our collaboration, we ask schools to become a Partner with the Academy and adopt our festival format, namely:
* include only persons 16-28 years of age,
* adopt the 2011 festival preaching theme (Ten Commandments),
* allow 16 minutes for each sermon,
* require a church sponsorship of each preacher,
* insist that a preaching mentor introduce the young preacher, and
* collect a digital copy of each sermon prior to its being preached.
Many schools will find donors eager to underwrite such an event. Many ministers, congregations, and lay people long for a renewed emphasis on preaching, especially if it attracts into the preaching ministry more talented young preachers. Schools may find donors ready to cover the cost of a campus preaching festival plus provide travel scholarships for the best of the bunch to be sent to the national festival next January.
Within the last 8 days I have talked with interested schools in Texas, Indiana, Missouri, and Georgia. I suspect that next fall we may see as many as a dozen campus festivals held around the country. Call me and let’s talk.