104 Young Preachers (and their mentors, families, and friends) gathered in Lexington, Kentucky for the eighth National Festival of Young Preachers. All preached a sermon on the annual theme: JESUS: RABBI, RADICAL, REDEEMER, RISEN LORD.
The Festival was memorable for several reasons:
– Highest number ever of Young Roman Catholic Preachers: 12
– Episcopal liturgy of The Great Amen with Presiding Bishop Michael Curry preaching
– Hosting of The Meetinghouse: Conversations on Religion and American Life
– Facebook Live broadcasts of The Meetinghouse, PREACHAPALOOZA, and The Great Amen
– Increased number of physically handicapped Young Preachers
– Plenary sermon by Mary Alice Birdwhistell, AoP ’10, and iPreach testimonies by Jeremy Taitt, AoP’17, Brooke Pernice, AoP’15, and Shayne Duvall, AoP ’14
“For the first time,” explained Debbie Moody, Director of Festivals, “we hosted all of the Festival activities in the hotel, the Embassy Suites. We did not move to an off-campus site, like a nearby sanctuary. In fact, there were no nearby church sanctuaries.”
All of the Festival videos are now complete, edited, and posted to the AoP channel on YouTube.
The AoP Team will travel south in February for three days of preparation for the 2018 National Festival of Young Preachers, January 2-5, 2018, in Atlanta, Georgia. Registration will soon open on the AoP website!