“The National Festival this year was amazing and one of the best tings I’ve ever been a part of. It changed my entire life.”
So wrote one Young Preacher (YP) in completing the 2017 AoP YP Survey in April.
Eighty one Young Preachers, out of the 660 who have attended a National Festival, were contacted for feedback.
“We simply took every eighth name on our complete list,” explained AoP President Dwight A. Moody. “Of those who responded, half were male and half were female, whereas our total YP network is about 30% female and 70% male.”
Lead sponsors for the National Festivals will love this response: “When I went to my first regional festival, a seminary recruiter spoke with me; I was in my first semester of college! Years later I am getting my MDiv at that very school. God gave me a great gift in AoP.”
Most of the survey respondents felt likewise. Seventy four percent (74%) described their festival experience as “inspirational” and 38% went a step further and described it as “transformational.” But one lone Young Preacher registered a reaction as “disappointing.”
The median age of the survey respondents was 26 years, and their first National Festival was even distributed throughout the eight years of the event. Baptists was the largest responding group, but United Methodists, Roman Catholics, and Presbyterian each totaled 12% of the survey group. Others represented Episcopal, AME Zion, Brethren, Lutheran and Christian traditions while 10% registered either non-denominational or no denominational preference.
“This is the first systematic survey of our Young Preachers since 2014,” explained Moody. That effort was much bigger and resulted in a printed piece called ‘God Whispered to Me’ (now available on the AoP web site). We hope to do another one in 2019.”
Survey respondents study at a broad range of schools, including: Liberty University, Notre Dame, Belmont, Harvard, Wake Forest, Emory, Western Kentucky University, Cincinnati Christian University, Trinity Lutheran, Austin Seminary, Vanderbilt Seminary, St. Meinrad Seminary, and two high schools