I have just returned from three days on the road for the Academy: two in Owensboro, Kentucky and one in Louisville. The chief purpose was the ordination of Zac Bailes at Third Baptist Church of Owensboro, a church I once pastored and a young man I baptized in Owensboro and taught at Georgetown College. He is registered for the Festival in January (and after the ordination his older brother Jonathan pledged to register as well).
While in Owensboro I recruited a new member of the Board of Advisors: Dr. Jonathan Carroll, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Owensboro, and a graduate of King College, Columbia and Princeton Seminaries, with a DMin degree from Louisville Presbyterian Seminary.
While on the road I received a surprising email from Dr. John Neihof, professor at the Kentucky Mountain Bible College. He had met Jonathan Scott, a member of our Young Preachers Leadership Team, who introduced him to the Academy. John wrote to say the Kentucky Mountain Bible College would love to be a part of the Academy, and in a subsequent phone conversation we made arrangements for me to visit their campus within the next two weeks.
While in Louisville, Tonini’s Church Supply (a fourth generation Roman Catholic book store in Louisville) agreed to become a partner with the Academy and provide a book room at the Festival of Young Preachers in January. We also received confirmation that the Southeast Outlook, newspaper of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, will do a feature story on the Academy/Festival during the first week of September.
Finally, this word about Alex Williams. He preached his first public sermon ten days ago at the Howard Park Christian Church. I wrote about it in an earlier article. Here is the note I received from his mother (on Facebook): “I heard Alex preach in Indiana last Sunday and I must tell you, the Academy has helped him grow so very much! He was wonderful and everyone there was telling him how good he was. You are doing awesome work at the Academy!”
And this Wednesday morning I am glad to report we have 581 FANS on Facebook! Who will be FAN number 600?