Four women have been among the last eight young preachers to register for the Festival in January. There are now 37 young preachers registered, and eight of them are women.
These last four include: Anna Marie Roderick, from New York City, a student at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana; Stacy Cochran Nowell, from Harrisonburg, Virginia, a recent graduate of McAfee School of Theology; Sarah Lewis, from Seattle, Washington, a recent graduate of Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri; and Mary Alice Birdwhistell, of Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, an entering student at Truett Seminary at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.
These women illustrate dramatically the national reach of this fresh initiative, the Academy of Preachers. While our focus remains on the target area of the pilot project (150 radius of Louisville, Kentucky) the interest in the Festival extends literally from coast to coast. This is remarkable and it is encouraging.
There is no particular push to recruit women for the Festival, but neither is there any particular push to attract men. In fact, the Academy is neutral on the issue; our policy is this: we welcome all young preachers, of whatever demographic designation, as long as they are endorsed and supported by a congregation and approved and accompanied by their preaching mentor. It is not our policy to determine who is called to preach and who is not; we are not the gatekeepers to gospel preaching.
Along the way, however, we have discovered some interesting things, chief among these is this: in the Roman Catholic Church the order of Dominicans, also known as the Order of Preachers, has on their web site a list of their female preachers! They can not, of course, deliver the homily at the mass, but they do take preaching posts on campus, in homes, at prisons, and wherever there is a need for a preacher. How shall they hear with a preacher? That is the pertinent question asked by Paul the preacher, the apostle, the evangelist, the church planter, the writer, the mentor. Chapter ten of the letter to the Romans.
Praise God for all who preach the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ!!