On Friday, Ann Marie Roderick became the 30th person to register for the first annual Festival of Young Preachers in Louisville, Kentucky. The event will be held January 7-9, 2010 at St. Matthews Baptist Church. There is space available for 70 more young preachers but only 75 days left to register. The deadline is October 1, 2009.
Ms. Roderick lives in New York City and attends Judson Memorial Church. Her New York residence brings to ten the number of states represented among the young preachers: Others are Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, Indiana, Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia. It is quite likely that the Festival will ultimately attract young preachers from as many as 20 states.
These 30 young preachers registered for the Festival attend 24 different schools, including: Earlham College, Bethany Theological Seminary, Christian Theological Seminary, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Eastern Kentucky University, Georgetown College, Asbury Seminary, Fisk University, Vanderbilt Divinity School, Howard University, Trevecca Nazarene University, St. Meinrad Seminary, Oakland City University, Southwest Missouri University, Truett Seminary at Baylor University, University of Tampa, Millersville University, Maryhurst University, McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University, plus two high schools. Several have completed degrees: Cincinnati Christian University and University of Chicago Divinity School.
This is quite an impressing list and represents the diversity of young preachers who will participate in the Festival. We anticipate that this list also will grow into more than 50 institutions.
The Festival of Young Preachers is open to all young people, in school or not, who are called into gospel preaching, who have the endorsement of a congregation, and who are accompanied by his or her preaching mentor at the Festival in January. Full registration information is elsewhere on this website.
Consult also our Facebook site and sign on as a FAN.