Time for another progress check. Dateline: May 4, 2009

Enrollment for the Festival of Young Preachers now stands at 15, and as many as 50 other young preachers are working on registration forms for the Festival next January. Some of these will be complete before summer but the summer will not be a high activity time for registration as students are here and there with summer jobs and camps.

Our Partner list now numbers 14, with Baptist Seminary of Kentucky the latest to sign on. Thanks to president Greg Earwood for a very nice letter of affirmation, which reads in part: “The opportunities provided by the Academy of Preachers will enrich these young people who sense God’s call and seek to emphasize the ministry of preaching.” Another dozen or so Partners are in various stages of processing their official letters of endorsement.

Our fund-raising has been a rather low priority during these first months; nevertheless the total now stands at approximately $5,500. Like the two other barometers of success mentioned in this article, contributions are tracked on this web site; see the link above to BE A DONOR. We will crank up these efforts in the fall and during the Festival of Young Preachers will host a dinner for (potential) donors.

The Preaching Camp is scheduled for May 31-June 5, at Country Lake Christian Retreat Center. Twelve young preachers are attending, plus two staff, three coaches, and five guest presenters. Registration for that Camp is closed.

The Board of Advisors will have it first official meeting on Friday afternoon, June 5, also at the Country Lake Christian Retreat Center. Several Consultants and Directors of the Academy will also attend. There are now 12 Advisors, and several others are being recruited. The names of all Advisors, Consultants, and Directors are also on this web site; see ABOUT US.

Our partner, the Wayne E. Oates Institute has completed the first on-line conference with our Young Preachers Leadership Team. This conference, focused on Mentoring, is part of the Program of Certification for Young Preachers.

Peritus PR has led the way in our marketing, helping us with the designs for posters, materials, web sites, and Facebook. Our Facebook site now has more than 160 Fans, and growing each day. This Facebook site has turned out to be our primarily strategy for expanding awareness of the Academy. There are now six videos on the Academy Facebook site. Click on the “iPreach” graphic in the right column and watch these videos as they are posted every few days.

Much more is in the works; and as things happen we will report it to you on this site.  Let us know what you think.