On occasion I like to inform (read: shameless plug) you of various events that are happening in different places especially pertaining to young people. While I was in Transylvania Presbytery I ran into Mary Seeger Weese, who is the pastor of the Midway (KY) Presbyterian Church and was previously a colleague of mine here in New Hope Presbytery when she was the Associate Pastor at Trinity Avenue Presbyterian Church in Durham, NC. Mary was definitely excited and on fire about the upcoming Festival of Young Preachers Event that will be taking place January 7 - 9, 2010 in Louisville, KY. When I heard this my ears perked up and definitely wanted to hear more about it! The description of the Festival is given on its website and facebook page -
The Academy of Preachers is a fresh initiative, underwritten by the Lilly Endowment, designed to identify, network, inspire, and support young people who sense a call to Christian preaching. We invite students in high school, college, university, and seminary—roughly between the ages of 16 and 28—to engage with one another in their common calling through the following opportunities:
* Preaching Camp—an eight day summer event at a conference center near Louisville offering personal coaching in the art and science of preaching;
* The Festival of Young Preachers—a two-day winter event hosted by a consortium of Louisville-area congregations offering young preachers an opportunity to preach for friends, family, other young preachers, and seasoned evaluators; and
* The Program of Certification—an on-going program of activities, opportunities, relationships, and requirements designed to sustain the young preacher in his or her vocation as a proclaimer of the gospel.
The Academy is ecumenical, diverse in many ways and has quite a few young preaches lined up for the first-event of its kind (click here for the registrant list). On that list you will find a few young, up-and-coming Presbyterians such as Taylor Lewis Guthrie, who will be one of our worship preachers at General Assembly in Minneapolis next year and Christine Coy Fohr, a student at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary who I met earlier this year when I preached at Central Presbyterian Church. I am really glad to hear about events that are created for training, supporting and encouraging young people for the ministry and I ask two three things of you: 1) Pray for all the participants, 2) come out and hear them preach if you are in town and 3) please support this new, fresh initiative for young pastors.
[images: ministerbrandon and cbf photo]
I can't believe I'm too old! At 29....sigh. ;-)
Posted by: teri | December 09, 2009 at 12:17 AM
thanks, byron! i'm pumped!
Posted by: taylor | December 09, 2009 at 07:23 AM
where were all these wonderful events when I was an inquirer? sigh... anyway, I hope lots of people take advantage of this!
Posted by: Kerri Hefner | December 09, 2009 at 10:45 AM
Teri - I can believe it either! ;-)
Posted by: Byron Wade | December 10, 2009 at 12:10 AM
Taylor - glad you are pumped up! You will be in my prayers on this special occasion ;-)
Posted by: Byron Wade | December 10, 2009 at 12:12 AM
Kerri - I know! Wish it was around when I was coming up ;-)
Posted by: Byron Wade | December 10, 2009 at 12:14 AM
Hi Byron, greetings from India. This does sound like a great event. I wish I could be part of that "parade of musicians" they mention. Maybe next year...
Posted by: David LaMotte | December 13, 2009 at 06:06 AM
David - It would be great if you were invited to play music at this event. You are right - maybe next year . . .
Posted by: Byron Wade | December 13, 2009 at 08:51 PM