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.

The Academy of Preachers is a fresh initiative, largely 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; (registration for the 2009 camp is already closed);

The Festival of Young Preachers—a three-day winter event (January 7-9, 2010) hosted by St Matthews Baptist Church east of downtown Louisville offering young preachers an opportunity to preach; 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.

Many other careers have support groups and professional tracks for young people who express an early interest: Future Farmers of America, for instance, and Junior Achievement; and pre-Law and pre-Engineering organizations can be found on most campuses; and how many arts and sports opportunities are there for young people who want to dance or sing or throw or kick? The Academy of Preachers channels this same attention from national and local practitioners into the lives and hopes of young people who sense God’s leading into a vocation of enormous social significance—gospel preaching.

The Academy of Preachers is no gatekeeper into gospel preaching; we will not decide who is—or who is not—called into preaching; nor will we seek to influence, one way or the other, the political, theological, or denominational interests of the young preacher. Our door is open to all: liberal and conservative, Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox and Pentecostal, male and female, Asian, Hispanic, African, and Anglo Americans—all are welcome. We are convinced that this broad affirmation of young people will enrich their lives and ministries as they mingle with one other, sharing stories, displaying talent, expressing hope, offering advice, and talking Jesus. God will be in the midst of it—for the Glory of God and the Common Good.

The Academy was launched in January 2009 with a regional pilot project center in Louisville, Kentucky, and surrounding region (150-radius, inclusive of Bloomington, Evansville, and Indianapolis, Indiana, Dayton and Cincinnati, Ohio, Nashville, Tennessee, and Bowling Green, Owensboro, and Lexington, Kentucky. Sixeen young people have been recruited to serve on a Young Preachers Leadership Team to help design and promote The Academy; see the link to About Us for a list of these students.

The sponsoring organization for The Academy of Preachers is St. Matthews Baptist Church of Louisville, Kentucky: www.smbclouisville.org. Collaborating organizations include the Lilly Endowment, the Wayne E. Oates Institute, and Peritus Public Relations. All of these have links on our home page to their home page.