Features
YouTube Rising
February 6, 2012
By Dwight A. Moody
Last week, YouTube announced a major milestone in their expansion. Every day they now upload 4 billion videos. That number, again, is 4 billion. This is a 25% increase in one year. (Don’t we all wish we had stock in Google/YouTube?)
Here at the Academy of Preachers we understand the power of the video. Almost half of the young preachers who registered for the 2012 National Festival of Young Preachers answer “YouTube” when asked how they first learned about the Festival.
For the last two years we have posted some or all of the National Festival sermons on our YouTube channel, and these videos have been viewed more than 76,000 times.
Last week, we began uploading sermons from the 2012 National Festival to YouTube (click here to watch view the playlist where those videos are being uploaded.) Post-production edits by the professional media company, Kertis Creative, has made these videos more professional and more attractive.
Moving into 2012, we are looking for new video opportunities for Young Preachers.
We have just received a grant from Odyssey Networks to produce one video focused on a Young Preacher and including preaching footage. Some people in the film business are skeptical this format for preaching can be done in a compelling and relevent way.
We also plan to host a video competition later this year. We will invite Young Preachers to design, film and produce videos featuring themselves as preachers but in creative and colorful ways that will attract an even wider audience (including employers!)
We plan to offer during the year (and certainly at the National Festival next year in Atlanta) workshops on how to use video to enhance the inspirational and influential power of gospel preaching.
Thank you, all of you, for watching our sermon videos. May what happened to Roger Jasper, AoP ‘10 become a pattern for many Young Preachers: a pastor search committee saw his AoP video on our YouTube channel, called us for a reference, called him for an interview, and eventually called him to serve as their preacher and pastor.
Ah, the power of a video!
Preaching in New York
February 1, 2012
By Dwight A. Moody
You read correctly. Not me: but 36 young preachers will deliver sermons in September 2013 at the New York Festival of Young Preachers.
That is what came out of my recent conversation with leaders from Union Seminary in New York City and the Lord’s Day Alliance in Atlanta.
The Lord’s Day Alliance (LDA) is a Founding Partner with the Academy of Preachers and a donor to the work of the AoP. Last year young preachers Chris Hughes, AoP ‘11, and Jamie McCallum, AoP ‘11, won substantial prizes after they entered their National Festival sermons in the LDA’s Lowndes Sermon Competition.
In 2013, the LDA will celebrate their 125th year of mission and ministry. They want us to help them commemorate this occasion by hosting a Regional Festival of Young Preachers in conjunction with their anniversary event, in New York City.
Guess who else wants to help? The Odyssey Networks, the nationa’s largest multi-faith coalition dedicated to producing and distributing faith-based media, and a National Partner with the AoP. In January, the Odyssey Networks awarded us a grant to produce a short video about the role of preachers in shaping Christian responses to the challenges of city living. During my recent trip to New York, they expressed an interest in co-sponsoring the New York Festival of Young Preachers.
I suspect before it is all over, all of our New York partners will be on board, and the resultant energy will, in fact, generate another dozen Partners comprised of businesses, denominations, donors, institutions and organizations that endorse our mission and invest in our programs. These existing and future organizations will play a tremendous role in furthering the mission of the AoP.
As we speak, we are seeking ways to support the Young Preachers in our program and connect them with mentors, benefactors, teachers, scholarships, and employers. These young people need opportunities; they need cheerleaders; they need coaches; they need friends; they need peers.
The Academy of Preachers is here to “Identify, Network, Support, and Inspire” these young people in their call to gospel preaching. What to join us in this mission? You can do so by becoming a National Partner, by providing financial support, or by seeking out and mentoring a Young Preacher.
Next Steps for the AoP: The Gospel Catalyst Network
January 30, 2012
By Wyndee Holbrook
What happens when the best news in the history of the world is rising up from the voices of young people? The Academy of Preachers of course.
Well, then, “how shall they hear without a preacher,” and who assist the AoP in fanning the gospel flame for coming generations? The answer is the Gospel Catalyst Network.
As the Lead Gospel Catalyst for the Academy of Preachers, I’m taking a page from a long term pastor and mentor who once told me, “Your job in ministry is to give your job away. Constantly be about the business of making ministers of those around you.” In this case, we’ll substitute catalysts for ministers.
Meet the Network Catalysts!
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The six Young Preachers who have just been named to the Gospel Catalyst Network are outstanding in their preaching ability and their passion for the mission of the AoP. They were selected through an application and interview process before, during and following the 2012 National Festival of Young Preachers. They were given homework to complete and showed themselves ready and fit for the task. These folks are serious about making connections for the expansion of the gospel.
So just what is the mission of the Gospel Catalyst Network, you ask? They will connect their varied networks (personal, denominational, educational, geographical) with the work and opportunities of the AoP. They will represent the AoP at various functions as well as encourage local Festivals of Young Preachers. They will offer their insights to other Young Preachers and be responsible for a Facebook group to catalyze interest and ideas. They will be who they are: exceptional voices for the expansion of God’s Kingdom.
If you want to share ideas, plans or questions with one of these six, please let me know at wyndeeholbrook@gmail.com or aopcatalyst@gmail.com and I’ll gladly help you connect!
(Click here to read the Network Catalyst’s own words about their purpose with the AoP.)
Four Young Preachers…One Call
January 26, 2012
By Lee Huckleberry
In the aftermath of a very successful 2012 National Festival, I pause to give thanks for one of the many fruitful partnerships we have developed over the past few years.
The Alliance for Christian Media, located in Atlanta, has been involved with the Academy from the beginning. They are one of 50 founding partners who have officially endorsed our mission to identify, network, support, and inspire young preachers across the country. Furthermore, they have provided hands-on expertise to help us share our story and expand our reach.
Rev. Peter Wallace, the recently named President of the Alliance and the executive producer of the Day 1 radio program, has attended the last two festivals as an exhibitor, sermon evaluator, and video interviewer. This year he talked to four Festival participants about their call to gospel preaching: Jean-Daniel Cathell Williams (Yale Divinity School, New Haven, CT), Joseph T. Howard (Andersonville Theological Seminary, Camilla, GA), David Telfort (Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA) and Kristina Heise (Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago, IL).
Since 2004, Peter has hosted the Day 1 show and interviewed hundreds of outstanding preachers (young and old) across the United States. His willingness to record and distribute the stories of some of our Festival preachers is a true gift to them and to us.
I encourage you to visit the home page of the Day 1 site to see these interviews. Also, check out Peter’s inspirational article about the Festival on the Huffington Post website.
Thank you, Peter, for your deep faith, your winsome spirit, and your eagerness to help spread the news of the Academy of Preachers!
A Blessed Opportunity
January 25, 2012
By David Telfort
(Today’s guest writer is David Telfort, AoP ‘12. David attends Occidental College in Los Angeles and participated in the National Festival of Young Preachers this year for the first time. Here, he shares his take-away from the experience.)
As I came home and tried to explain what I had experience at the National Festival of Young Preachers, I was left with inadequate words and phrases.
It was more than an opportunity to preach a finely crafted and divinely inspired sermon. It was more than a gathering to reconnect with old friends and meet new ones. It was more than a way to reassure that the future of preaching was safe or that there were in fact young vessels being used by God in an age where young people seem disengaged with the church.
I found in those four days in Louisville an “on time” word from God, spoken not only to me, but to every person in attendance. We were being assured of our call and our paths, but even more than that, we were being challenged. Challenged to be prophetic in our words and our actions to articulate systems of privilege that marginalized those who did nothing but be born poor.
We were challenged to step away from the seductive paths of the “successful” ministries of old that rewarded comfort and passive love. We were challenged…to be like Jesus. The Festival poured into me a fiery word that will fuel my 2012 and beyond.
It cemented the understanding that Jesus is seeking women and men of all hues, classes, sexual preferences, denominations and educational backgrounds who will “heal the sick there, and say to them, the kingdom of God has come near to you” (Luke 10:9, NKJV).
(Want to share your Festival experience in writing? Email charissa.acree@gmail.com.)
