All-Pro Video of Louisville, Kentucky brought equipment and staff to record the sermons of all 93 young preachers at the first Festival of Young Preachers.
Before the crowd departed for home more than 200 were purchased; and during the 10 days since then, our marketing partner Peritus (also of Louisville) posted many to our site on the web: www.youtube.com/academyofpreachers.
Now I have in my possession all 93 of these videos, sitting in a box by my feet. What shall I do with them?
I know what to do: watch them!! Yes, all 93 sermons, most about 16 minutes in length. I actually began last night and watched 7. Two were mediocre, 3 were good, and 2 were outstanding. Tonight I will watch another half dozen, and tomorrow (Thursday) I hope to watch at least 20. Oh, my!
Yes, over the next week, probably before I make a visit to Indianapolis with an unofficial report to the Lilly Endowment, I will watch all 93 sermons.
I am not just listening, of course. I have a one-sheet assessment and evaluation form, tracking things like: sermon type, primary appeal, illustration source, preaching style, and general comportment (attire, posture, voice, countenance). I also note which preacher read the text and who offered a prayer before, during, and after the sermon. On one of the videos last night, the preacher concluded the sermon by breaking into song; I didn’t have an assessment category for that, so I simply noted it on the assessment form in the open space headlined, Comments.
All of this will feed into several articles over the next few months. It is fresh, fascinating material, not just for me (and hopefully for readers) but potentially for doctoral students. It would be wonderful if we could find men and women heading toward doctor of ministry and doctor of philosophy degrees who would be motivated to use these young preachers, their vocational journeys, and their preaching ministries as the research data for their doctoral degrees.
Until then, I will keep on watching, and assessing, and rejoicing in the amazing diversity of gospel preaching that was on display 10 days ago at the inaugural Festival of Young Preachers. We are hard at work on next year’s festival!!