This morning I took the first of what I surmise will be many phone calls. It came from a member of a pastoral search committee in a city within 150 miles of Louisville.
“We watched many of the festival sermons you posted on YouTube,” he said. “One young man impressed us as one of the best.”
What followed was an inquiry about what I know about this young preacher and how he might fit as a pastor and preacher for their congregation. I was glad to say that I knew the young man personally and was able to give a strong and positive recommendation.
This will not be the last time this conversation happens. Congregations looking for preachers can go to our site on YouTube and view the videos of all 92 young preachers who participated in the inaugural festival of young preachers. This is a wonderful resource for congregations and a terrific opportunity for young preachers.
Next year, I anticipate that more than one pastor search committee will actually come to the Festival of Young Preachers (January 6-8, 2011). One person can hear up to 26 young preachers because we use 4 venues simultaneously; if 4 members of the search committee come they can hear more than 100. It will not take long before we, the organizers of this annual festival, will need to provide a protocol and space for interviews to take place on site.
Already at our first festival, denominations sent exhibitors (shall we say, recruiters?) to try to woo some of these young preachers into ministry opportunities. We expect this to expand next year. Within a few weeks, all the information for registering, exhibiting, and advertizing will be available on this web site.