The national Festival of Young Preachers is still more than 8 months away but already people are signing up to attend. This week the Academy received the first paid registration from a young preacher
And last week we received the first payment for an ad and an exhibit.
C. J. Childs, a native of Georgia, a student in Tennessee (at Trevecca Nazarene University), and a member of the Young Preachers Leadership Team has submitted her completed registration form, with the $100 registration fee, to become the first person to register for the 2011 festival. The festival will be held at the Seelbach Hotel and the Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville, Kentucky, January 6-8, 2010.
Childs is a Charter Member of the Academy of Preachers as a result of preaching at the inaugural festival this past January. Her sermon is available for viewing on the Academy YouTube site.
Childs will be one of 104 young preachers to come to the festival next January and preach. It is the only event in the country whose purpose is to present the talent, the passion, and the intellect of young preachers, ages 15-28. Registration forms are elsewhere on this web site.
Taking the lead among exhibitors is Georgetown College, the Baptist-related liberal arts college in central Kentucky. They approached the Academy early this year about buying the advertizing space on the back side of the festival program. Their reservation also gives them prime space in the exhibition hall at the festival in January.
This past January, 26 businesses, institutions, and organizations exhibited at the festival. They come to recruit students, sell products, promote ministries, and hire ministers. Organizers are making plans for that to increase to 40. Registration forms for advertizing and exhibiting will be posted within the next few weeks.
The daytime activities of the festival, including exhibitions, meals, and preaching, will be in the Seelbach Hilton Hotel. The Cathedral of the Assumption, a half block away, will host a reception, a luncheon, a worship service, and the closing ceremonies. All actives of the festival are free and open to the public. Offerings are received during the festival to help underwrite the cost of the Academy programs.