In just a few weeks I will be participating in the Academy of Preachers’ National Festival of Young Preachers. Recently I was looking at the Festival of Preachers’ Facebook page and noticed that almost every picture has “iPreach” somewhere on it. First I thought how clever that logo was…but the more I read “iPreach,” it...
How do you suggest to a group of preachers that they shouldn’t be preachers? And who better to pull it off than the farmer seminarian from Central who doesn’t want to be a pastor? As I prepare to preach at the Academy of Young Preachers National Conference, I am starting to realize this perspective might...
In August of 2013, I packed up everything I owned and moved (along with my dog and my cat) from Michigan to Kansas, where I had just been accepted as a seminary student at Central Baptist Theological Seminary. I entered seminary because although I am a passionate follower of Christ, I had experienced first-hand the...
Woke up at the ungodly hour of 4:15 this morning. Started reading Through the Eyes of a Lion. This is the new small group study for our church. I love his question: How do you live out an extraordinary calling while doing ordinary things and living in a world that is all screwed up? I've...
As I drove from my home in Bowling Green, Kentucky, to Nashville, Tennessee, to catch my plane, darkness surrounded me. My husband made coffee, filled my mug and sent me on my way. I was eager for our class on Benedictine spirituality, but I had no idea what wonderful connections and what new learning were waiting...
This was the year I decided to register for the Benedictine Spirituality Course as a lifelong learner. I was given the required reading list, syllabus and instructions for living at the Abbey for a week. I had sufficient information and preparation, but still wasn’t ready for the transformation it would have on my life. The...
To this day, I don’t understand why people ask kids what they want to be when they grow up. On the one hand, I think we need to hold onto the passions we have as children and not let the cynicism and realism of the world kill our hope. On the other hand, I rarely...
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. - 1...
When I was first asked to attend Academy of Preachers as the student representative for Central Baptist Theological Seminary, I thought, “Oh boy…they have an awful lot of faith in me…..I have no idea where to even BEGIN writing a sermon!” However, I have found that the key to doing something new is listening to...
The conference in Orlando was delightfully more than I had anticipated. I’m interested in non-pastoral ministry and am working on starting my second career at the age of 62 so I came anticipating that many aspects would be unimportant to me. I hoped to be able to talk with pastors and regional leaders to get...
"Riding along in my automobile" is not exactly the song that I thought I would be humming at the end of the festival. But today, due to impeding weather, we find ourselves cruising the highway headed back to Kansas City. This experience at AoP has been one that is hard to put into words. I...
It has been more than 24 hours since I preached my fifteen minute sermon at the 2014 Academy of Preachers’ festival. It has taken me a full day to digest all of the events from the first day of the conference, especially my sermon experience. I needed to let it soak in, marinate, and simmer...
fes·ti·val noun: festival; plural noun: festivals 1. a day or period of celebration, typically a religious commemoration. synonyms: fair, carnival, fiesta, etc. You want to know the best part of being at a festival? It’s not the food. It’s not the music. It’s not the people watching. While all of those things make a festival...
Today is a day of new experiences. The beauty of the Academy of Preacher’s festival is reflected in its ecumenical diversity—the incredibly diverse body of Christ uniting for the common purpose of preaching the Gospel and growing together as young preachers. There are many traditions, theological positions, and backgrounds represented here in Indianapolis. Each individual...
I’M EXCITED RIGHT NOW. …Which is exactly opposite of what I felt at 7:39 A.M this morning while boarding my flight to Indianapolis headed to the Academy of Preachers’ conference. This morning I was completely drained. I was completely unmotivated to come to the conference. Why? The end of December is insanity. The Advent season...
