Peaching Academy

My husband, Mike, is spending the week -- Wednesday through Saturday-- in Louisville, Kentucky, at the National Academy of Preaching.

One of his friends from Georgetown College (Georgetown, Kentucky), Dr. Dwight Moody, asked Mike several years ago to become part of a vision that Dwight had for young pastors. Dwight applied for and received a Lilly Grant insuring funding for the academy. Mike is one of the conveners for sessions in which preachers as young as 14 years have come from all over the nation to present in front of peers and receive comments. Peer groups are also part of the agenda.

Mike called last night so excited. He described the group of young men and women from many denominations including Coptic. Their energy and passion for spreading the gospel were clearly evident in their preaching and conversation. I joked with Mike that he is probably one of the "resident sages" now that he is approaching retirement after 36 years in ministry. I could tell, however, in his enthusiastic reporting that he too, was learning as much from the students as they were from him.

The Academy is held about this time each year. More information as well as tapes of those persons preaching are available at http://www.academyofpreachers.net

Anyone interested in emailing Mike about future participation can reach him at mreed@fishersumc.org or 317-849-1805. (Fishers, Indiana)

God, I thank you for the gathering of those committed to ordained ministry who are gathered in Louisville. Fuel their passion for the gospel and open the hearts of those who hear.
Amen.

Jacquie Reed
Fishers, Indiana