The Wayne E. Oates Institute is a Connected Learning Community exploring spirituality and health as a way to advance integrative care for the whole person. The Oates Institute is a non-profit educational organization made up of caregivers from the medical, spiritual and counseling communities providing a forum for joining together as an interdisciplinary dialogue toward understanding the relationship between spirituality and the healing process.

The Academy of Preachers, a new initiative funded by the Lilly Endowment, was formally launched this week with a two-day gathering of the Young Preachers Leadership Team, a team of 16 promising young preachers selected to help design and promote this new venture. In addition to helping The Academy develop its online campus as a place for peer interaction and access to resources, the Oates Institute will collaborate with The Academy to develop an educational program that will support and inspire the young preacher in his or her vocation.

The Academy is open to male and female students ages 16 – 28 from diverse theological, political, and ethnic backgrounds who sense a call to Christian preaching. This fresh initiative comes at a time when many denominations are concerned about future clergy shortage and diverse communication preferences among generations. The following quote by Dr. Ron Allen, Professor of Preaching and New Testament at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana supports the timeliness of The Academy.

Never has the church been more desperate for preachers who can help us discern the presence and leading of the living God. The Academy of Preachers promises to help raise up a generation of preachers who are empowered by the Spirit, steeped in the Bible, captured by moral vision, alive to language and imagination, and possessed of cutting edge theological insight. I am honored to commend this program to high school students, college students, and seminary students as being a real life-force for our time.

With the support of the Oates Institute, The Academy of Preachers will enrich the lives and ministries of “young people who sense God’s leading into a vocation of enormous social significance—gospel preaching.”

Dr. Dwight A. Moody of Lexington, Kentucky is the leader of The Academy of Preachers. He is an ordained minister, a published author, and for 11 years served as Dean of the Chapel at Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky.

Visit the Academy of Preachers