Academy of Preachers seen as 'Jesus version of American Idol'
Dwight A. Moody, the founder and president of the Academy of Preachers, has been recruiting potential preachers at Samford University and Birmingham-Southern College to take part in an effort aimed at reigniting an interest in preaching.
The academy organizes a national festival of preaching each year, summer camps and workshops for aspiring ministers ages 16 to 28, of all denominations. Modern seminary students often seek to work in ministry outside the pulpit, said Moody, former dean of the chapel at Georgetown College in Georgetown, Ky.
"Today half of seminary and divinity school students are women, and very few if any want to preach," Moody said. "Some believe that preaching is no longer a socially significant vocation. It has lost part of its punch."...